Lowewood Museum
Samaritan Woman

Samaritan Woman in Hoddesdon

Created 21 June, 2008

Samaritan Woman in 1893Into an inn did the equipage roll,
At a town called Hoddesdon, the sign of the Bull,
Where a nymph with an urn divides the highway,
And into a puddle pours mother of tea.

This extract from the poem "Down Hall" by Matthew Prior, 1664-1721, is the first of eleven verses describing his arrival in Hoddesdon by coach, and of his staying the night at the Bull Inn, and of his departure the next morning to his home Down Hall near Sheering in Essex, in 1715.

The figure of the 'nymph' had stood in the centre of the town for about eighty-five years at this time, and had been mentioned by many writers before Prior, and was to be referred to by many others in the 112 years it had yet to stay there. Although Prior referred to the figure as a 'nymph', it was known to the people of Hoddesdon as the Samaritan Woman, but it is not known who gave it that name; whoever it was, undoubtedly had in mind the story of Jesus and the Woman of Samaria whom He met at Jacob's Well, as told in the Gospel of St John, ch iv, verses 4-42. When Mr - later Sir Marmaduke - Rawdon built his house in Hoddesdon in 1622, he provided it with a supply of water by means of lead piping, from a point near High Grounds - now known as High Leigh - about a half mile west of the town in Lord Street. At that time the source of the water was called Goddes Well Acre, but later became known as Spring Close, or Conduit Close.

A nymph of stone, who from an urn doth pour
Into the pitchers of both rich and poor,
Her limpid treasures from the Western Vale.
Whose unexhausted bounties seldom fail;
And never grudging, ever generous she,
With the just element for making tea.
Thanks generous Rawdon for thy kind bequest,
Remotest ages shall the donor bless.

About 1654 a branch pipe was taken to the Grange, where it still - though with a decreased flow - supplies the jet to the fountain on the lawn ; a short time later another branch was taken from the Samaritan Woman to the Thatched House for the use of the brewery. Several other houses on the Thorowgood family property also received supplies. Mr Rawdon's wife Elizabeth was the heiress daughter of Thomas Thorowgood, gentleman and property owner of Hoddesdon.
In 1679 an agreement was made by the town with the Marmaduke Rawdon of that time by which the water from Rawdon House was to run in a leaden pipe of one-inch bore from the main pipe to the stone image from 6 o'clock in the morning to 8 o'clock in the evening in the summer half- year, and from eight in the morning to eight in the evening in the winter half-year. On the death in 1684 of the above Mr Rawdon, another Marmaduke Rawdon, his son, succeeded to the property, and in 1725 found himself at variance with the inhabitants of Hoddesdon, when it was alleged that he had allowed certain irregularities to creep in regarding the supply of water to the town given by his ancestor. It is likely that by supplying so much water to houses on property owned by William Plomer, his son-in- law, the supply to the townspeople had been seriously curtailed. The dispute was eventually settled by arbitration, and the Award - a lengthy document - found in favour of the inhabitants. This document was con- firmed and acted upon by all subsequent owners of Rawdon House.
For some years previous to 1826 the flow of water from the conduit had considerably diminished, and, partly on account of the waste of water, and, partly because it was felt that the pond into which the water was discharged was no longer desirable, the figure was taken down in July 1826, and the pond was filled in. Another fact was undoubtedly an even stronger reason for its removal; a contributor to a newspaper of the time wrote: 'It is well known from local hearsay that the disfigurement of the statue which by now had some holes in the torso for the pipes, together with the dwindling flow of water, made the whole thing appear indelicate and suggestive.'

Iron pump c1860The Samaritan Woman was replaced by an iron pump having fixed above it a large gas lamp, supported by four upswung foliated iron struts; at the same time a capacious tank was constructed in the ground below it.
Those who wanted buckets of water used the pump worked by a large iron handle, but for those who wanted smaller quantities, a tap was provided at the rear.
In the first decade of this century many houses in the town were without piped water, and a familiar sight was that of the boys from Burford Street, Amwell Street, and Lord Street, whose early morning job it was to get their family's water supply daily. Each boy carried two buckets and an iron hoop; when returning to their homes with full buckets they would place the hoops horizontally between them at the handles, and by walking inside the hoops they escaped being splashed as they walked. Sometimes a man would be seen carrying water buckets by means of a yoke.

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Last updated: 19 July, 2008