St. Govor’s Well

St. Govor’s Well in Kensington Gardens carries a name that suggests deep ancient origins, but the site is a nineteenth-century invention. It was named in 1856 by Sir Benjamin Hall, the First Commissioner of Works, who chose to honor a minor sixth-century Welsh hermit from Llanover. Hall held the title of Baron of Llanover and simply projected his own Welsh connection onto this spot of parkland. Before he applied the name and formal structure, there was no record of any such holy site in this part of London.