But keep the historic pump for show … or let me have it… 
don’t just scrap it, please.
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Sure It depends where the water table is Dave, next doors is dependent springs up a wee hillside, you’ve had a fair bit of rain down there, it’s been dry here for months 
Me tatties are a catastrophe!
I don’t think it had anything to do with the water table, I think it was just acting as a convenient drain for the garden. I don’t know where you think I live but we haven’t had a drop of rain for a very, very long time.
The watter in the well, reflects the level of the surrounding water table in the ground, I think you’re S of us Dave, where we have had a very dry winter/spring, sadly
Hi Andrew!
The thought had crossed my mind, but the pump is 40m away from the house at the bottom of the garden. Add 10m to get to the garage for hooking up to the power and I think that the cost of installing a suitable cable might just match the cost of a new chaine and tampons!!!
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And, think how fit you’re goin’ to be Carl, crankin’ away on that lovely bit of ‘kit’, not mention the cost of the leccy 
Hi Stella
No chance that the pump will be scrapped - I am a sucker for this sort of originality 
Been swotting up this evening on suitable websites about the workings of these pumps, their restoration and what is available to restore them. The parts are quite pricey - until you realise just how much chain and pipework is needed. For a pump with a wheel of diameter 0.8m (which ours is) the depth of the well is likely to be circa 16m!!! If it was less, then the diameter of the wheel would be less. In effect, the chain with tampons would need to be circa 40 to 50m long and the pipework that it runs in (copper) would be circa 20m maybe more.
Thats a lot of pipe and chain!!! And a lot of tampons!!!
If nothing else, my understanding of written technical French is improving!
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I think the leccy idea is out due to the distance from the house but, yes, having read up a bit about them this evening it would appear that I could be cranking up water from a depth of 16m. If each tampon can lift 2 litres of water, and there are 10 tampons in a depth of 16m, then I would be cranking up 20kg of water. Good exercise!!!
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Believe me Bill at the time the water table was not that high, I know the topography of my garden better than you. The water table is normally about four and a half metres lower than the water level in the well was at the time, the water table may have been a few cm higher than normal at the time but four and a half metres, no way. By the way, I also live on the banks of a major river so have a pretty visual baseline for water level close to hand.
Talking of the lack of rain we had a long hot summer last year but the grass grew throughout, the lawn needed mowing every five days throughout August as we had had a wet Spring. This year, despite the aforementioned wet spell the grass stopped growing a while ago and there is not a blade of green stuff to be seen. It is burnt brown. I spent a few days further east last week, between six hundred and a thousand metres up in the hills. I thought it was dry there but it came as quite a shock to see how much drier it was at home. I feel sorry for my neighbours as they run a stud farm and there’s nothing new growing for the horses to eat, not even in the fields right alongside the river which are usually damp all year round.
Sure all that is ‘absolutely, spot on’ dave, will read it termorrer