Isaac's Well

Just off the main drag, in the lovely village of Allendale, enveloped by the rambling, rugged landscape of the Allen Valley, sits this unassuming little watering hole called Isaac's Well.

It's a direct nod to the philanthropist and general good soul of 1800s Allendale, Isaac Holden.

We've met Isaac and seen his care for his community before when we visited The Hearse House, a short drive away at Ninebanks. But for now, we're sticking in Allendale where his wife, Ann, ran a store selling general groceries and household comestibles. You can never get enough of them!

Isaac had worked as a miner and didn't have two ha'pennies to rub together after he lost his job when the mine closed. He couldn't and didn't want to rely on Ann's wage alone, so he took to the lines of desire over the moors and trudged in all weathers selling tea to people living in the remotest of areas.

You can walk this 58km circular route now known as Isaac's Tea Trail.

Singing hymns and selling his poems, he devised an early form of Allendalian (yes, I've just made that up) crowdfunding to source his philanthropic ways.

Now, I'd walk miles for a good cupper, but not every day. Isaac took his wares to farms and villages in the hope that people would spend a few pennies so he could clothe his kids and put food on the table, but his endeavours were not self-seeking as such and a percentage of his profits were set aside for charitable ventures.

A man with a deep sense of morals and a firm religious zeal, he realised that to stew a good brew, the people of the Allen Valleys needed good, clean, sanitised, healthy drinking water.

At this time, water borne diseases like cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis and dysentery were rife and illness or even death from contaminated water wasn't uncommon.

We were struck by the simplicity of this necessity, fresh running water, which would have been a new fangled addition to life in Allendale. Isaac Holden clearly took time to notice people's need and supply them with safe and sanitised water.

There's a large, higgledy-piggledy stone receptacle made of gritstone and fed by a cast iron pipe flowing water into the trough below. If you look closely, you can see the rusty remains of a bucket stand and to the right is a more ornate elliptical arched stone panel with the inscription, Isaac's Well with a date of 1849.

A small plaque tells us: 'Isaac's Well is named after Isaac Holden (c.1805-1857), a local tea seller who raised the funds for its construction. Fresh, clean drinking water not only helped overcome the threat of cholera and typhoid but also made better tasting tea. Although no longer safe to drink from, the well now lies on the route of 'Isaac's Tea Trail', a walk that follows the tea seller's footsteps through the North Pennines.'

Originally situated over the road, the well stood there for many years until piped water was introduced to Allendale in the 1870s.

Isaac Holden's charity and care was very much appreciated by the people of Allendale and beyond, and when he died in 1857, over six hundred people clubbed together to commemorate his life in a memorial which reads:

'In memory of Isaac Holden a native of this parish, who died November 12th 1857 aged 51 years. He gained the esteem and respect of the public by his untiring diligence in originating works of charity and public usefulness.'

Upwards of 600 persons subscribed to erect this monument.