The Chalybeate at Knappwell

I was delighted to find recently that Ordinance Survey maps were available on line.
I was looking for a particular footpath that ran adjacent to some woods that were filled with old cars from the 1930s (see pic).

While looking at the map for my area, I was amazed to see how much local history there was within a five mile radius.
One interesting discovery was the mention of an ancient well in woods near the Cambridgeshire village of Knapwell. The well is said to have healing properties and its water is reddish in colour. Modern day technology would ascribe this to the nitrates within the ground that the water springs up from. They didnt know that 1000 years ago, they just knew it made you better if you were ill. Such well often were termed "Holywells"
I decided to find it out of interest. Could I? No! I must have spent a good two hours wandering round the woods in vain. It was a bit like the Blair Witch project as well.

Here is a quote from Wiki:

"Early in the 17th century, chalybeate water was said to have health-giving properties and many people have promoted its qualities. Dudley North, 3rd Baron North discovered the chalybeate spring at Tunbridge Wells in 1606. Dudley North’s physician claimed that the waters contained ‘vitriol’ and the waters of Tunbridge Wells could cure:

"the colic, the melancholy, and the vapours; it made the lean fat, the fat lean; it killed flat worms in the belly, loosened the clammy humours of the body, and dried the over-moist brain."

He also apparently said, in verse:

"These waters youth in age renew

Strength to the weak and sickly add

Give the pale cheek a rosy hue

And cheerful spirits to the sad."

The English physician Thomas Sydenham prescribed chalybeate waters for hysteria"

Here is the Blair Witch's house: