The Maharajah's Well

Our 2 day trip down the Thames on a narrowboat with my cousin finished yesterday in Henley, and we cycled back to our starting point today along some beautiful, quiet lanes.

We came across this well in Stoke Row, a small hamlet north of Henley. It was built, along with an orchard of 101 cherry trees, but His Highness Ishree, Maharajah of Benares, as a mark of his attachement to England and his friendship with Mr Edward Reade who lived in the village. Mr Reade had been very helpful and generous to the inhabitants of a village in India.

It was build in 1831 and the well is twice as deep as Nelson's Column. The Maharajah would not be able to come to England to see the weel and so they designed it in a very ornate manner so that photographs could be taken and sent over to him in India.