Village water pump, Eglwysbach
Village water pump, Eglwysbach
This water pump provided the village’s water supply from the 1860s until a mains water supply was installed in the late 1940s. The pump was located at 3 Tyddyn Llan Terrace, beside the main road through the village. After being lost for many years, it was rediscovered and placed on public display here in the cemetery in 2015.
The water was pumped from a spring known as Ffynnon Asa (“Asa’s Well”), which was in this vicinity or a little lower down the hill.
Before the 1860s villagers used to walk through the churchyard with pails full of water from Ffynnon Asa. The well wasn’t regarded as a holy one, despite the name Asa suggesting a connection to the saint of that name (also known as Asaph). One possibility is that the name was originally Ffynnon Isa, meaning “Lower Well”.
Mains water arrived in Eglwysbach before sewers. For a period, householders could fill their sinks from taps but had to place buckets beneath the plugholes to collect the waste water!