St Bernard’s Well opens to the public
St Bernard’s Well, situated by the Water of Leith in Stockbridge,
will be open to the public from 12pm to 3pm on the following days:
Sunday 9 August
Sunday 16 August
Sunday 23 August
Sunday 30 August
Saturday 26 September (as part of Doors Open Day)
This offers an excellent opportunity to visit an historical monument
which is normally closed to the public. Thanks are due to volunteers
from the Dean Village Association for their help with this.
Traditionally the mineral springs at St. Bernards Well are believed to have
been discovered by three boys from Heriot's Hospital about 1760.
In 1789 the owner, Francis Garden of Troup (Lord Gardenstone) commissioned
a new pump house.
The architect was Alexander Naismyth whose design was based on Sybils's
Temple at Tivoli, with ten columns in a circle surrounding a statue of Hygeia in
Coade stone.
The interior has a mosaic floor in terracotta and white with ornate mosaic
domed ceiling and gilded sun-face with pierced ventilation holes.
Following the death of the last private owner, William Nelson the publisher, his
trustees offered the well to Edinburgh Town Council as a gift.
