Two unique ancient wells in the heart of Vinh city

The first ancient well is located in the middle of the yard of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh (commonly known as Le Thi Tung). Mrs. Thanh is 90 years old this year, has two sons who are martyrs, and was awarded the title of Vietnamese Heroic Mother by the State. Currently, Mrs. Thanh's memory has declined and she can no longer remember much.

The ancient well in the yard of Nguyen Thi Thanh's family has its mouth sealed with concrete slabs. Photo: Cong Khang

According to Mr. Tran Van Linh (60 years old), the eldest son of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh, he saw this well in front of the house since he was learning to walk. His father, when he was still alive, said that the well had existed for a long time, possibly since before the French colonial period. It is impossible to determine the exact age, but the well in front of the house has a history of hundreds of years.

The well is skillfully made of stone blocks. Photo: Cong Khang

Because the well is located in the middle of the yard, to avoid inconvenience in daily life, Mr. Thanh's family lowered the well wall to about 30cm. And the mouth of the well is covered with concrete slabs to avoid the risk of people and objects falling down, leaving only space for the pump pipe. The well has a diameter of nearly 2.5m, more than 3m deep, many years ago it was used for family activities, from cooking, bathing, washing, and watering vegetables.

In recent years, the tap water system has been piped to the house, but Mr. Thanh’s family still uses a pump to draw water from this well to serve the needs of bathing, washing the house, and watering the vegetable garden and plants. In particular, the family only uses water from the old well to make green tea.

The ancient well water is used by Mr. Tran Van Linh's family for bathing, washing clothes and watering vegetables and plants in the garden. Photo: Cong Khang

According to observations, the ancient well wall was skillfully assembled with large stone blocks, both sturdy and highly aesthetic. After hundreds of years, it is still intact, with no trace of erosion.

“Some people have discussed filling in the well to create more living space, but this is an ancient well and the family wants to preserve and conserve historical relics. At the same time, we have an additional source of water to use, saving on tap water costs,” said Mr. Tran Van Linh.

The ancient well in Mr. Phan Thanh Hoi's house is covered with an iron mesh. Photo: Cong Khang

Also in the area of ​​block 12, in the yard of Mr. Phan Thanh Hoi, there is still an ancient well. In terms of size, depth and wall of the well, there are many similarities with the ancient well in the yard of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh's family. The only difference is that the wall of the well above is about 50 cm high, the mouth of the well is covered with a large iron mesh.

Looking through the net, one can see the clear water and the stone blocks that are built around the well. Like Mr. Thanh’s family, Mr. Hoi mainly uses the water from the ancient well to wash all kinds of items and goods. And because the house has been sold many times, Mr. Hoi bought it not long ago, so he does not know the history of the ancient well.

Mr. Hoi's family uses well water to wash utensils and goods. Photo: Cong Khang

According to Mr. Hoi’s neighbors, this ancient well is also very old, possibly at the same time as the ancient well in Mr. Thanh’s yard. In the past, people in the area often came here to get water for their daily needs.

Mr. Le Viet Thanh - Head of Block 12 said: “The two ancient wells in the block have existed for a very long time, hundreds of years ago. In the past, this place was called Co village, Huong Thuy commune, Vinh town. Co village has two hamlets, Dinh hamlet and Thuong hamlet; these two ancient wells are the village wells, which serve the daily water needs of the people…”.