Reminiscing of the early 19th century one man wrote:
“On the way from Carron Dams it was very common to meet sooty-faced boys, without jacket or vest, some in leather aprons, with bare arms, all bearing iron kettles or other iron receptacles for water. These boys were out in search of drinking water for the men. Some wells were chained, some guarded by dogs, others enclosed in wooden structures; but no boy would seek to return with empty kettle. Hardie’s Well in Bainsford was a dip well and deemed good, but enclosed, and only very few had the open sesame to it. How changed are the habits of the present time…”
(Falkirk Herald 6 April 1901, 6).
Bainsford had many private wells. By the early 20th century its water supply came under Falkirk and several wells public were introduced. That on the Main Street was damaged in December 1938 when a horse belonging to the Falkirk & District United Co-operative Society, attached to a butcher’s van, bolted and hit the water fountain there (Falkirk Herald 23 Dec 1938).
Falkirk Local History Society 