CONTRACTORS demolishing Okehampton's former Carlton Cinema this week uncovered an ancient well. Paul Gray of Charles Gray Ltd, who are building on the site, said the company had no idea it was there until they found it. 'It's a lovely old well though,' he said. Before the cinema's construction, the well provided water for two courts of houses — Painter's Court and Sparrows Court. These picturesque, seventeenth-century buildings were demolished in 1936 as part of Okehampton Borough Council's slum clearance scheme — though with their leaded windows, thick cob walls, and cobbled courtyard, they would probably be preserved for their heritage value if they were still standing today. In those days, many of the houses in Okehampton still had wells in their basements. The council houses now known as Macey's Terrace were constructed to rehouse the families who had lived in the two courts. As a reward for their co-operation, the families were offered free curtains for their new homes, which were paid for by Okehampton's mayor and made by his wife and daughter. In a full turn of history, a housing development is now being constructed on the Carlton Cinema site. Local historian Mike Wreford suggested that the developers might be able to make the uncovered well a feature of the planned apartment complex, since it is such a reminder of the location's history. Paul Grey said that this would not be possible and added that he didn't think anyone would really like to have the well as a feature of their living room. 'But we're not going to fill it in,' he said. 'We're capping it off, so in 200 years' time somebody else might find it.'