WATER SUPPLY

See Also: BATHS & WASHING; BREWING, DISAPPEARED OR RELOCATED; CHOLERA Water Supply; CITY LIVERY COMPANIES Water Conservators Company; ELECTRICITY; THE FINANCEPHALOGRAPHICAL CROCODILE HUNTER; GAS; LAVATORIES; RAILWAYS; SEWAGE; THE THAMES; TREES Varieties of Tree, Elm, Waterpipes

In 1827 the government commissioned Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), Thomas Telford, and William Brande to investigate London's water supply. The following year the triumvirate published a report. Its proposals included the adoption of sand filtration.

(Website: https://britishdowsers.org (The British Society of Dowsers))

The Aldgate Pump

In George II's reign an 'Aldgate Pump' was a bad merchant's note. However, it was not until the late 19^thC that the pump's water was formally proven to be contaminated.

Location: 65-68 Leadenhall Street, EC3A 2AD (orange, yellow)

The Chelsea Waterworks

As London grew eastwards and westwards it was private companies that supplied water to the inhabitants of the newly urbanised districts. The Chelsea Waterworks Company was incorporated in 1723 under an Act of Parliament. The business took water from the Thames and supplied it to its customers in areas such as Kensington and Pimlico. In 1725 the Company built the Grosvenor Canal. As the river's level started to rise the canal's lock gates were opened to admit water. As the tide was about to turn the gates would be shut. It would then ebb, lowering the river level. The water trapped in the canal was allowed to return to the Thames in a controlled manner, powering tide mills as it did so. The energy transmitted was used to pump water about the site and out to the Company s satellite reservoirs. In 1742 the business acquired two atmospheric engines to supplement the tide-mills. The mills continued to be used until the 1770s.

The Chelsea Waterworks had a satellite reservoir that was located within Hyde Park halfway along Park Lane. It was encircled by two rings of trees and tree-lined walks ran both north and south from it.

The opening of Vauxhall Bridge (1816) prompted the 1^st Earl Grosvenor to improve the Grosvenor Canal in 1824. The likes of the Bramah engineering works and the builder Thomas Cubitt leased canal-side sites. Housing was to develop along the Canal during the middle of the century.

Sir Francis Burdett was one of Westminster's M.P.s. In 1827 he submitted to the House of Commons a petition that set out complaints about the poor quality of water that was being supplied to his constituents. Two years later the Chelsea Waterworks installed a new filtration system that had been developed by James Simpson.

The Metropolis Water Act of 1852 banned water companies from extracting water from the Thames's tidal portion. The efficiency of steam technology had freed the Chelsea Waterworks from its need to be by the Grosvenor Canal. In the 1850s the company developed a new set of reservoirs at Seething Wells1 that took their water upriver of London's urban sprawl. A set of interim reservoirs were constructed on high ground in Putney. The business s infrastructure stretched out over a dozen miles east to west.

The development of long-distance travel by railways was in large part at the expense of the canals. This was given expression when the upper section of Grosvenor Canal site was developed into two railway stations (1860 and 1862).

Location: Victoria Railway Station, Victoria Street, SW1V 1JT (orange, blue)

Grosvenor Road, SW1V 4BE. By the Western Pumping Station (1875). The Grosvenor Canal s lock gates. (purple, brown)

See Also: ESTATES The Grosvenor Estates; MILLS Tide Mills; RAILWAY STATIONS Victoria Railway Station; THE THAMES Tidal Thames

¹. Subsequently, Seething Wells became known as Surbiton.

². The Chelsea Waterworks was acquired by the Metropolitan Water Board using powers that had been vested in it by the Metropolitan Water Act of 1902.

The Drinking Fountain Association

In 1859 London's first drinking fountain was opened by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain & Cattle Trough Association.

The Drinking Fountain Association is active in both London and in developing countries.

See Also: ANIMAL WELFARE The Metropolitan Drinking Fountains & Cattle Trough Association

Website: www.drinkingfountain.org

The Great Conduit

In 1237 Westminster Abbey granted the City of London a water supply from the springs at Tyburn. A conduit was constructed. To the north of what is now the western section of Oxford Street a set of cisterns and a Banqueting House were built. The latter was for the use of the Lord Mayor of London and City dignitaries after they had made official visits to inspect the springs. The conduit ran across the City's Conduit Mead estate (present-day New Bond Street and Conduit Street). Then the pipe went passed through Charing Cross and along the Strand and Fleet Street. It rose up Ludgate Hill and ran around the northern side of St Paul's Cathedral. It discharged its charge into a large tank which was located near the eastern end of Cheapside.

In the 1380s the Great Conduit assumed its name after a second smaller one was constructed to the east of the Church of St Michael le Querne. The latter was known as the Little Conduit. During the 1440s water from springs in Paddington started to be fed into the Great Conduit.

Following the Great Fire of 1666 the Great Conduit was no longer used.

The City sold its western outpost. The Banqueting House was demolished. Stratford Place (1775) was built upon the site.

Location: Conduit Street, W1S 2YZ (purple, yellow)

New Bond Street, W1S 3SS (orange, purple)

Stratford Place, W1C 1AY (purple, orange)

See Also: THE CITY OF LONDON Stratford Place; HALLS; THE ROYAL PARKS Hyde Park; WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Hampstead Ponds

William Paterson (1658-1719) - the founder of the Bank of England - created reservoirs on Hampstead Heath as part of a plan to supply London with drinking water. These became what are now known as Hampstead Ponds.

Website: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/hampstead-heath/where-to-go-at-hampstead-heath/mixed-pond www.hampsteadheath.net/swimming-ponds

The London Bridge Waterworks

Pieter Morice, a Dutch or Low German engineer, was granted a 500-year lease on one of the arches of London Bridge. In 1581 he erected a waterwheel on this to draw water from the Thames. The device was powered by the rush of water underneath the bridge. Sufficient power was derived for water to be pumped as far as Cornhill. The original waterwheel was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666. The Morice family had a new one constructed and mounted upon the arch.

In 1701 the goldsmith Sir Richard Soame paid 38,000 for the London Bridge Waterworks.The lease was altered to allow other arches of the bridge to also be used by the enterprise. He sold 300 shares in the venture for 500 each. He used the capital to reconstruct the waterworks plant. A Mr Sorocold, an engineer, was paid to build the new engines. In 1702 there were thirteen engines operating in four the crossing's arches.

The London Bridge Waterworks was outperformed by other water suppliers. The New River Company acquired the business. In 1822 the Waterworks was demolished. The waterwheel was not incorporated into Sir John Rennie's design for the new London Bridge that was built during the 1830s.

Location: London Bridge, EC4R 3AE (orange, purple)

See Also: BRIDGES London Bridge

The London Museum of Water & Steam

The London Museum of Water & Steam

Location: Kew Bridge Pumping Station, Green Dragon Lane, TW8 0EN

Website: https://waterandsteam.org.uk

The Metropolitan Water Board

In 1899 a Royal Commission recommended that a unitary authority should be established to oversee London's water supply. Four years later the Metropolitan Water Board was established.

The Board was wound up in 1974. Its powers were transferred to the Thames Water Authority.

See Also: LOCAL GOVERNMENT The London County Council

The New River Company

Sir Hugh Myddleton was a younger brother of Sir Thomas Myddleton, a Lord Mayor of London. Through taking out a lease from the Mines Royal Company, he became wealthy in his own right. He redeployed his capital by investing in London's water supply.

In 1606 and 1607 the Corporation of the City of London obtained two Parliamentary Acts to enable it to take water from springs¹ in Hertfordshire in order to supply the City with drinking water. The engineering for the New River scheme was devised by William Inglebert in 1607. The City transferred its powers in the venture to Sir Hugh Myddleton. In 1609 the New River Company began its construction work. Three years later King James I took a half-share in the enterprise. In 1619 the New River Company was incorporated by royal charter.

The New River flows along the line of Astley's Row. Willow Bridge Road crosses it. The garden between Colebrooke Row and Duncan Terrace is built over it. In Islington, the subterranean River crosses Regent's Canal, which is also underground.

In 1904 the New River's operations were acquired by the Metropolitan Water Board.

During the Blitz a bomb ruptured a pipe that carried to New River through Islington. A group of people who were sheltering in the basement of Dame Alice Owen were drowned.

Location: New River House, 173 Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TY (blue, turquoise)

See Also: MUSEUMS The Ashmolean; PERIOD PROPERTIES The Water House Room

¹. The springs were at Amwell and Chadwell.

New River Action Group

Website: http://newriver.org.uk

Plumbing

Sinks

The development of reliable water supply led to white, fired clay sinks being manufactured. The washing area was a rectangular box. The butler sink started to be made in the 17^thC. It names derived from its being intended for affluent households in which the butler washed up fragile glassware that was too expensive to the hands of scullery maids. The deepest and thus the most capacious of them became known as the belfast sink. Ulster's heavy rainfall meant that water was not a problem. The london sink was somewhat shallower. It has been theorised that this was because there was less overall rainfall in the metropolis and fell on decided fewer days than in Belfast.

Reservoirs

The Aquarius Golf Club

Near Honor Oak Park the Beechcroft Reservoir has the Aquarius Golf Club's (rather flat) nine-hole golf course on top of it.

Location: Marmora Road, SE22 0RY

Website: www.aquariusgolfclub.co.uk/the-course

Drowned Communities

Ruislip Lido was created principally as a reservoir to feed water into the canal. The hamlet of Park Hearn was drowned in order to allow it to be created.

See Also: SOUTH ASIANS Pakistanis, Mirpuris

Thames Water

In 1989 the English and Welsh water industries were privatised. The Thames Water Authority became Thames Water.

In 2007 the company was given approval by the government to build a desalination plant on the Thames at Beckton. The facility was to only operate during a shortage of freshwater. The following year the Mayor of London gave the go-ahead for the project to be developed. In 2010 it was opened.

Website: www.thameswater.co.uk

Water Levels

As the level of industrial activity in London grew during the 19^thC so the level of the city's wells sank. However, as industrial use of water decreased during the later 20^thC so the water table reverted to its pre-industrial level. Unfortunately, portions of the city had been constructed under the presumption that the industrial era level was the natural one.

Water enters the London Underground continuously and is pumped out of it by London Transport equipment.

See Also: BREWING, DISAPPEARED OR RELOCATED; SUBTERRANEAN; UNDERGROUND LINES

The York Buildings Waterworks Company

The York Buildings Waterworks was set up in 1675 by Ralph Wayne and Ralph Bucknall in York Buildings, which occupied part of York House Garden. The business supplied much of the West End with water. In 1691 the York Buildings Waterworks were incorporated by Act of Parliament. In 1712 the Company installed a steam engine to pump water.¹ This proved to be troublesome.

For much of the 18^thC the York Buildings Waterworks Company was engaged in a range of speculations that were unrelated with its original activity. In the early 1720s the company became one of a cluster of businesses that were controlled by Case Billingsley, a City of London solicitor. As a result, it became involved in ventures such as insurance and land speculation in estates that had been declared forfeit following the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. This led the Company into a precarious and highly litigious phase of its existence. In 1818 a 2000-year-long lease on the waterworks was bought by the New River Company. In 1829 the York Buildings Waterworks was dissolved as a company by an Act of Parliament.

Location: York Buildings, WC2N 6JU. (On the southern side of Strand, between Nos. 50 and 51, there are a set of steps that lead to it.)

¹. James Watt did not invent the steam engine. What he did do was to improve it to the point where its wide-scale adoption became commercially viable.

². The York Buildings Waterworks Company sold the last of its Jacobite estates in 1783.

David Backhouse 2024