Monument record 11072 - Billy Hobby's Well, Grosvenor Park

Billy Hobby's Well is a pump house pavilion for a water garden in Grosvenor Park (CHER 11034), and was designed by John Douglas and was erected between 1865 and 1867 at the expense of the second Marquis of Westminster for Chester City Council.

The structure is octagonal and stands on a square plinth, and each cardinal face has a pointed-arched opening with a pair of polished red granite columns attached to each jamb, with thirteenth century style capitals, voussoirs with carved roses, wrought-iron bars with spiked crooks. Please see the linked listed building record for structural detail (1).

At the site of the pump house, before the creation of the park, the well was situated in a field called 'Billy Obbies' Field. It was reputed to have magical powers, that women would with their right leg in the water and wish for a husband (1, 2, 3). The well is shown on an 1833 plan of the city (5).

<1> Chester Archaeology, 1995, Heritage Assessment of Dee House and Environs, Chester., R2685 (Client Report). SCH4794.

<2> L - P Archaeology, 2011, Archaeological Watching Brief Report: Grosvenor Park Chester, R3102 (Client Report). SCH5489.

<3> English Heritage, 2004, The Environs of Chester Amphitheatre: Preliminary Building Assessments, R3210 (Client Report). SCH6526.

<4> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 469804 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

<5> Wood, J, 1833, Plan of the City of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH5258.