MINERAL WATERS AND MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF ESSEX. 209
The well was about one hundred yards from, and in front of,
the present Spa Place, lying in a meadow on the northern slope
of the valley of a tiny rivulet which runs down into the Black-
water River. Its site is, as Taverner says, close to the fine
avenue of limes which led formerly from Witham Place towards
Faulkbourne. Although the greater part of this avenue has now
disappeared, like Witham Place itself, a considerable portion of
what was the western end remains, and the site of the well was
about a dozen yards to the south-east of the eastern-most tree
now standing. Here a very slight depression in the turf, about
five feet across and scarcely noticeable unless pointed out, was
shown to Mr. Christy as the site of the well, by Mr. Quilter,
who lives close at hand, and his statement was confirmed by
several elderly neighbours of his, though none could speak
positively. Since then, however, Canon Ingles has been
informed by a very old woman named Brown, living in Church
Street, that she can remember dancing, in her young days, on
the wooden trap which then covered the well, and that it was at
the spot in question. She adds that the well has since been
closed by a dome of brickwork, over which turf has been laid.53
We remain in doubt, therefore, as to the precise chemical con-
stituents which gave the water the curative value claimed for it.
(5).—The Little Leighs (or "Leez") Spring.—This small and
comparatively unimportant spring is first mentioned in 1699 by
Allen, who was clearly the discoverer of it. He speaks of it54 as
"A water in a field adjoyning to the Right Honourable the Earl
of Manchester's Place, at Leez, in Essex,"5"' and classes it
among "chalybeat waters that contain a nitrous salt." He says
that the spring
" is in a gravel and is so small as to be considerable only that it is in a breeding
pond. This water disturbs not a solution of sublimate in fair water. It
render'd milky a solution of Sal Saturni, by which it distinguish'd itself from
saltpetre, but yet not more than saltpetre's second salt does. With Lignum
Nephriticum, it gave a pale yellow, and not fine, exactly the colour of small
beer; which, at four day's end, precipitated, so as to leave just the top of the
liquor clear. The water kept till it had lost its spirit and, with that, its power
53 Further, the spot is marked on the 6-inch Ordnance Map as the "Site of Witham Spa."
54 Chalybeat and Purging Waters, pp. 18-19 (1699).
55 The Montagus, Earls and (after 1719) Dukes of Manchester, inherited Leez Priory from
the Richs, Earls of Warwick, but lived there very little, preferring Kimbolton. In 1699, the
Priory belonged to Charles, the fourth Earl, to whom Allen's book is dedicated. It fell to
decay and was greatly reduced in size during the Eighteenth Century.