St. Ann’s Well was originally a shrine to Arnemeza, the Roman nymph goddess of wells. The well is fed by the geothermal spring, and this is same source is bottled and sold internationally by Buxton Mineral Water Company. The well is regarded as a healing spring and was probably a place of pilgrimage by the early Middle Ages. By Tudor times it was established as a spa. Such notable figured such as The Earl of Leicester, Lord Burghley and Mary Queen of Scots, visited the well.
For further information, please read Haunted Britain by Antony D. Hippisley Coxe.