The deepest well in the world, dug by hand (5 photos)

Near the Nuffield Hospital in Woodingdean, not far from the city of Brighton and Hove in England, there is a small, unremarkable-looking covered well. But despite its unpretentious appearance, Woodingdean Well has the right to be considered the deepest hand-dug well in the world. Its depth is 390 meters.





Woodingdean Well is an example of unwavering Victorian stubbornness and a flight of engineering thought. In the 1850s, Brighton Corporation decided to build a new workhouse on the top of what is now Elm Grove, and to add a school for troubled youngsters to it. The school was to teach the town's errant youth "the habits of industry" and free them from the "scourge of beggary".



To supply water to this new establishment, the corporation decided to dig a new well, as the local water supply was too expensive. A painstaking effort to cut costs followed.

The original plan was to dig a brick well 2 metres wide to a depth of 120 metres, where groundwater was expected to meet. After two years of digging, the shaft passed this mark, but still no water was found. Believing they had missed the source of the water, the contractor gave orders to dig a side chamber 10 meters to the north, but this also yielded nothing. Side tunnels were dug to the west and east, but neither yielded any results. Instead of giving up, the initiators of the work approved the construction of a 1.5 meter wide shaft at the end of the eastern tunnel.





For the next two years, excavation work continued around the clock, with people working in terrible conditions. Lit by smoky candles, workers descended hundreds of metres underground on rickety ladders to dig with hand tools, loading buckets of waste and passing it to the surface, then using bricks passed from above to build a modest interior. Steam engines pumped air through pipes so the workers could breathe. The heat was so oppressive that many took off their clothes.

The deeper the well got, the more expensive it was to keep digging. Woodingdean's well was now costing local taxpayers around £90 a week, and the authorities began to squabble over the costs. Many joked that the town was trying to dig to the antipodes.



Finally, at a depth of almost 400 meters and after four years of digging, the earth began to move. When the water broke through to the surface, the workers began to energetically climb up the shaft to avoid drowning. It took 45 minutes to get out of such a stunning depth.

Despite the enormous expense, the colossal effort, and the promise that the well would save the city a fortune in water bills each year, it was used for only four years before being abandoned in favor of a more practical water supply.



The school for which the well was dug is long gone, but the well remains in place. Now the Woodingdean Well is surrounded by a brick wall and covered with a metal lid on top to prevent curious people and useful things from falling down.