Black Mary's Well

Black Mary's Well, often called Black Mary's Hole, was a natural spring located on the banks of the River Fleet in Clerkenwell. In the seventeenth century, this site was a popular destination for Londoners who sought out its iron-rich waters, which were widely believed to possess healing properties, particularly for those suffering from sore eyes. The area surrounding the spring was once a quiet, rural landscape of rolling meadows and grazing sheep, a sharp contrast to the dense urban environment that later obscured the site entirely.