Well, I'm plenty old and lived in a house with iron pipes for 60 years. The water was always clear. Now these pipes were always filled with water so they didn't have excessive access to oxygen. Your boxes would rust far faster and recirculating pond water through pipes would likewise be more oxygenated and rust more rapidly. However, I suspect that on a human scale, that the rusting would appear trivial although the pipes might clog up more after several years. I think your plan has great potential.

Well..., since the wells were Holy because they (and any attributes)were created by the gods or natural spirits, later saints, some going back to neolithic times, it is unlikely that one would be supplied with iron pipes. Usually any improvements would have been done with stone. Metal was not all that available, was usually reserved or owned by rulers and even the ability to make pipe is relatively modern. In any case it would have been prohibitively expensive. Tin or copper would have been a more likely material and even that would have been very, very expensive and an unusual addition as it was not a "natural" material. Iron came along much later than tin and copper.

Wood was used for pipe in some places. A hollowed out tree trunk could be shaped and hardened by fire without resorting to creation that was reserved for the gods. It could even be lined with clay and hardened. Examples are talked about in histories of the fens and moors.

History aside, there could be problems. Oxidation can be affected by the PH and iron would necessarily change that. You would have to test often for that. Iron oxidation can cause an oily film on the surface of the water and will definitely stain everything it touches. There would be a definite odor to the water.

If I needed a particular shape and wasn't able to carve stone, I would work with concrete as a base and weather it before it ages too much with the spray from a hose. Of course you have to be willing to do strange things and make unsightly hard to clean messes that may make your neighbors look at you strangely. Then I would grow lots of moss on it.

Lots of ways to get there but personally I wouldn't use the iron pipe. Too DPA for the look I think you are after. On the other hand, its your Celtic Holy well and your vision so you can tell me where to go. :)

Sleepless, wow you are a wealth of information - thanks! The possibility of oily film from iron oxidation gives me pause - in that case I would use it only for the spout part that is visible. Esthetically it could work - ancient well as modified & modernized by mid-1800s Victorians perhaps? There's always been that sort of thing going on. I like the idea of tin - will have to look into that. Copper is out due to toxicity (as mentioned in other recent threads) but would look fabulous with that green tarnish color.

Chas - Ithink you're on to something there - since we have very hard water here I think the pipes might get limed up and keep the metal from oxidizing - maybe keep copper from leaching into the water too? The question is how long would it take to get a nice layer of lime built up.

Don't want to inundate you with too much history but if that is the look you want you should be looking at cast iron. It has been the material used for carrying water for centuries. While it is more brittle in relative terms it is pretty durable. You could even hook it up to PVC or plastic pipes if you just use it at the ends of runs. It would have been the material used in Victorian times.

I used to belong to a garden club that took care of a city park which included a 20 ft waterfall and pond build during the depression. The fittings were a pain to keep in repair since they did show a lot of wear because they had a much larger expansion ratio than modern PVC. There was no particular red cast in the water but then the darn thing leaked so much it had to be refilled pretty often. When we moved, the club was considering asking the city to upgrade the pipes.

I include a brief quote from WIKI.

"Early Use[edit]
The first use of cast iron pipe is not recorded. Cast iron tubes were first manufactured in the 14th century in Europe for cannon, however, it was not until 1455 in Siegerland that the first officially recorded cast iron water pipe was produced for use in Dillenburg Castle (since destroyed).
The oldest extant water pipes date from the 17th century and were installed to distribute water throughout the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles. These amount to some 35 km of pipe, typically 1m lengths with flanged joints. The extreme age of these pipes make them of considerable historical value. Following extensive refurbishment in 2008 by Saint-Gobain PAM, 80% remain original.
The flanged joints of cast-iron drainpipe were sealed with oakum and molten-lead joints.
For several decades, ductile iron pipe has replaced cast iron as the material of choice. However, many older buildings still contain cast iron sewage piping."

Just a thought. Would it be possible to paint the exposed PVC to look rusty or with the patina of copper? I know there is stone looking paint and have been considering painting an exposed pvc pipe with the stone paint to match my surrounding rocks.

If you want rock look there is also rock on a roll which I used to make a floating island. Except for my design flaws which you can see in the picture. it sure looks like my rocks and it wears well. Here it is in June after spending the winter in the pond.

{{gwi:179614}}

I hope you post pictures when you are done. Sounds fascinating.