In tempestuous weather and during the winter, the boats of the fishermen were hauled up for safety on the Steine. A Diarist, dating his memorandum, Wednesday, September 8th, 1778, says, “An old well is half open among the boats; a little child has just now waddled off the Steyne towards it. I ran to prevent mischief, and succeeded.—Have remonstrated against this dangerous neglect in vain. There are one dry and two wet wells open thereabouts. When a child of fortune or two shall have been lost therein, the wells may be boarded over.—The Commissioners by the Act have sufficient powers, and collect money enough to answer its purposes; yet the Cliff-side is all along covered with rubbish, offensive to the sight and smell. Indeed, there is no occasion to search much for nuisances, obstructions, and inconveniences, in this place.—_Mem._—Since the above complaint, some loose boards have been laid across one of the wet wells.” In the time of Elizabeth, and even at a more recent date, the inhabitants were wholly supplied with water from the public wells, which were town property, under the control of the Lords of the different Manors. Thus, at a Court Baron held for the Manor of Brighthelmston-Lewes, in October (20 Elizabeth) a bye-law was made that nothing should be laid within four feet of any well within the said Manor. On the Court Rolls, also, of the same Manor, appears the following:—“April (19 Jac.) it is ordered at the Court-Leet, that a building which Richard Scrase, gentleman, has erected over the common well in the upper end of North Street, shall not convey to the said Scrase, or his heirs, any right in the said well, more than as an inhabitant.” This well remained in use till within the last few years, and was known as the Unicorn Yard well, and was situate in the present space immediately in front of Blaber’s eating-house, at the south end of Windsor Street. Another well was in West Street, in the water channel before the premises now occupied by Mr. Feldwick, cabinet maker. The curb of it was raised, on a brick-work platform, around which was the main watercourse of the street. About eighty years ago, in consequence of the well becoming an impediment to the increased traffic in the street, and being but little used, it was domed over, and for some years a square stone at the edge of the pavement marked its site. The other town wells still in use by means of pumps, are on the Knab; in East Street, by the Sussex Arms, formerly the Spread Eagle; in Market Street, opposite Payne’s Hotel; and in Pool Valley, adjoining the Duke of Wellington Inn. The well situate just without the poultry portion of the Market, and likewise the one in Little East Street, from being put out of use by the service of the Water Company, have been closed over, as has also the great northern well which but a few years since supplied a large tank that was erected on the area between St. Peter’s Church Enclosure