MINERAL WATERS AND MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF ESSEX. 233
" This water is said (and, indeed, it is very likely) to do good in cutaneous
foulness of the skin, in removing pimples and obstinate pustules attended with
heat and itching, and also in the cold scurvy attending phlegmatic habits,
especially if half a dram of common salt be added to each half pint of the water.
It is said also to cure sore eyes and sore legs. . . .
" This water deserves a trial in violent head-achs arising from too great
viscidity of the fluids and also in cachexy, where the body be bloated and pale ;
for waters of this description (especially if enlivened by the addition of a
little salt) stimulate the vessels, thin the fluids, carry off the foul humours by
stool, urine, or vomit, and then, by their invigorating power, they enable the
vessels to resist a fresh oppression."
We have not been able satisfactorily to identify the well in
question, chiefly because Trinder does not name the "good
house of grey brick on the neighbouring hill" from which the
spring lies "nearly full south." The Jacobean mansion known
as "Albyns" (which is about five miles from Romford) might
very well be intended, but for the fact that it is of red brick.
The Rev. Lewis N. Prance, F.S.A., of Stapleford Tawney,
who has been good enough to make enquiries on our behalf, can
hear of no well in Stapleford Abbots which has the reputation of
possessing medicinal properties. He suggests that the well-
known spring on Curtis Mill Green may be the one
intended.125 This lies about one hundred and fifty yards east
from the eastern entrance to the park of Albyns. It is a large
and strong spring, from which water flows steadily, causing a
large boggy place on the common, and it is never dry. The
well itself is of some size, measuring about fifteen feet by eight
feet, and it is about four feet deep. One side is bricked and the
whole is well fenced round, to protect it from pollution by cattle.
Its water has no particular taste, smell, or colour, and looks
pure, It is used largely in the vicinity for domestic purposes.
While this may be the well in question, it does not altogether
answer to Trinder's statements. It is not on rising ground and
it is not in Stapleford Abbots, as it lies just across the parish
boundary, in Navestock. Moreover, there is no house of grey
brick to the north of it, though "Suttons (Sir Drummond
Smith's), which is painted white, and may be built of grey
brick, stands on rising ground about a quarter of a mile north-
east. On the other hand, the well is within a few hundred yards
of Richard's Stone, the northernmost boundary of old Hainhault
Forest. On the whole, we know of no other well answering
125 It is shown on the 6-in. Ordnance Map.