Gosport historian Philip Eley, writing in The Place Names of Gosport, tells us:
Anns Hill. Annswell. 14th century. Annswell probably derives from the Old English enadawiell – duck’s stream – reflecting the stream that once flowed into the head of Forton Millpond. Later the name transferred itself to a natural spring at the corner of Mill Road (Windmill Road) with Brockhurst Road. The transformation from well to hill, decades before the first railway bridge, is quite obscure. Perhaps there was once a slight rise in the otherwise flat landscape (now lost to brick earth excavation) which was ironically called a hill.
The 1863 map of Gosport, showing the water company mains and water sources labels Ann’s Well at the north side of Brockhurst Road, close to ‘Anns Hill Lane’. Also marked is a pond at the junction of Brockhurst Road and Forton Road with Anns Hill Lane.
A newspaper report of 1857 reports that:
An epidemic has necessitated the removal of a number of the Royal Marine Light Infantry battalion quartered at Gosport, to Woolwich and other quarters. The Adjutant General of the Marines instituted an inquiry into the state of the barracks at Forton and the result was an order to remove two companies to another locality, to improve the ventilation, and to shut up a well which had been polluted by communication with a drain, and get the water supply from another source – St. Ann’s well in contiguity with the barracks.
Two Men Suffocated In A Well: In 1899 an accident was reported at the well. A man named Blackburn was repairing a pump in the bottom of the well at St. Ann’s Hill Gosport when his comrades became alarmed at the absence of signals from Blackburn. Another named Bristow descended into the well to ascertain the cause. Bristow did not return and it was afterwards discovered that both men had become victims to gases accumulated at the bottom of the well, which was 40ft deep and had fallen into water and were drowned. A third man who descended into the well to recover the bodies was nearly dead when drawn to the surface.
In 1937 another report in the Hampshire Telegraph tells:
Now back to Ann’s Hill. In Brockhurst Road was a spring called St. Ann’s Well, where people went to get their water. A little farther on was a dip in the road, and at the side a pond near The Market House beerhouse. This was called St. Ann’s Hill. To make the pull up the arch a little better the pond and dip were filled up, and the name Ann’s Hill was given to the arch. When the cemetery was first laid out, 1854 (enlarged 1887, re-enlarged 1902), the same name, St. Ann’s Hill was given to it, although there is no hill within miles.
The writer well remembers having a drink from St. Ann’s Well, or the spring, as it was more commonly known. It was diverted into the drain and all trace has gone.
Original page created by David Moore.