It appears that a spring already existed on the site when it was granted to Bishop Eardwulf by King Ethelbert II of Kent around 750 AD. A well was constructed a few hundred yards away from the source and marked with oak trees. Its chalybeate water was reputed to have healing properties. The well eventually became a place of pilgrimage and an oratory in honour of Saint Blaise was built close by. The site was visited, not only on account of the reputed medicinal properties of the water, but also for the 40 days' remittance of penance granted by the Pope to those who on the three holy days of Pentecost made their confession and offered prayers at St Blaise's Chapel. After the Reformation, the oratory fell into ruin and the well into disuse – during the course of time becoming buried and forgotten. However it was rediscovered in 1754, by a Mr. Harwood, the Bishop's chaplain, who noticed a "yellow ochrey sediment, remaining in the tract of a small current, leading from the spring to the corner of the moat, with the waters of which it used to mix". In 1756, Thomas Reynolds, a surgeon, conducted various experiments to test the medicinal qualities of the water from the well and wrote that "the water of this spring is much richer in mineral contents than the water of Tunbridge Wells". He also gave an account of the rediscovery of the well: An impression of the site, as it was in the early 19th century, can also be gleaned from this account by William Hone, in his "Table Book" of 1827: Hone also reported that the well was beginning to fall into disrepair and the area becoming overgrown – this process continued throughout the nineteenth century as the well became less popular as a tourist/pilgrimage site. In 1887, the owner of the Bishop's palace reported that, "The well is still in existence, although the whole building, as restored by my father, was knocked into the moat during the last heavy snowstorm". The well was eventually reconstructed and now stands in a Pulhamite rockery on the edge of a small lake. The outfall from the well flows into the lake which itself used to be part of the moat surrounding the old Bishop's palace.
