Tony McC wrote:We hand-dug a well 20-odd years ago. In a tiny courtyard in the centre of a town, no way of getting machinery anywhere near it. We went about 25-30mm deep, through boulder clay down to the ORS bedrock, and I absolutely loved it.
That was a deep well!
RW Gale Ltd - Civils & Surfacing Contractors based in Somerset
We hand-dug a well 20-odd years ago. In a tiny courtyard in the centre of a town, no way of getting machinery anywhere near it. We went about 25-30mm deep, through boulder clay down to the ORS bedrock, and I absolutely loved it.
did you build the brickwork as you went tony?
a guy i worked for had done 1 in whipsnade in the 60's 150ft deep
he said they built 10 course of 9" brickwork in a 6 foot circle,
then dug out under that till the brick work dropped to ground level,
then another 10 course and dig another 2 foot ad infinitum.
he said the worst bit was when you were deep, if a stone was stuck to the bottom of the bucket and it fell when you were 80 ft below it
when you think about it it would be hard to dig the hole first
cheers LLL
Yep: brickwork built as we dropped down. We had planned to use PCC chamber sections but couldn't get the agreement from the BCO. I reckon it's on the verge of being a lost skill: how many wells are built like that any longer?
problem is how could you dig down 50m say without the lot caving in? i think because whipsnade is on dunstable downs they had to get right through the chalk to find the water table
imagine the old farm labourers that had to dig dene holes in the winter, to get chalk to improve soil
hole 30 ft down then digging outwards in a clover leaf shape to excavate the chalk for spreading on the fields
sounds dangerous to me
LLL
Thats why wells are round, it is safer to dig in the round as the wall supports itself. Obviously there is still the risk of the sides slipping to some degree.
I saw a programme with Fred Dibnah digging a well and using an A frame and circular template that he would build off every ten courses down, the courses above were suspended from the A Frame and he would work up to them.
Does that make sense i`ll try again later when im stellarised
i think the idea is that about 8-10 courses in a circle holds its shape so as you undermine it it slips down,this explians why old wells are never exactly vertical!!
one at dell farm is 200ft deep and i would say veers 2 feet from true plus the circle being 2 arches is very very strong
cheers
LLL
btw found this sod jacking for a trade,vertigo
The method i saw was that you dig a ten foot deep hole and raise an A frame above. You then lower a circular frame (the diametre of the dig but 6inch wide) to half way down and it is held in place with chains.
You then build off the circular frame missing a couple of bricks off the bottom course and then leave a day or so.
They then fitted hooks on chains where the bricks were left out to take the weight of the brickwork, and lowered the frame another 10 courses.
And so this would go on as they dug down passing the spoil up through the circular frame and supported brickwork as they went.
Simple, clever engineering but difficult to explain !
Makes me think of Mike and the Mechanics "In the living years" or the other one, "dance with my father again". I don't think I EVER got it right, pillock with a capital P, he's been gone 20 yrs or so now, and over time I came to see his shortcomings, and to realise he was far less secure than he made out, but given the choice, it would be good to sit down and share a pint now, something I never did. I now work on making sure I dont screw up with my kids.
Re -the wells. Never built the well but had to remove 4 old and install 4 new multistage centrifugals 70m (240') down a 4' well in the middle of the indian ocean (on an Island), with 400 hotel guests waiting patiently for drinking/bath water, not to mention the kitchens - 24 hours start to finish, never did it before, too scared to ever try it again. Wonder what the old man would say about that.
I guess the reason that a lot of us are here, talking about building things, is because of how we grew up watching our dads knocking nails into bits of wood in the garden shed, or building wonky walls, when we were toddlers. Maybe that is why we come for advice to hopefully do the job right, and maybe make the old man proud? Whatever the reason, treasure your days with the cantankerous old buggers, because some day, all you will have left is a box of their ropey old tools and the saw mark in the kitchen table where they were making goodness knows what. ???
