The Story of the Yorkshire Grey Pump
Bought by public subscription the pump was erected in 1864, both to supply water and to help flush the odoriferous main sewer in Stoneham Street and Market Hill (this was a failure). The pump replaced a brick-lined open well with a windlass, chain and bucket which had been in use since at least 1830. On the cast iron casing was an commemorative inscription;

ERECTED BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION AND PRESENTED TO THE PARISH OF GT COGGESHALL 1864
One hundred and ten households obtained their water from the Yorkshire Grey pump and many swore by the quality of its water but the authorities thought it unhygienic even dangerous describing it as a 'surface water' well that filled up after heavy rain and reasonably pointed out that there were several cesspools nearby.

Coggeshall had a serious outbreak of typhoid fever in late 1876 and an analysis of the victims showed a concentration in the area served by the Yorkshire Grey Pump. It's water was tested and although no evidence of typhoid was found a doctor reported that 'the water contains what was inevitably found in water producing typhoid fever'.
The authorities gave notice that they would lock the pump for six months 'to see what the result would be' claiming that the water was, 'so polluted as to be entirely unfit for any household use and dangerous for drinking purposes'.
The local's strongly objected, the water was 'the finest in the parish', aged people were exhibited who 'enjoyed the best of health' and who had 'drunk from the well for 30 years'. None of this availed and the magistrates ordered the well closed forthwith. Paycocke House, then unoccupied and unregarded was cleaned up a little and brought into use as a fever hospital, thought necessary as the grossly overcrowded conditions in which many sufferers lived, promoted the spread of infection.

Coggeshall saw 120 cases of typhoid and seven deaths but the source and means of spread were discovered;
On Sept 27 a girl who had visited Peckham Rye came home to Coggeshall unwell with what proved to be typhoid fever. Her father, mother, and brothers and sisters were inmates of the same cottage, in which, as usual, there were only two bedrooms. Three of these inmates were attacked by the disease. Early in November several other cases occurred, located for the most part in Tilkey and Robins Bridge-road, there having been but one case in West-street and two in Church-street. The means by which the typhoid was communicated was discovered; the common theme at all the houses whose inmates were attacked, was the supplier of milk. At the bottom of Robins Bridge-road is an open brook which receives the surface and other drainage from the houses in that locality, including the house in which the first case occurred. This brook is occasionally dammed up in the lower part its course, and on inquiry it was found that the supplier of milk washed his milk cans in it. The practice was stopped and the disease ceased its advance.

Although the pump had been vindicated, there was another more intractable problem, its water supply was unreliable and the pump frequently ran dry. In 1895 the parish council decided to lock it from 7pm to 7am to allow the well to replenish. The council paid James Burton a £1 a year to see to this but he must have found the task onerous and resigned after a couple of months. Next came Obadiah Sparrow and then a cobbler from Stoneham Street call Ickey Bream.

Ickey Bream unlocking the Yorkshire Grey pump in 1903

The parish council also paid an engineer an annual stipend of 30 shillings to keep the machinery of the pump in repair and for many years this was William Tansley whose engineering workshop was in West Street near Hares Bridge. In 1895 the locals formed a committee to look into the problem of the pump's water supply and they asked William Tansley for advice. He recommended that' a pipe be driven 25 feet to get a better supply' and this was endorsed by the parish council. However, such matters were the preserve of the Braintree Rural District Council and they had advanced ideas about water supply and sanitation and saw Coggeshall as a prime example of the old fashioned and the primitive. They were determined to drag the town into the 'modern' age and Coggeshall were equally determined to stay exactly as they were and how they liked it. Nothing happened about the pump.
In 1897 the parish council was petitioned by the pump users again; once more the well was dry but £20 had been raised as a contribution toward the cost of deepening it by 45 to 60 feet and they wanted the council to pay the balance estimated at an additional £11. The proposal was accepted and again forwarded to Braintree RDC for approval where, predictably, it fell flat.
By 1903 the pump was only unlocked at 7am and 4pm and locals were pictured in a local paper queuing as Ickey Bream fitted his key into the padlock. This further incensed the Braintree do-gooders.
Against all opposition from Coggeshall people, in 1911 Braintree RDC imposed an expensive scheme for water supply on the town (we had to pay for it) and all the old pumps were permanently padlocked. Although defeated the locals remained fond of the old Yorkshire Grey pump and doubtless gave it an affectionate rub as they passed by. Seventeen years later in 1928, an exasperated Braintree RDC ordered the parish council to remove it and fill in the well. The parish council, contrary as ever, came up with a plan to put a lamp standard on top and turn the old pump into a memorial street light. Nothing seems to have come of this and regarded as a hazard to traffic, Braintree RDC had their way and it was removed soon afterwards.
RIP the Yorkshire Grey Pump
(For the story of the pub see the previous photo)
Photo courtesy Douglas Judd.
Date: c1900?
Ref: 101/43a
Return to Menu Page