The Johnny Blue's Wells (Scots: Johnny Blue Waal) (Barrhead Dialect) is a spring well in the back roads district in East Renfrewshire, Scotland. Standing 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) high and 2.15 metres (7 ft 1 in) wide,[1] it is a small former watering point between Neilston and Barrhead on Springfield Road.

Johnny Blue's Well
Year1800s (1800s)
TypePublic fountain
MediumStone
Dimensions1.3 m × 2.15 m (4.3 ft × 7.1 ft)
LocationNeilston, Glasgow, Scotland
Coordinates55°47′13.2″N 4°23′47.2″W / 55.787000°N 4.396444°W / 55.787000; -4.396444

History

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According to local tradition, Johnny Blue was a print maker in the dye works who walked past the well going home to Neilston and reputedly washed the blue dye off himself there.[2] His real name was James Ferguson[citation needed] and he came from Gateside.[3] Ferguson was also a poet, two of his poems appeared in Vale of Leven poet, Hugh Caldwell's 1903 collection as part of a brief flyting between the two writers[3] and a further poem appears in The Annals of Barrhead.[4]

"Johnnie Blue" wis a poet, Gateside his abode,
His well's situated on Neilston back-road,
An' over its waters he cast a great spell,
That they'd a' be poets who drank oot the well.
[3]

— Hugh Caldwell, 2nd stanza of "Johnnie Blue's Well"

In 2017, the East Renfrewshire Council assured Barrhead residents that the local landmark would be preserved after concerns were raised about a new housing development at the site.[2] Residents have requested a plaque to be mounted and it be declared a historic site.[5]

References

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Citations
  1. ^ "Google Johnny Blue Well". google.com.
  2. ^ a b Reilly, Jonathon (21 September 2017). "Campaign to repair Johnny Blue's Well gaining support". Barrhead News. Gannett Company. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Caldwell, Hugh (1903). Alexandria, Dumbartonshire: J. Cromarty Smith. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ Murray, Robert J.P. (1942). The Annals of Barrhead. Glasgow: Robert Gibson & Sons, Booksellers. p. 106. ASIN B0007K8C3U.
  5. ^ Reilly, Jonathon (28 August 2017). "All's 'well' after fears for piece of Barrhead and Neilston history". Greenock Telegraph. Gannett. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
Bibliography
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