Dripping Well

From Historical Hastings


The Dripping Well was a natural spring located amongst rocks and trees near the Lovers Seat and Covehurst Cottage, east of Ecclesbourne Glen. It has possibly been lost to cliff erosion.

19th Century Tourism

A visitor's guide published in the Hastings & St Leonards Observer during 1869 states the following[1]:

Dripping Well, a romantic glen, 1½ mile north-east of Hastings.

Coghlan's 1830 "Coast Companion" notes of the well[2]:

The Dripping Well is situate in a beautiful wood, immediately above Covehurst Cottage, towards the brow of the cliff. Fish-ponds are in the immediate neighbourhood of the well.

Dorman's 1865 "Guide to St. Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings" describes it thus[3]:

The Dripping Well is a romantic spot on the cliff between Ecclesbourne and Fairlight Glen, which will well repay the rambler in search of the pictueresque; where masses of rock covered with lichens and mosses, while trees interlace their roots in the fissures, and overshadow with their foliage a small stream which hides itself among the stones, copiously dripping into a hollow beneath, forms a cool sequestered spot of which fays and faeries might be proud.


Images


  1. Hastings & St Leonards Observer 12 March 1869 pg. 4
  2. A Coast Companion, Francis Coghlan, 1830, via Google Books
  3. A Guide to St. Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings, James Dorman, 1865, via Google Books