There was a newspaper story a few years ago about someone's attempt to identify the site of Jack and Jill's escapades based on historic maps that showed a well on a hill near a village somewhere in England, and the presence of a large number of people surnamed Jillson in the village.
 
 I don't remember details, and can't find it in a quick Google search, but if I remember right, the writer made the argument that wells were very rarely on hills at the time.
 
 
 

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY on behalf of Susan Walter 
	Sent: Fri 8/10/2007 1:54 PM 
	To: [log in to unmask] 
	Cc: 
	Subject: Re: Wells
	
	

	Hello Janice,
	The well at the Stein Farm museum in National City was purposely located at
	the highest point of the property so that Mr Stein could use gravity to
	water his crops through pipes and troughs.
	S. Walter
	----- Original Message -----
	From: "Janice Adamson" <[log in to unmask]>
	To: <[log in to unmask]>
	Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 6:24 PM
	Subject: Wells
	
	
	> "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water..." This
	children's
	> nursery rhyme has me wondering if anybody out there might be able to shed
	> any light on the digging of wells in the 19th century. I'm particularly
	> interested in health and hygiene concerns and how this might have related
	to
	> the positioning, structure and building of wells (e.g. are they usually on
	> high points on the land, and why would this be so?).  I recall reading
	> something regarding this some years ago in the Great Britain War Office
	> records about building wells in military barracks, but didn't think much
	of
	> it at the time, and as I'm in New Zealand and those records are in the UK,
	I
	> can't revist them!  Any help would be much appreciated.