Betty Brown's Spring

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Betty Brown's Spring shown on current OS map as a thin blue line crossing from south to north over the ‘W’ of Wheatley. Where the stream meets the housing, it is culverted, but the Authorities have no idea of the route of this. See detail on next image.
Showing where the spring comes out. It also emerges at the back (east) of 57 Ladder Hill
Continued from first image. Separately, 38 Farm Close Road and two neighbours (shown by red circle) were flooded on 23 September 2024. But the flooding was caused by run off from the playground as shown in this image with evidence of bags laid against the fence.

Archive Notes:

Betty Brown's Spring. This is apparently the name of the brook which runs down the hill to the east of Ladder Hill, although the derivation of the name is unknown. It is shown on the current OS map and was referred to in an interview with one of the Avery family (quoted below) which was published in a chapter of a book 'Wheatley the Village without a Green', written by P B Mais and published in 1956, see Record 2234.

Outside I noticed a crystal clear fast-flowing stream running beside the mill. ‘That comes,’ said the old man, ‘from Betty Brown’s Spring and it’s never failed or dried up in my lifetime, and they do say that it has never known to fail in all the history of Wheatley.’

Elizabeth Munt, spinster of Wheatley and a servant living with the Cooper family in 1861, married George Brown, widower from Stanton St John, on 28 November 1869. But there are no clues as to why the spring may have been called what it was.

For details of the flooding on 23 September 2024, see record 2858

Map Addresses:

The Spinney 57 Ladder Hill