Biddestone
To investigate the stream emerging near Biddestone Manor.
We drove to Biddestone and parked by the pond. It was almost dark. According to council records: in 1661 Mr. Mountjoy, the owner of Biddestone Manor, made a gutter from the springs and put the water from the streets into a pond. A spring opened near the Manor House which was called the 'Holy well'.(1) This pond possibly represents the origins of the Pudding Brook. On the map there is a stream flowing from Biddestone Manor towards the A4, which is joined by the water from the Holy Well before passing under the road and converging with the stream labelled Pudding Brook.
We passed the front of the Manor with tall hedges flanking a small front gate, then turned left down the side of the house. It was almost dark and we had to guess where the Manor pond might be. We walked along the lane. There was a dip and looking over the boundary of the road, we saw the black gleam of water in the shadows; it was a small pond which seemed to come from under the road and therefore from the Manor. There was a low wall, broken, its stones tumbling down towards the water which lay about six feet below. Maybe this pond, which was wide to begin with, then narrowed, was the beginning of the stream which continued down to the A4.
It was too dark to see further than the trees around the pond. We headed back, noting a stream running along on the same side as the Manor – possibly, this was the water which Mr. Mountjoy took from the springs via a gutter.
1 - https://www.biddestonevillage.co.uk/biddestone-village/history/