notes:

I first came across Hope's Book of Wells and Springs in 2004, inside a small map revealed a large number of wells and springs across Oxford. Following this map and drawing on range of other sources from conversations, following old roads and many books and maps I walked through the city seeking these often lost sources of water.

In the summer of 2004 during OOMF, a water festival in Oxford I invited people to a discussion in the Waterman Arms, Osney where we talked about the nature of wells and possible locations of rising water in Oxford. The maps you can download on this site are inspired by the desire they expressed to explore Oxford through these sites.

During my research I have met, been accompanied by and learnt from many interesting people from James Rattue a historian and author of The Living Stream to James Attlee author of Isolarion ,a journey through Cowley Road, Oxford. The chatpter Returning to Source includes a discussion on this project.

The individual and joint histories of the wells and springs revealed abattoirs and breweries; lepers and the mystical as well as sites of miracles and healing. There were contrasting uses between communal and individual between public and private and changing relevance within the urban environment.

I have been revealing these locations in the contemporary city by gilding locations with a circle of copper leaf and producing maps that draw on the watery nature of city.

This project is being supported by Artplus and I hope in the future to create further interventions in these locations to draw attention to these sites and develop the questions they raise about our relationships with water.