Saddlescombe Donkey Wheelhouse

Like Stanmer, Saddlescombe Farm is one of the last few remaining farms in the Downs with its original buildings.

The Domesday Book of 1086 refers to ‘Selscombe’ farm and records 13 acres of meadow, land for 10 ploughs, woodland capable of supporting five hogs, and a human population of 135.

For many centuries, all human (and animal) inhabitants of Saddlescombe relied on water drawn from this well. known to have been deepened – but not dug – by the Knights Templar in the 13th century.

Today the Saddlescombe estate is owned by the National Trust and sits on the South Downs Way, a 100-mile long walking trail from Winchester to Eastbourne. There are regular Open Days, but usually the farm itself is not accessible to the public, however, as the trail runs beside the ancient Donkey Wheel, you can visit any time.

This is from the Britain Express website:

One fascinating fact is that the donkeys could be trained to walk one way for 12 minutes, step off the wheel, turn around, step back on again, and start walking in the opposite direction. This ‘automated’ approach meant that the donkeys could raise and lower a large bucket into the well, fill it with water, and pull it to the surface all without human intervention.

Although the winding mechanism at Saddlescombe differs from that at Stanmer in many important respects, in both cases the bucket(s) were raised and lowered by means of a handmade iron chain, forged at the smithy on the farm. Today, heavy rope is used at the working donkey wheels at Carisbrooke Castle and at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum‘s reconstructed wheelhouse from Catherington, near Portsmouth, which remained in use until the last century. As with the pre-1838 donkey wheelhouse at Stanmer, the treadwheel was originally housed inside a small thatched timber building, constructed over a 300′ deep well. The reconstructed Catherington wheel at Singleton is in working order and is built over a 12’ deep demonstration well. Incidentally, the reconstructed bucket was based on the surviving bucket at Saddlescombe. The design at Stanmer is almost identical but here the wheel and the well are large enough to accommodate two buckets, counterbalancing each other so that when one is up the other is down.