St Ann's Drinking Well | |
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General information | |
Town or city | Buxton, Derbyshire |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 53°15′32″N 1°54′51″W / 53.2588°N 1.9143°W |
Completed | 1940 |
St Ann's Well is an ancient natural warm spring in Buxton, Derbyshire in England. The drinking well is located at the foot of The Slopes (formerly St Ann's Cliff) and opposite the Crescent hotel and the Old Hall Hotel.
The natural warm waters of Buxton have been revered since Roman times. By the 1520s the spring was dedicated to St Anne (mother of the Virgin Mary) and the curative powers of the waters from the well were reported. A 16th-century act of parliament ruled that a free supply of the spring water must be provided for the town's residents. The geothermal spring rises from about half a mile (1 km) below ground and about a quarter of a million gallons (a million litres) of water flow out per day. The mineral water emerges at a steady 27°C (80°F). Analysis of the water has indicated that it has a high magnesium content and that it originated from rainwater from around 5,000 years ago. The same spring water is bottled and sold as Buxton Mineral Water.[1][2][3]