In 1850, the Maharajah of Benares had a conversation with a son of the squire of Ipsden in Oxfordshire. He learned about the village of Stoke Row, which had no nearby source of fresh water.

Some years later, the Maharajah was reminded of this story, and sent a foreign aid package in the form of funds to dig a well in Stoke Row. The well was completed in 1864, and now stands in its own grounds with a magnificent canopy over it.