The cartwash
The New Pool or Cartwash was made in the early 1830s to replace the watersplash that had existed for centuries at the junction of High Street, Leasebourne and Church Street. The Scuttle Brook flowed over the road at this point and all carts and other wheeled traffic coming in ran through it. It was not surprisingly highly insanitary as the brook had taken waste water as it passed the Leasebourne cottages as well as receiving manure from the draught-animals.
The vicar, the Rev. Leland Noel led the move to cover the brook and fill in the Town Pool. This was done in 1832 and a fine well and pump were placed on the green by the Leasebourne cottages to provide a safer water supply. This caused serious problems for the farmers and others for the Town Pool was used to wash the mud from their cartwheels in bad weather before coming into the High Street and to soak the wooden wheels in dry weather especially in times of haymaking and harvest. This prevented the wood shrinking and the iron tires falling off. (This is what is happening in Constable’s painting, The Hay Wain.) Their complaints resulted in the construction of the New Pool outside the almshouses, using the same water supply as for the tap on the terrace outside.
This is the story as it was told to me, many years ago. JW