The Stour

Cale

The River Cale gave its name to Wincanton in Somerset. Ekwall, in his book English River Names suggests its derivation as 'gwyn' meaning white and 'Cawel' which might mean a shower or hollow or stem or channel from the Welsh, Cornish, Greek or Sanskrit. The possible explanations are longer than the stream. However small, the Cale supported a number of mills until as late as 1972 when the Town Mills in Wincanton, used for grinding corn, finally closed.

Wincanton was once noted for its wells (Shatterwell, left), and there was even an attempt to turn it into a fashionable spa town at the end of the eighteenth century. Physicwell House, situated beside two mineral rich springs, was converted to a spa house by Richard Messiter. He utilized the springs for their medicinal waters, and in true entrepreneurial fashion recognised the potential for the transformation of Wincanton into a spa town which would rival those at Leamington and Cheltenham, and be "celebrated throughout the Kingdom".

The house boasted two wells with healing waters - one within the house, (this, along with the sunken bath, still remain, though now covered over) and one in a nearby field. For the accommodation of the patients, Horwood Well Bank was built in a field a short distance away. The chapel, which still stands, was built next to the house, to relieve 'the diseases of the soul'.

For a time, the spa was frequented, and the waters were praised for their medicinal qualities. The fame of the Horwood waters even spread as far as London, where it was sold in Piccadilly and Knightsbridge.

But the speculation failed within two years as the spa lost its attraction, and Richard Messiter went bankrupt. The reason for the failure of the spa is unclear, but it is fascinating to think what might have been, had the enterprise succeeded and Wincanton become a thriving Somerset spa town.

George Sweetman, the Wincanton historian wrote about the town's water supply at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, noting that it was "intermittent, and in many places very impure. The public supply consisted of a pump with chain in the Market Place, a conduit at Pine House, a pump on Bayford Hill, another in Tything, a dipping hole at Thornwell Lane, and at Shatterwell, the shoots; not infrequently all but the latter were dry".

"As early as the year 1558, I find the present form of the name Shatterwell in use, but like most names, it has varied from time to time. Shady well, Shadwell, Shadawell, Shadvill, the common name now being Shatterwell. There is every probability that early in history it was called Chadwell, as at Lichfield, St. Chad or Ceadda was Bishop of Lichfield he being one of the patron saints of Wells..."

"The water of this well was considered hard but was the purest in the town. The spring held out longer than any other in the town. It was a picturesque place, before the present walls were put up, there being two Blue Lias troughs into which the water flowed..."

Sweetman also mentions a spring on Old Hill whose water was used to cure weak eyes.

More recently, the Cale was sadly the location of one of the west country's biggest slurry spills, which caused the death of a great deal of river wild life. Farm slurry, high in ammonia levels, entered the River Cale between August 25th and 28th 2000, starving the water of oxygen over ten kilometres. It is estimated that as many as 50,000 fish may have died in the worst river pollution incident for 15 years.

The Environment Agency worked tirelessly to prevent the slurry from affecting the river downstream. Hydrogen peroxide was pumped into the river in half a dozen places between Cutt Mill and Colber Bridge to raise the oxygen levels.

Why farm slurry was stored by the river in the first place is hard to fathom.

This was one of 14 major pollution accidents to have occurred countrywide in the summer of 2000, exasperating the Environment Agency, anglers and conservationists. One solution may be to raise the fines for polluting rivers which currently are very low. The farmer responsible for the Cale incident was fined only £500.

Please call the Environment Agency's emergency hotline 0800 807060 if you see dead fish floating in a river.

If you know more about this river, please LET US KNOW :
e-mail - info [at] commonground.org.uk