KEEN industrial researcher Colin Davies is attempting to mould together a history of bygone pottery enterprises in South West Lancashire, in particular, those that once flourished in St Helens, Prescot, Sutton and surrounding villages.

Now Colin, from Huyton, is hoping that well-informed customers of this column can help him with his challenge.

He explains: "I am collecting as much information as possible about local potters and their families over past generations, with a view to eventually producing a documented history on the subject".

He's hoping that our readers can dig out some details about the old pottery sites, the potters' family connections and contributions to their local community. Colin regards this as social history's "untold story", pointing out that potters played a significant role in the development and the drive behind the Industrial Revolution, which, in turn, produced new ideas and inventions, "spawning new industries which would eventually overwhelm them".

Long before the production of copper cabling, glass, watchmaking, chemicals and world-famous patent remedies (with which the St Helens-Prescot area is more commonly associated) there were always potters to be found.

Colin would welcome any info on the subject.

HE can be contacted at 44 White Lodge Avenue, Huyton, L36 2PU or by telephone on 0151-480-8239. COULD it be true that beer was once brewed locally from holy water? Well, Thatto Heath reader Mrs L. M. Feeney, hooked on local history, certainly believes so.

She writes: "Not far from the ruins of Windleshaw Chantry, at St Helens cemetery, can be found St Thomas's well whose water was believed to cure diseases of the eye and skin.

"According to legend, the well was believed to have been formed after a priest was beheaded on the spot 300 years ago; and the initials WEH and the date 1798, can still be found on the inside of the well, now dried up and filled with litter".

It was during that year, adds Mrs F, that William and Elizabeth Hill, who owned the site, bricked the well to make it safe. "The Hills also owned a brewery in the area and used the well water to make their beers".

Ironically, that ancient well, once reputed to have a beneficial effect on blighted vision, is now, says Mrs F, "an eyesore".

n CAN anyone else provide more on this fascinating subject and perhaps add other local places of pilgrimage to the list?