The public well at High Airth took the form of an octagonal stone structure with two projecting wing walls on the south-east side. The chamber stood to a height of around 1.2m above the ground level and was covered with large stone slabs. A set of six steps between the wing walls led down below ground level to the water. The well appears to have lain in a yard or village green to the east of what was the main road through the burgh in the 17th century.
At the end of that century the settlement moved down to Low Airth and the old town was slowly abandoned. The final buildings were cleared away in the first two decades of the 19th century. The area became very overgrown and the structure was damaged by trees growing out of it. However, its final destruction came in 1991 when the owner of Gardener’s Cottage took it apart.
(NS 8980 8731)
Falkirk Local History Society 