Class Mb* tAl tok -rf-Tj t SPRINGS, STREAMS, AND SPAS OF LONDON 'IIP' w> CORXHILL PUMP (l8oo). After a print in the Guildhall Art Collections. SPRINGS, STREAMS AND SPAS OF LONDON HISTORY AND ASSOCIATIONS Sy ALFRED STANLEY FOORD WITH TWENTY-SEVEN ILLUST RATIONS NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS {All rights reserved.) CONTENTS I'AGE Introduction . . . . . . .15 PART I STREAMS AND SPAS NORTH OF THE THAMES CHAPTER I The Wallbrook, and Parts of the City Adjacent . 25 Early water-supply — Walebroc — Wallbrook — Barge Yard, Bucklersbury — Dour or Dowgate — Tokenhouse Yard — Remains of tan-pits — Finsbury — Subterranean aqueduct noticed by Mr. Roach Smith — Blomfield Street — All Hallows on the Wall — Bethlehem Hospital — Tower Royal Street and Cloak Lane — Channel of the Wallbrook — Roman Wall of London in relation to the Wallbrook — Bank of England : stream first reached in digging a foundation for the original building — Dow- gate Hill — Churches on banks of the Wallbrook : St. Mildred's, Poultry ; St. Stephen's, Wallbrook ; St. John the Baptist upon Wallbrook — Halls of the Livery Companies along or near its banks — Cutlers', Dyers', Joiners', and Innholders' Halls — Bridges over the Wallbrook — National Safe Deposit : excavations on its site — Stocks Market — Langbourne Stream — Sharebourne. 5 Contents CHAPTER II PAGE The Holebourne or Fleet, Tybourne, Westbourne, and Serpentine . . . . .40 Fleet River— Ditch— Bridge— Turnmill Brook— River of Wells — Holebourne (or Fleet) : its source and direction traced — Blemund's Ditch— Tybourne Brook : its course described — Marylebone Lane twice crossed by it— Formed a delta at Thorney Island, West- minster — Kilburn Stream, an affluent of the Westbourne — Aye or Eye Brook — Eia Estate — Bayswater Brook, a name applied to the Westbourne — Course of the stream defined — Serpentine : formed at the instigation of Queen Caroline — Old maps of Middlesex. CHAPTER III Holy Wells and Well Worship . . .53 Holy wells — Enactments against offerings at springs in Saxon times — Survival of superstitions relating to them — Flower - dressing of wells : a custom still observed at Tissington in Derbyshire — Offerings of coins — Holy wells in London. CHAPTER IV Central London Group of Wells and Spas . . 58 St. Bride's Well — Milton's lodgings in the churchyard — Clement's Well — Stow's evidence as to its position and identification — Allusions to it by later writers — Evidence of the Ordnance Survey maps — Holy Well, Strand — Remarks of various observers regarding its true position — Gray's Inn Lane — Bagnigge House and Wells — Origin of the name — Nell Gwynne at Bagnigge House — Properties of the water — Battle Bridge — Black Mary's Hole — St. Chad's Well : its many vicissi- tudes — Pancras Wells and garden — Visit of Pepys thereto — Holt Waters — Sadler's Music House and Wells — Sadler succeeded by Miles and Forcer — The Theatre and notable performers — It sinks to a low- 6 Contents PAGE type music-hall — Islington Spa, or New Tunbridge Wells — At one time a fashionable resort — The pro- prietor's house — Rosebery Avenue — London Spaw — New Wells near the latter — Priory of St. John of Jerusalem — Clerks' Well — Miracle or Mystery Plays performed there — St. Mary's Nunnery, Clerkenwell — Hockley in the Hole — Skinners' Well — Fagswell — Godewell — Loder's Well — Radwell — Crowder's Well — Monkswell — St. Agnes le Clere — Well or pool — Mineral Baths — Perilous Pond, later called Peerless Pool — Swimming - bath and fishing - pond — The former survived to nineteenth century. CHAPTER V North and East London Group of Wells and Spas . 115 Holywell, Shoreditch — Conventual House of St. John the Baptist at Haliwell — Position of the well discussed — Hoxton "Balsamic Wells'' — Dr. Byfield's account of them in 1687 — Shadwell — Sun Tavern Fields : mineral spring — Postern Waters, Tower Hill — Hackney — Its Wells and Springs — Pig or Pyke Well — Churchfield Well— Shacklewell— Wells at Tottenham— Offertory or Cell of St. Eloy — Hermitage and Chapel of St. Anne —Bishop's Well — Well in Spotton's Wood— St. Dunstan's Well — Bruce Castle — Woodford Wells ; a mineral spring near the " Horse and Groom " — Chig- well — Derivation of the name — Purgative spring in Chigwell Row — Muswell Hill — Two ancient wells, differing in quality. CHAPTER VI North-West London Group of Wells and Spas . 137 Hampstead — Geological features described — Chaly- beate wells — The Assembly Rooms in Wells Walk ; celebrities who frequented them — Wells Charity Estate and Baptist Noel, Earl of Gainsborough — Mr. Good- win's discovery of a medicinal spring near Pond Street — Analysis of the Wells Walk spring — Barnet Wells 7 Contents — Purgative spring — Visited by Pepys — Lysons' mention of it — Chalybeate spring at Northaw — Trick of practical jokers — Acton Wells — An attractive resort in Queen Anne's reign — Kilburn Wells and Priory — History of the latter — Pleasure gardens attached to the Wells — Analyses of the waters. CHAPTER VII West London Group of Wells and Spas . . . 165 Marylebone Gardens and medicinal spring — Known as Marybone Spa — Mentioned in J. T. Smith's " Book for a Rainy Day" — Powis Wells in Lamb's Conduit Fields — Assemblies for dancing held in Long Room — Kensington Wells— St. Govor's Well— St. Agnes' Well of medicinal water — Frequented chiefly by the lower orders — Medicinal spring at Earl's Court mentioned by Faulkner. CHAPTER VIII Mineral Springs as Remedial Agents . . 173 Thermal waters : their temperature, whence derived — the mineral matter they contain — British and foreign waters compared — Analysis in its application to mineral waters very imperfectly understood before the nine- teenth century. PART II STREAMS AND SPAS SOUTH OF THE THAMES CHAPTER I The Effra, Falcon Brook, and Neckinger . 181 South London : physical features — Effra River — John Aubrey makes no mention of it — Brayley's allusion to it — Tracing of its entire course — Branch of the Effra 8 Contents PAGE near Kennington Church — Another arm of the Effra — Falcon Brook — The Neckinger Stream : its rise and course — Navigable for small craft — Tanneries and mills on its banks — St. Saviour's Dock. CHAPTER II South London Spas and Wells . . . 190 Bermondsey Spa — Opened by an artist, Thomas Keyse — Mr. William Herbert, one of the singers engaged here ; he afterwards became first librarian of the Guild- hall Library — Gallery of Paintings by Keyse — Picture model of siege of Gibraltar — Lambeth Wells — Dancing and musical entertainments — Water esteemed service- able in disorders of the eyes — " Dog and Duck," other- wise St. George's Spa — Its career under Hedger — Old stone sign of the inn let into wall of Bethlehem Hos- pital — Ladywell — Two wells here : one medicinal — Coping-stones preserved and form the rim of a drinking fountain at the Ladywell Public Baths — Shooter's Hill — Its height and structure — John Evelyn drinks the waters of the mineral spring here — Dipping Well on the top of the hill. CHAPTER III Outlying Spas and Wells of South London . 207 Camberwell — Evelyn's record of a visit — Different theories about the origin of the name — Lysons, Bray, Salmon, and Allport — Well at Dr. Lettsom's Villa at Grove Hill — Milkwell Manor — Effects of an iron spring upon the water in the public baths in the Old Kent Road — Dulwich Wells — Manor of Dulwich presented to the Prioryof Bermondsey by Henry I. — Bew's Corner — Grove Tavern — The sinking of a well in the grounds by the proprietor Cox leads to discovery of a purging water — John Martyn experimented on the water, which was supplied to St. Bartholomew's Hospital — Syden- ham Wells — Evelyn, an early visitor here — Called also 9 Contents PAGE Dulwich Wells — John Peter, a physician, writes the first detailed account of Sydenham Wells — Wells Cottage in Wells Road — George III.'s visit to the cot- tage — Thomas Campbell's house at Sydenham — Beulah Spa — Beauty of its situation — Not known when or how the mineral spring was discovered — Described by Dr. Weatherhead — Analysis of the water by Professor Faraday — Entertainments recorded — Mr. J. Corbet Anderson on the spa and well open when he wrote — Mineral spring at Biggin Hill — Analysis of the water — Streatham Wells — First account of them by Aubrey — Circumstances of their discovery — Well House, now The Rookery — Closing of the old spring and opening of another on Lime Common — Miss Priscilla Wakefield tastes the water — Analysis of the water made by Messrs. Redwood and de Hailes in 1895. CHAPTER IV Wells at Richmond and East Sheen . . 238 Richmond Wells — Saline spring — Noticed by Dr. Benjamin Allen in 1699 — House of entertainment — Balls and concerts advertised — Dissipated company at the Wells — Raffling and card-playing — The place eventually purchased by the Misses Houblon — Well at East Sheen, adjoining Palewell Park. PART III CONDUIT SYSTEM OF WATER-SUPPLY CHAPTER I The London Basin, Shallow Wells, City Conduits . 247 Geology of the London Basin — Tyburn Conduit — Population of London — Great Conduit in Chepe — Pay of workmen — Little Conduit — Conduit at Stocks Market — The Standard opposite the end of Honey Lane — John Lydgate — Pageants — Catherine of Ara- 10 Contents gon's state entry into London — The Tonne, or Tun, upon Cornhill — Stow's explanation of the name — Charterhouse, provided its own water-supply — Con- duits at London Wall, Coleman Street, Bishopsgate. CHAPTER II Conduits without the City 264 The White Conduit — Supplied water to the Carthusian Friars — Fleet Street — Its water-supply — Fleet Street Standard — Cistern made to receive its overflow — Thames water used by Londoners — Springs in Pad- dington granted by the Abbot of Westminster to the Mayor and citizens of London — Water from springs at Hackney — Banqueting House on the site of Strat- ford Place, with cisterns in the basement — Lamb's Conduit — References to the Conduits in the Letter Books — Keepers or wardens to look after them — Measures taken to restrain keepers of brew-houses and others from making ale with the water from the Conduits — Tynes and tankards used for conveying water — Grants of Quills — The London Waterbearers — Their petition — Waterbearers' Hall — List of Conduits removed — The Standard in Cornhill a point of measurement for distances from the City — Explanation of a complete service on the Conduit System. CHAPTER III Conduits without the City, continued — London Bridge Water Works 282 Bayswater or Roundhead Conduit — Its position and course indicated — Remarks by Matthews in " Hydraulia " — Mr. Morley Davies on the " Round- head" — Paddington Conduit System transferred from the City to the Bishop of London and Trustees of Paddington Estate — Ancient Conduit in Queen Square, Bloomsbury — Identification of the White Conduit — Conduit near Hyde Park Corner — Conduit House in Greenwich Park — Underground passages in the Park ; 11 Contents PAGE their elaborate construction — Wooden water-pipes — Use of tree-trunks for water-pipes abroad — Morice and his London Bridge Water Works — The engine described — Other schemes for supplying London with water. CHAPTER IV The New River — Artesian Wells .... 307 Hugh Myddelton and the New River — Appeals against its construction by landowners and others — Myddelton receives financial assistance from the King — And a loan from the Corporation of London — Opening ceremony on Michaelmas Day, 1613, described by Stow — Mono- poly established to oblige consumers to use the New River Company's water — Great value of King's and Adventurers' shares — Transference of the New River Company's business to the Metropolitan Water Board — Artesian Wells. APPENDIX Shallow or Surface Wells and Pumps of London . 325 Index 343 12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS cornhill pump, 1800 . . . .Frontispiece After a print in the Guildhall Art Collections TO FACE PAGE THE MOUTH OF THE FLEET RIVER, CIRCA 1 765 . . 41 Guildhall Art Collections BAGNIGGE WELLS GARDENS . . . . -73 Frontispiece to the Sunday Ramble {circa 1774), in the Guildhall Library ST. chad's well, showing the pump room and house, circa 1830 . . . . . -74 Drawn by the Author from a pencil sketch in the Guildhall Library SOUTH-WEST VIEW OF SADLER'S WELLS . . .89 From a drawing by R. C. Andrews, 1792 ; together with a view of an earlier building ; both from Wilkinson's " Londina Illustrata" ISLINGTON SPA ; OR NEW TUNBRIDGE WELLS . . 92 View of the Gardens, Well, Coffee House, &c, engraved by G. Bickham, jun., as the headpiece to " The Charms of Dishabille ; or, New Tunbridge Wells," a song published in Bickham's Musical Entertainer, 1733 ISLINGTON SPA ; OR NEW TUNBRIDGE WELLS . . 96 From a photograph of the proprietor's house in 1907 HAMPSTEAD ASSEMBLY AND PUMP ROOMS IN WELL WALK . 141 The original drawing by E. H. Dixon bears no date, but was probably done before 1725. Drawn by the author from the reproduction in " Records of Hampstead " by F. E. Baines HAMPSTEAD (NEW) ASSEMBLY ROOMS ON THE NORTH-WEST SIDE OF WELL WALK ..... I47 Drawn by the author from the print by Chatelaine of 1745 ACTON OLD WELLS, 1795 ...... 156 Drawn by the author from the view in Lysons' " Environs of London," Guildhall Library ST. GOVOR'S WELL, KENSINGTON GARDENS . . . 171 From a photograph taken in 1910 INTERIOR OF THE " DOG AND DUCK," ST. GEORGE'S FIELDS, 1789 ....... I98 From a stipple engraving, Guildhall Art Collections 13 List of Illustrations TO FACE PAGE THE OLD LADY WELL (LEWISHAM), 1842 . . . 203 Drawn by the author from " Knight's Journey Book of England " FOUNTAIN AT LADYWELL BATHS, CONTAINING THE COPING- STONES OF THE OLD LADY WELL . . . 203 Drawn by the author from a photograph SYDENHAM WELLS EARLY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . 2l8 Drawn by the author from an old print belonging to Mr. J. T. Coling WELLS COTTAGE, SYDENHAM . . . . . 2l8 From a photograph taken in 1903. The well was behind the palings on the left of the picture BEULAH SPA, VIEW OF THE GREAT LAWN, WELL HOUSE, REFECTORY, &C. ...... 222 Drawn by the author from a wood-engraving in the Illustrated London News, July 26, 1851 BEULAH SPA ....... 226 From a photograph taken in 1903 STREATHAM (NEW) WELLS HOUSE .... 237 From a photograph taken about 1902 "THE ROOKERY," STREATHAM COMMON, FORMERLY CALLED " WELL HOUSE " . . . . . . 237 From a photograph taken about 1900 STREATHAM (NEW) WELLS HOUSE, 1 83 1 . . . 235 Drawn by the author from an indian-ink wash drawing by E. A. Tylor, in the Rendle Collection, Guildhall Library THE TUN UPON CORNHILL, CIRCA 1630 . . . 262 After a print in the Guildhall Library BAYSWATER CONDUIT ...... 282 Drawn by the author from the engraving of 1798 in the Guildhall Library CONDUIT-HOUSE IN HYDE PARK .... 292 From an original drawing by the author CONDUIT-HOUSE OR STANDARD IN GREENWICH PARK . 293 From a photograph taken in 1908 WOODEN WATER-PIPES AT CLERKENWELL . . . 296 From a reproduction by Mr. F. W. Reader of the drawing in the Soane Museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields PUMP IN CHURCHYARD OF ST. DUNSTAN-IN-THE-EAST . 330 From an original sketch by the author in 1909 Some of the illustrations in the foregoing list have been copied from works in the Guildhall Library. Tlie author hereby desires to thank the Library Committee for kindly permitting him to reproduce them. He also takes this opportunity of thanking the Editor of the Illustrated London News for the like courtesy in allowing him to use the engraving qf Beulah Spa. 14 INTRODUCTION THE history of the various sources and means whereby the City of London, and the suburbs which later grew up around it, derived their water- supply, may be found scattered through the pages of innumerable books, pamphlets, and magazines, as well as in the columns of newspapers, ranging from the seventeenth century to the present time, in which a variety of information has been published, bearing more or less directly upon the subject. London's water-supply is a theme that has been treated by different writers from very diverse points of views — traditional, historical, anecdotal, and statistical — but in no single volume, so far as the writer can learn, has any attempt hitherto been made to collect the stray fragments, and to piece them together so as to form something like a consecutive story. The chief aim of the present compilation has therefore been in the direction of carrying out this idea of continuity of narration, by sketching the gradual pro- gress effected in the means of water-supply, from the crude methods of the earlier denizens of London, when they depended for their requirements upon streams and shallow wells, down to the more matured system of a house-to-house service. i5 Introduction A great many volumes upon London have been consulted — from FitzStephen and Stow, to Maitland and Besant. Maps and plans have also proved invaluable in their record of the successive stages in the annals of the Great City's water-supply : these have been examined and compared with later and contemporary plans, including the publications of the Ordnance Survey. The Crace collection I of maps and views of London is a veritable mine of information to the student of the capital : the maps, some of which are rare and unique, form a continuous series from 1560 to 1859 ; many of the drawings have an artistic as well as an antiquarian interest, and often inciden- tally illustrate bygone manners and customs. No one writing about London can dispense with so rich a depository. The very nature of the subject dealt with in the following pages has necessitated frequent quotations from the works of the earlier writers, many of whom lived in the times they treat of; the people, places, and scenes which they depict thus coming under their own observation. In this respect they enjoyed an im- measurable advantage over those who, after a lapse of years and with impressions faded, have attempted, as it were, to repeople a world, and to reconstruct scenes that have long passed out of existence. But the present-day writer may be said to possess this advantage over his predecessors ; that within his reach are ancient records, which have been translated 1 The whole collection, which was purchased in 1880 by the Trustees of the British Museum from Mr. J. G. Crace, con- sists of between 5,000 and 6,000 prints and drawings, besides three volumes of maps, &c. 16 Introduction by scholars in recent years from the mediaeval Latin and Norman-French of the originals. For this most useful work, all inquirers into the social and muni- cipal history of ancient London are under special obligation to the late Mr. H. T. Riley, who edited the " Mediaeval Chronicles and Memorials " series of the Master of the Rolls, with the title of " Munimenta Gildhallae Londoniensis." These include the " Liber Horn," 1 compiled about 1311-1314 ; the "Liber Cus- tumarum," compiled about the year 1320 ; both works containing valuable compilations of City laws and customs ; and the " Liber Albus," compiled in i4ioby John Carpenter, Common Clerk in the mayoralty of Richard Whittington. As regards the varied con- tents of the " Liber Albus," Mr. Riley himself writes at considerable length in his Introduction. "There is," he says, " hardly a phase or feature of London life, from the time of the Conqueror to the reign of Henry V., upon which, in a greater or less degree, from the pages of the ' Liber Albus,' some light is not reflected." Another prolific source of information is an Analytical Index to Civic Records known as the " Remembrancia," consisting of nine manuscript volumes of correspondence, covering the period from 1579 to 1664. This Index was published in 1878, with valuable notes, by the Guildhall Library Committee. There are also Riley's " Memorials of London, and London Life," from circa 1275 to 14 19, founded on the Letter Books A to I of the Corporation for that period. This series of volumes is so called from their beino- severally distinguished by a letter of the alphabet from 1 Named from Andrew Horn, Chamberlain of London, an office he probably held for about eight years : died 1328. 17 B Introduction A to Z, and from A A to ZZ, comprising just fifty volumes, and in point of time extending from the early years of the reign of Edward I. almost to the close of the reign of James II. The earlier volumes possess the greater interest, inasmuch as they contain the chief, if not the only existing record of the proceedings of the Court of Common Council and Court of Alder- men prior to the fifteenth century, commencing about 140 years before the Journals of the Common Council which date from 14 16. These Letter Books have been edited by Dr. Reginald R. Sharpe (1899). The contents of these records were early appre- ciated and partially extracted from. Fabyan, 1 Stow, Strype, Seymour, and indeed almost every City historian, have had recourse to them. Of the use made of them by Stow we have only to turn to the recent scholarly version of the "Survey of London" (1908), in which the editor, Mr. Lethbridge Kingsford, draws attention to passages in that famous classic which had been extracted from the archives at the Guildhall. It is certain, says Mr. Kingsford, that Stow used the "Liber Albus" and "Liber Custu- marum," but it is not so clear that he was acquainted with the "Liber de Antiquis Legibus." 2 The next writer, probably, who was indebted for any of his 1 Alderman Robert Fabyan, Sheriff in 1493, was buried in St. Michael's, Cornhill, in 1513. He compiled an elaborate Chronicle dealing with France as well as England, which he called "The Concordance of Histories," and which Stow characterises as " a painful labour to the honour of the City and the whole realm." a " Liber de Antiquis Legibus " — temp. Edward I., published in 1846 from the City Records as an addition to the Chroniques de Londres in 1844. 18 Introduction matter to the Letter Books and other compilations at the Guildhall, was the indefatigable Rymer (1641-1713). His " Fcedera " is a collection of leagues, treaties, alliances, &c, between the Crown of England and other Kingdoms, and is of high value and authority for almost all periods of the Middle Ages and for the sixteenth century. The first volume was published in 1704. It opens with a Convention between Henry I. and Robert, Earl of Flanders, dated May 17, 1101. The latest document was dated 1654. Strype, the historian and ecclesiologist, in preparing his elaborate edition of Stow's "Survey" (1720) was evidently at con- siderable pains to consult the City archives, with the view of improving upon Stow's rather scanty information as to the early history of its institutions. It may seem superfluous to add that in a subject which engaged the attention of so many competent writers, there can be little left that is really new or original to say about it. A few facts, however, which appear to have hitherto escaped notice, have been introduced into these pages, more especially in connection with some of the later-discovered medi- cinal springs. To guard against the repetition of errors which are known to occur in the writings of some of the older historians (and unfortunately copied by later ones), either through inadvertence, or more frequently perhaps from the want of facilities for obtaining authentic information — statements of fact, as well as dates (where there was reason to suspect in- accuracy) have been carefully verified, and, where possible, from the original sources. But in saying 19 Introduction this, the author does not suggest that he may not himself have fallen into some errors, which, in a subject covering so large an extent of ground, will, in spite of every effort to ensure accuracy, creep in. Those who may be led by the perusal of this book to desire more detailed information of any persons or incidents, can obtain it by consulting such works as are referred to in the text and in the foot-notes, which may usually be seen at one or other of the great public libraries. With regard to the plan adopted : it has been found most convenient to divide the subject into three parts, of which the first deals with the streams and spas north of the Thames ; the second with those on the south side of the river ; the third part being devoted to a short review of the earlier methods of transport and distribution of water by means of the conduit system ; concluding with some observations upon the New River Company, from its inception as a private undertaking down to the time when it was numbered among the Great Water Companies of London. A chapter upon Holy Wells and their origin, and another upon Mineral Waters, are also included. Beyond the information that books can give, a point is at length reached when recourse must be had to personal knowledge and unwritten, or they might be called living recollections. My thanks are due, and are here most gratefully tendered, to all who have assisted me during the progress of my book. On occasions when personal or local knowledge could alone clear up a doubtful point or difficulty, my applications have invariably met with a courteous response, which I have greatly 20 Introduction appreciated. I also owe a special debt of gratitude for the ready and frequently unsolicited help which I have received at the Guildhall Library. To the librarians of many of the suburban libraries I desire likewise to express my warm acknowledgments for valuable information, and for facilities which they have afforded me in the furtherance of my work. With regard to the illustrations : the view of Acton Wells Assembly-house has, the author believes, never before been reproduced ; that of St. Chad's Well has certainly never appeared elsewhere ; and the same remark applies to the drawing of the fountain at Ladywell Baths. A drawing was made by the author of the Conduit-house in Hyde Park because of the difficulty of getting a satisfactory photograph, owing to its awkward position close to the Park railings. The drawing of the pump in the church- yard of St. Dunstan-in-the-East is from an original sketch by the author. 21 PART I STREAMS AND SPAS NORTH OF THE THAMES CHAPTER I THE WALLBROOK, AND PARTS OF THE CITY ADJACENT Early water-supply — Walebroc — Wallbrook — Barge Yard, Bucklersbury — Dour or Dowgate — Tokenhouse Yard — Remains of tanpits — Finsbury — Subterranean aqueduct noticed by Mr. Roach Smith — Blomfield Street — All Hallows on the Wall — Bethlehem Hospital — Tower Royal Street and Cloak Lane — Channel of the Wallbrook — Roman Wall of London in relation to the Wallbrook — Bank of England : stream first reached in digging a foundation for the original building — Dowgate Hill — Churches on banks of the Wallbrook : St. Mildred's, Poultry ; St. Stephen's, Wallbrook ; St. John the Baptist upon Wallbrook — Halls of the Livery Companies along or near its banks — Cutlers', Dyers', Joiners', and Innholders' Halls — Bridges over the Wallbrook — National Safe Deposit : excavations on its site — Stocks Market — Lang- bourne Stream — Sharebourne. FOR nearly two hundred years after the Conquest London obtained ample supplies of pure water, partly from the streams flowing near to or passing through it, and partly from wells sunk into the sands above the chalk. The river-side population doubtless found in "silver" Thames an abundant and never- failing store. In streets more remote from the river, sources more accessible were at hand. Such were the brooks, the names of which still survive in 25 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London Walbrook, Holborn (formerly Oldbourne or Hole- bourne), and Langbourne, though modern authorities doubt the existence of such a stream as Stow describes, the name "long borne," which he gives it, being merely based on its supposed meaning. More distant from the City — westward — were the Tybourne and the Westbourne. Although the rapid disappearance of Old London before the inexorable march of " improvements " must always be a matter for regret, yet the very destruction and removal of ancient buildings, by laying bare large tracts, have often afforded oppor- tunities to competent observers to elucidate problems in the early history of the metropolis which might otherwise have remained unsolved. In this way — to give an example — it has been possible to trace the course of a stream, such as the Wallbrook, with considerable exactness, and by the same means to discover, or perhaps rediscover, some ancient well or watercourse. The first water-supply of London within the walls was in all probability furnished by the Wallbrook, which was also an important factor in the mapping out of the streets and wards. It has been generally believed that it was at no time other than a very small stream, both in regard to its width and volume, and this is doubtless true of its later history, when buildings began to line its banks, and its channel in consequence became narrow and confined ; but recent investigations along its course tend to prove that it was formerly very much wider and altogether more considerable. It appears to have formed the western boundary, 26 Wallbrook and Parts of the City Adjacent from the Poultry to Dowgate, of Londinium, the first Roman City of London, and in the time of the Romans was extra-mural. The best and most authentic account of its course is that given by Mr. F. W. Reader, whose paper, illustrated by a plan, appeared in the Archceological Journal (1903), 1 being written from the experience of actual excava- tions. The Wallbrook was formed by a number of small streams flowing from the north-east of London and meeting in the neighbourhood of Finsbury, five of which, says Mr. William Tite 2 (afterwards Sir William) are still in existence as sewers. The main stream rose in the district now represented by Hoxton, flowing in the direction of Wilson Street, and, within the walls, to the east of Finsbury, ran through the midst of the City from north to south, forming a dividing line between the thirteen eastern and eleven western Wards. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Wallbrook was an important waterway. Various derivations have been proposed for its name, and as there is always a significance in local names — they are never mere arbitrary sounds devoid of meaning — it may be well to quote some opinions on the point. Mr. J. R. Green, who devotes a considerable space in " The Conquest of England " (1884), in dealing with London, traces the name Walebroc,3 as it is written in ancient deeds, to the 1 " On Pile Structures in the Wallbrook, near London Wall " {Journal of the Archaeological Society, vol. lx. pp. 137-204). 2 " Descriptive Catalogue of Antiquities found in excavations at the New Royal Exchange, 1848," p. 25 et seq. (W. Tite.) 3 So-called in 11 14-33 (Chron. Ramsey, 248 ; Cartul. de Ramseia, i. 139, Rolls Ser.). 27 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London Anglo-Saxon walk, a stranger or foreigner, " from the fact that on its navigable channel the trade of the foreigner was brought up from the Thames to the very heart of the ' chepe,' l or market at the port or hythe (commemorated in Barge Yard), fixed by tradition in the modern Bucklersbury." That the Wallbrook was navigable up to a point not far short of the City wall on the north side, is said to have been confirmed by the finding of a keel and other parts of a boat in digging the foundations of a house at the south-east corner of Moorgate Street. The Wallbrook was largely used by tanneries and other industries where water was requisite ; extensive remains of tan-pits having been discovered in the neighbourhood of Tokenhouse Yard. Probably the earliest mention of the stream is in the confirmatory Charter granted by William the Conqueror to the Church of St. Martin-le-Grand (1068). 2 In the Old English version of this Charter, it is described by the word wylrithe, meaning a rivulet {rithe) issuing from a spring {wyl), so that it was in these early times apparently nameless. The vivulus foncium ( =fontium) of the Latin version of the Charter is merely a translation of the Old English 1 Mr. J. E. Price cites entries in the Hustings Roll which show clearly that West Cheap (Cheapside), existed as one of the markets of London in 1284, that is, twenty-six years before the list of wards was compiled under the famous statute known from its opening words as " Quia Emptores." (Green, " His- tory of the English People," i. 335, 1895.) 2 The church was of pre-Norman times, founded by one Ingelric, in 1056. The full text of the Charter is printed in Historical Notices of St. Martin-le-Grand, by A. J. Kemp, 1825 ; and by W. H. Stevenson, in Eng. Hist. Rev., 1896. 28 Wallbrook and Parts of the City Adjacent wylrithe. " The River of the Wels," as pointed out by Mr. Kingsford, is simply Stow's translation of the rivulus foncium of William's Latin Charter. "It is not clear," Mr. Kingsford continues, "that the words of the Charter are intended to distinguish the rivulus foncium near the north corner {aquilonare cornu) of the wall from the running water which entered the City." Mr. Lethaby l has argued that they were identical, and that the Well-brook is Wall Brook itself. If there was a brook draining west from the Moor, it must either have joined the Fagswell-brook, or have run through the site of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which before Rahere's time (twelfth century) was but a marsh ; 2 if so, the Well-brook might be the stream running through the Hospital to Holborn Bridge, which was covered in by licence from Edward I. "on account of the too great stench pro- ceeding from it." 3 In any case Stow's identification of the Well-brook with Turnmill-brook is an unten- able conjecture ; the latter was clearly the upper course of the Fleet, or that part of the Holebourne which ran parallel with Turnmill Street.4 The Wallbrook in Stow's time had long ceased to be "a fair brooke of sweet water," but by continual encroachments upon its banks and casting of soilage into the stream, it had become, in his own words, " worse cloyed and choken than ever before." Mr. Loftie suggests that the Wallbrook had at least two 1 " London before the Conquest," 1902, 45-7. 2 Cotton MS. Vespasian, bk. ix., f . 7V0. 3 Morley, " Bartholomew Fair," 70. + Stow's " Survey of London " (text of 1603), edited by C. L. Kingsford, 1908 ; notes, pp. 270-1. 29 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London names, and that as the Dour (Celtic dwr, water, or river), it gave the name to Dowgate. 1 Mr. F. G. Hilton Price, in his address published in the London Topographical Record (vol. iii. 1906), speaks of an Eastern Branch which " rose near the south end of the present New North Road, in the direction of the present Pitfield Street, Hoxton, thence by Willow Walk across the Curtain Road by King John's Court, to Holywell Lane ; after this it followed a course east of the whole length of Long Alley, then by the old burial-ground of Bethlehem Hospital 2 and along Blomfield Street, somewhat to the west of All Hallows, London Wall, where it fell into the ditch of the City Wall." Mr. Reader's plan shows that the Wallbrook came up to the Roman Wall along the site of Blomfield Street, but was in pre-Roman times very much wider than that street. His theory, with which Mr. Philip Norman, a well-known authority on London archaeology, agrees, is that the Roman Wall greatly obstructed the flow of the Wallbrook, the culverts made by the Romans through the wall to carry the stream being insufficient, and that this caused the marshy land of Moorfields, and of the north part of the City within the wall, through soakage under the wall. FitzStephen, writing towards the end of the twelfth century, describes the diversion of skating indulged in by the youth of London, " when that vast 1 " London Afternoons," W. J. Loftie, 1901, chap. iv. 2 Its origin was the Priory of the Star of Bethlehem, estab- lished in the reign of Henry III., and which stood on the east side of Moorfields. In the year 1330 the religious house became known as a public hospital. 30 Wallbrook and Parts of the City Adjacent fen which waters the walls of the City towards the north is hard frozen." The arch of masonry under which the Wallbrook entered the City through the Wall seems to have been discovered in 1840 or 1 84 1. The late Mr. Charles Roach Smith, 1 a leading authority on Roman London, describes the opening thus : " Opposite Finsbury Chambers, 2 at a depth of 19 feet, what appeared to have been a subterranean aqueduct was laid open. It was found to run towards Finsbury, under the houses of the Circus for about 20 feet, and at the termination were iron bars fastened into the masonry to prevent the sedge and weeds from choking the passage. The arched entrance, 3 feet 6 inches in height by 3 feet 3 inches in width, had evidently been above-ground, as quantities of moss still adhered to the masonry." In early Roman times the Wallbrook was a stream of considerable width ; records of its measurement showing the channel to have been nearly 300 feet broad at its mouth, where it joined the Thames, narrowing to about 120 feet at Moorfields. Sewerage excavations in the streets called Tower Royal and St. Thomas Apostle, and also in Cloak Lane, dis- covered the channel to be 248 feet wide, filled with made-earth and mud, in horizontal layers, and containing a quantity of black timber of small scantling. The form of the banks could likewise be traced, covered with rank grass and weeds. The 1 Archcvologia, vol. 29, 1842, u Observations on Roman remains recently found in London," by C. Roach Smith. 2 Finsbury Chambers stood at the south-west corner of Blomfield Street and London Wall ; the site is now occupied by London Wall Buildings, erected 1901-03. 31 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London digging varied from 18 feet 9 inches to 15 feet 6 inches in depth, but the bottom of the Wallbrook was never reached in those parts, as even in Princes Street it is upwards of 30 feet below the present surface One of the earliest records of the stream being reached is by Maitland, 1 in digging a founda- tion for the Bank of England in Threadneedle Street in 1732, on the site of the house and garden of Sir John Houblon, the first Governor. The same historian says the Wallbrook ran above-ground till about the middle of the fourteenth century, but the covering over of the stream, according to Hughson, 2 took place about a hundred years later — in 1440 — when the Church of St. Margaret Lothbury was rebuilt, at which time Robert Large, Mayor in that year, contributed to the vaulting over of the Wallbrook. It seems, however, that only a part of the stream was covered over in the year just mentioned, for Stow says : " Order was taken in the 2nd of Edward IV. (1462), that such as had ground on either side of Wallbrooke, should vault and pave it over as far as his ground extended." From the top of Dowgate, an open channel existed to the Thames as late as 1574, Stow recording that the water at this part had " such a swift course that in the year 1574 a lad of eighteen years, minding to have leapt over the channel, was borne down that narrow stream towards the Thames with such violent swiftness as no man could rescue or stay him." From this it is evident that the stream could not have been very wide hereabouts. The 1 Maitland's " History of London," 1739, p. 507. 2 Hughson's " History of London," 1806, vol. iii. p. 51. 32 Wallbrook and Parts of the City Adjacent portion of the Wallbrook which traversed the fields towards Hoxton continued its course above-ground long after that within the city had been covered over, as is shown in Ralph Agas's map of London, 1 wherein it is seen emptying itself into the City Ditch just to the east of the Church of All Hallows on the Wall. The course of the Roman Wallbrook seems to have been generally the same as that which it took in mediaeval times. " It is well defined," says Mr. Lethaby, " by three churches : St. Mildred, Poultry ; St. Stephen (formerly on a different site on the west or right bank, whence it was removed to the present site in 1429) ; and St. John the Baptist, all super Wallbrook." The last-named church was destroyed in the Great Fire and not rebuilt. A memorial, which stands on the north side of Cloak Lane, near the east corner, serves to mark its site. St. Margaret Lothbury also stood above the Wallbrook on vaults. The halls and properties of some of the City com- panies were situated along or near the course of the Wallbrook, namely those of the Skinners, the Dyers, and the Tallow Chandlers on Dowgate Hill, and of the Innholders in College Street, formerly called 1 The commonly accepted date — 1560 — inscribed upon the reproductions of the Agas map is manifestly wrong, because it shows St. Paul's Cathedral without its spire, which existed down to 1561, in which year it was struck down by lightning. Mr. W. H. Overall, F.S.A., one of the leading authorities on the question, doubts Agas's connection with the map, but thinks if he were the originator it could not have been done before 1591. From internal evidence, "we may take it," says Miss Mitton ( u Maps of Old London," 1908), " that the original map was made some time in the latter half of Elizabeth's reign, and it is probable that it was done by Agas." 33 C Springs, Streams, and Spas of London Elbow Lane. The Cutlers were in Cloak Lane. The direction taken by the Wallbrook after its pas- sage through the wall has been found by recent investigation to be considerably more to the east than was supposed by Mr. J. E. Price, and shown in his plan of its course. 1 Taking Mr. Reader's plan as a guide, it is there seen that after crossing the street^of London Wall, it curved slightly to the westward, passed along Little Bell Alley (now Copthall Avenue) through Tokenhouse Yard and across the churchyard of St. Margaret Lothbury, under the church, thence through what is now the north-west corner of the Bank of England. Crossing Princes Street its course was beneath Grocers' Hall and the Church of St. Mildred, Poultry, 2 where at a depth of 1 6 feet it ran in Maitland's time {circa 1739) "a great and rapid stream." From the Poultry it passed to the west of the Stocks' Market (which occupied the ground now covered by the Mansion House, built 1739-40, ^wed down the present Wallbrook Street, crossed Budge Row near its eastern end ; then under the present new Cannon Street to the west of the Church of St. John by Wallbrook. It again wandered westward, nearly as far as the Church of St. Michael Paternoster Royal ; then it passed eastward under Little College Street, south over Thames Street, and thence running between * « Roman Antiquities recently discovered on the site of the National Safe Deposit Company's premises, Mansion House, London." (J. E. Price, 1873.) * The ship which formed the vane on the tower of this church has been referred to the stream which flowed under it. The second church— there were three— was rebuilt on an arch over the Wallbrook in 1456. 34 Wallbrook and Parts of the City Adjacent Joiners' Hall Buildings and Friar's Alley it reached the Thames at the little port of Dowgate. The Wallbrook was spanned by several stone bridges, for which special keepers were appointed. One was near London Wall, next to the Church of All Hallows ; another a little to the south. In the year 1300, 28th of Edward I., both these bridges were ordered to be repaired, for which the Prior of the Holy Trinity within Aldgate, was liable for the first, and the Prior of the New Hospital of Our Lady, that is, St. Mary Spital without Bishopsgate, for the second. In 1291 an inquiry was held as to the repair of a bridge near " the tenement of Bokereles- bery." Over against the wall of the chancel of the Church of St. Stephen was yet another, and Horse- shoe Bridge was situate where the brook crossed Cloak Lane by the Church of St. John the Baptist. Other structures have been brought to light in connection with the Wallbrook. Mr. J. E. Price, whose name has been already mentioned, published in 1873 the results of his observations during the building of the National Safe Deposit Company's vaults, when a complete section of a portion of the ancient watercourse of the Wallbrook was disclosed, and also the wooden piling placed along the line of the embankment. In the trench excavated for the foundations of the massive external walls parallel with Charlotte Row, there appeared at a depth of 25 feet from the surface-level a timber flooring supported by huge oak timbers 12 inches square, and running parallel with the stream. This was at the south corner, and may have indicated a stage or landing- place. At Dowgate Hill, at the outfall of the 35 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London Wallbrook into the Thames, the remains of another ancient landing-stage, formed of a Roman-tiled pave- ment, set upon timber piles with mortised jointing, was discovered in 1884. The stage stood on the left bank of the Wallbrook, facing it. The writer of a chapter in " Modern London," printed for Richard Phillips in 1805, savs t^ at ne saw the Wallbrook in November, 1803, "still trickling among the foundations of new buildings at the Bank." The construction of Cannon Street Railway Station, opened in 1866, necessitated the excavation of the site of the Steel Yard, formerly occupied by merchants of the Hanseatic League, whose trade monopolies were abolished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This was found to have been situated on the "filling" 1 of the eastern side of the ancient stream, near where it emptied itself into the Thames. At Barge Yard, during the construction of Queen Victoria Street in 187 1, a barge was found buried in the mud, still containing the calcined remains of its cargo of corn, showing that the barges came up to this point to discharge their contents. Recent excavations for the building of the Northern Assurance Company at the south-west corner of Moorgate Street, dis- closed a subsoil of firm Thames ballast, and similar ballast was also found under Parr's Bank in Bartho- lomew Lane ; but between these two points mud is found sometimes to a depth of 30 feet. The dividing line of gravel and mud passes through Austin Friars, and there are unmistakable indications that the 1 The word " filling " is here probably used to express an embankment of stone, gravel, earth, &c. 36 Wallbrook and Parts of the City Adjacent stream (of Wallbrook) at this point flowed through and drained a lagoon, or morass, bounded by Coleman Street on the one side and Old Broad Street on the other. 1 Thus the Bank of England and the Mansion House are both built on the alluvium deposited by the Wallbrook. 2 Writing upon the Ward of Langbourne3 in 1897, Mr. W. Sweetland points out that the name is written " Langeford "4 in a list of the Wards of the City, dated about the year 1285, and contained in Letter Book A. He thinks, however, the scribe wrote "Langeford" for "Langbourne," especially as in the Inquisition in the Hundred Rolls, ten years 1 The " Buried Rivers of London," a paper read December 13, 1907, at the Auctioneers' Institute by Mr. J. G. Head, F.A.I. 2 At the time of the collapse of a portion of the roof of Charing Cross Railway Station (December 5, 1905), particulars of the geological formation in the vicinity were published in the Standard. The alluvial deposits at the bottom of Craven Street, close to the wall of the station, are given as follows, the information having been obtained from an official of the Jermyn Street Museum. The deposits are similar in character to those of the Wallbrook described in the text. Made ground Mud Ballast Sand Total 45 o London Clay. 3 Old Lombard Street, which extended to the north-east corner of the Mansion House, where the Stocks' Market stood, was known as Langbourne Street for a generation after the Lombards were allowed to settle in it in the thirteenth century. ^ The Ward appears as " Langeburn" in 1293 (Cal. Wills, i. 702-3). 37 Ft. In. *9 O IO 6 3 6 12 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London earlier in date, the Ward is twice mentioned by- its present name. Mr. Sweetland then quotes from Stow, who speaks of the marshy nature of the eastern end of the Langbourne Ward, and that this fen was the source of the brook, which " of old time breaking out in Fenchurch Street, ran down the same street and Lombard Street to the west end of St. Mary Woolnoth's Church, where turning south, and breaking into shares, rills, or streams, it left the name of Share-borne Lane (Sherborne Lane) or Southborne Lane, as I have read, because it ran south to the River of Thames." Stow closes his notice by saying that the Langbourne had been long since stopped up at the head, and the rest of its course filled up and paved over, "so that no sign thereof remaineth more than the name of it." Such a frank admis- sion as this seems to show that the description was as traditionary to him as it is at the present day. The Sharebourne, which Stow connects with the Langbourne, is most probably another equally mythical stream. Sir William Tite, bringing his practical knowledge to bear upon the subject, demonstrates that the Langbourne, if it ever existed at all as a streamlet, did not run in the direction so explicitly described by Stow. It could not really have flowed from Fen Court westward by way of Lombard Street, for the simple reason that the ground "rises upwards of 3 feet from Mincing Lane to Gracechurch Street ; and not only is the present surface thus elevated, but the ancient surface, though it lies 17 feet below, has 38 Wallbrook and Parts of the City Adjacent the same inclination. In excavating for sewers in Gracechurch Street, though the traces of the Langbourne were carefully sought for, no indications could be found of a stream having crossed it. As, however, there doubtless existed some foundation for the tradition of the reported course of the Langbourne, it may perhaps be regarded as having been an ancient artificial trench, all traces of the real direction of which were effaced at some very early period in the history of the metropolis." The testimony of ancient documents tends to support the views of most modern writers in this connec- tion. In the Calendar of Letter Books in the Guildhall Library, ranging from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, the name Langbourne is frequently met with, but invariably with reference to the Ward, not to the Stream. Like the " Langborne," the " Shareborne" rests solely on Stow's conjectural etymology. The name first occurs (as noticed by Mr. Lethaby in " London before the Conquest") in 1272 as " Shittebornelane," and so continues for two centuries with variations like " Schiteborou lane," and " Shiteburgh lane" (Watney, " Account of St. Thomas Aeon," 289 ; Cal. Wills, 1, 13, 162, 171, 220). "Shirborne lane" appears in 1467, and "Sherborne Lane" in 1556 (id. ii. 586, 666). 1 1 Kingsford's edition of Stow's " Survey," vol. ii. ; notes, p. 307. 39 CHAPTER II THE HOLEBOURNE (OR FLEET), TYBOURNE, WESTBOURNE, AND SERPENTINE Fleet River — Ditch — Bridge — Turnmill Brook — River of Wells — Holebourne (or Fleet) : its source and direction traced — Blemund's Ditch — Tybourne Brook : its course described — Marylebone Lane twice crossed by it — Formed a delta at Thorney Island, Westminster — Kilburn Stream, an affluent of the Westbourne — Aye or Eye Brook — Eia Estate — Bays- water Brook, a name applied to the Westbourne — Course of the stream defined — Serpentine : formed at the instigation of Queen Caroline — Old maps of Middlesex. OUTSIDE the walls of the City, in what are now the western suburbs, were three great brooks ; the Hole-bourne, the Ty-bourne, and the West-bourne, all issuing from the uplands of Hampstead and Highgate. Of these, the most important to the citizens of London was the Hole- bourne l (whence Holborn), expressing the burn in the hollow or ravine. One writer, Mr. J. G. Waller, points out that the holes that gave the Saxon 1 The Oldborne or Hilbourne, of Stow, but, as pointed out by Mr. Kingsford, if Oldborne were correct the original form would be Ealdborne. In early documents it is always Holeburne or Holeborne. Holeburne, the stream, occurs in Domesday, i. 127, and in a Charter of Henry II. (Mon. Ang. iv. 85) and Holeburne Strate in 125 1 (Hist. MSS. Comm., 9th Rep. 3). 40 w 13 w y a o H U The Holebourne (or Fleet) name to the Holebourne are still marked by the sites of Hockley-in-the-Hole, now Ray Street, Clerkenwell — and Black Mary's Hole, Bagnigge Wells. A part of the depression here suggested is particularly noticeable near Farringdon Station, on the Metropolitan Railway, which, in fact, runs in places in the old bed of the stream, and also in Farringdon Street, where, with the side-streets rising on either hand, one can imagine how it had eroded its channel between the high banks on its way to the River Thames. In its lower course the Holebourne went by the name of the Fleet, 1 by which it was best known to Londoners. Like the Wallbrook, it was navigable for small ships and barges for a short distance above its mouth. The names of Seacole Lane and New- castle Lane bear witness to the fact of its navigability, and when De Keyser's Hotel was rebuilt in 1871 the timber camp-sheeting of old Bridewell Dock was found beneath the foundations. Early in the twelfth century the district beyond the Fleet is called ultra Fletam. 2 Henry II. gave to the Templars a site for a Mill super Fletam juxta Castelum Bainard, which x A fleet is either that which is afloat, or a place where vessels can float (from the Anglo-Saxon verb fleotan, to float or swim), or where water fleets or runs. Hence the names Ebbfleet, Northfleet, Portfleet, &c. The word vlei, which the Boers of the Cape use for the smaller rivers, is the same word fleet (Dutch, vliet), in a somewhat disguised form. (" Words and Places," Isaac Taylor, 1885, p. 184). The natural feature to which we give the name of "fleet" may be studied in the Thames, especially at Purfleet and Winnington, the latter occupying a bend of the river remark- ably similar to that at Westminster. a Calendar of St. Paul's MSS. 41 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London was removed in the reign of Edward I., on the com- plaint of Henry Lacy, third Earl of Lincoln, that it had lessened the width and depth of water under Holebourne Bridge and Fleet Bridge. The Earl's petition is interesting, as it refers to a time when ten or twelve "navies" (ships), with merchandise, "were wont to come to Flete Bridge, and some of them to Holeburne Bridge." The result of the petition was that the creek was cleaned, the mills, which had caused a diversion of the water, removed, and other means taken for the preservation of the course. But still, as if destined to be a common sewer, it was soon choked with filth again, and the scouring of the muddy stream, which seems to have silted up about every thirty or forty years, was a continual expense to the City of London. On account of this it has been humorously but aptly described as a sort of dirty and troublesome child to the Corporation. Lord Chesterfield was once asked by a patriotic but untravelled Parisian whether London could show a river like the Seine. " Yes," replied his lordship, " we call it Fleet Ditch." The name of Turnmill Brook, given to the Fleet north of Fleet Bridge, was one which it justified till a comparatively recent period, as after the middle of the eighteenth century it gave motion to flour and flatting mills at the back of Field Lane, near Holborn. Turn- mill Street, which runs from the west end of Clerken- well Green to Cow Cross Street, now marks the course of the stream in the valley by Farringdon Road. In the reign of Henry IV. it is mentioned as Trylmyl Strete, in which some persons are empowered to mend a stone bridge over the river Fleet. Falstaff, 42 The Holebourne (or Fleet) in summing up the character of Justice Shallow alludes to it as Turnbull Street, another of its varia- tions ; and it is marked in Agas's map as Turmer Street. This river has now been spoken of under three different names ; of these the Holebourne, or Hol- burne, seems to be the most ancient, and under that title it occurs in Domesday Book, thus : " Two cottagers belonging to Holburne paid twenty pence a year to the Kings Sheriff." By Stow, and others after him, it has been called the River of Wells, but neither in the Parliament Rolls, nor in the Patent Rolls of 1307 (Edward I.) does it appear in this form, although Stow cites these documents as containing the name. The first speaks of " the watercourse of Fleet running under the bridge of Holburn," and the second calls it "the Fleet River from Holburn Bridge to the Thames." 1 Mr. Stevenson 2 believes the " rivulus foncium " of the Conqueror's Charter, quoted above, to be the true origin of the " River of Wells." Pennant was of the same opinion, as he states that the River of Wells or Wall-brook is mentioned in a Charter of William the Conqueror to the College of St. Martin-le-Grand. The tradition that Holborn is so named after a brook — the Old Bourne 3 — supposed to have risen on the hill, a little to the west of Brooke Street, about where Holborn Bars stood, and to have flowed in an easterly direction into the Fleet River, cannot be 1 " London Before the Conquest," W. R. Lethaby, 1902. 2 English Historical Review, 1896. 3 "The Fascination of London" — Holborn and Bloomsbury, Besant, 1903. 43 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London sustained by any evidence or any traces of the bed of a former stream, although Stow speaks positively as to its existence, but which, he says, had long been stopped up. One writer marks the course of this affluent on a plan of the district as it is supposed to have appeared in the twelfth century. 1 It is here seen to rise in Blois Pond, in the Portpoole Manor Estate (of which Portpool Lane, turning out of Gray's Inn Road, is a reminiscence), crossing Holborn a little to the west of the Bars, and running under the walls of the Earl of Lincoln's house, and of Essex House, empty- ing itself into the Fleet at the south-west corner of Holborn Bridge. The fact that in the early history of Bloomsbury great ditches and fosses cut up the ground, the most considerable being Blemund's Ditch, supposed to have been an ancient line of fortification, dividing the parish of St. Giles from that of Blooms- bury, may account for Stow's acceptance of the tradi- tion. Roland Dobie, who wrote a history of the two parishes in 1829, merely quotes what Stow says as to the existence of a brook, but makes no comment. The main source of the Fleet River was a stream fed by springs issuing from the higher parts of Hampstead Heath, and which extended from Flask Walk, down a rather deep valley (since filled up), by what is now known as Willow Road, to South End Green and the Kentish Town Fields. Other sources were near, but this was the principal source of the Holebourne, or Fleet River. This stream was joined by a smaller one from the eastern side of the Heath near where the railway station now is — and still further east ran the streamlet from the Ken (or Caen) 1 " A Chronicle of Blemundsbury," W. Blott, 1892. 44 The Holebourne (or Fleet) Wood Springs, joining the Fleet Brook by the present Kentish Town Road. 1 It thus took its rise, says Mr. J. G. Waller, 2 from two distinct sources : the western arm from Hamp- stead Ponds, and the eastern from Hiodicrate Ponds (which are linked together by underground pipes). Continuing from his description, these two arms formed a junction at Hawley Road, a little above the Regent's Canal. Keeping a nearly due southerly direction, and following the windings of King's Road and Pancras Road in Camden Town, the rivulet flowed on towards Battle Bridge. It then passed between Gray's Inn Road and Bagnigge Wells Road (King's Cross Road), where it made a formidable wash. Turning towards Clerkenwell Green, it passed the western side of what is now the Parcels Post Depot, once the House of Correction, where it was joined by another stream rising near Russell Square, and its course then lay beneath Ray Street, until it reached Farringdon Road, and thence, with few bend- ings, to Holborn Bridge by Farringdon Street, where it ran between high banks which, as it neared its outfall, gradually fell away, until it joined the Thames through the low-lying ground, now called Whitefriars, at a spot on the west side of the present Blackfriars Bridge. In George II.'s reign the Fleet Ditch — it was so called as early as the reign of Edward 1.3 — 1 " Hampstead Wells," G. W. Potter, 1904, pp. 3, 4. 2 J. G. Waller, Trans. London and Middlesex Arch. Soc., vol. vi., 1875. 3 In an Inquisition held by the Mayor and Sheriffs of London — Edward I. 1277-8 — as to property belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury near the Flete Ditch. 45 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London had become so intolerable by pollution that it had to be covered up out of sight, and was finally degraded to the purpose of a sewer. In July, 1840, Mr. Anthony Crosby accomplished the somewhat hazar- dous feat of exploring the noisome stream, while collecting materials for a graphic history of the Fleet River, but which unfortunately he did not live to finish. His drawings and manuscripts were pur- chased for the London Library. " There still remain," writes Palmer (about 1870) "a few yards visible in the parish (of Pancras) where the brook runs in its native state. At the back of the Grove in Kentish Town Road, is a rill of water, one of the little arms of the Fleet, which is yet clear and untainted." The name of the smallest of the three brooks — the Tybourne — is made up of pure Saxon elements. In the Charter of King Eadgar, anno 951 l (which was a confirmatory grant of land to the Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster), it is written Teo-burna. The termination burna (bourne or brook), is well known, but the prefix teo Mr. Waller finds not so easy to determine. However, the name of the brook being evidently suggested by its movements at this part of its course ; whether teo means a duplication, as in "two " or " tie," or the alternative, an enclosure, in allusion to its two arms forming a delta enclosing 1 The date of this Charter is at least six years before King Eadgar ascended the throne, according to the Saxon Chronicle, and ten years before Dunstan, who is called in it Archbishop, came to the See of Canterbury. Other anachronisms have been pointed out in this Charter, which have led to its being con- sidered as the fabrication of the monks. (Dugdale's Mon. Angl., vol. i. p. 266.) 46 The Tybourne the ancient Thorney Island ; either of these inter- pretations would appear to be equally applicable. The Tybourne took its rise at the southern side of Hampstead, in fields known as "Shepherds" or " Conduit fields," from a conduit which covered the spring. The spring was drained off early in the eighteen hundred and eighties by the tunnel which passes close by, through which the Hampstead (North London) Railway is carried. Following the line of Fitzjohn's Avenue to Belsize, the stream then skirted the west side of Regent's Park. Its course from here to Oxford Street is not marked on any known map ; a portion of it only is seen on one by William Faden (1785), in which it is shown as taking a sweep west- wards, bending round again to the east, and up to the then stables of the Horse Guards, near the site of Baker Street Bazaar. From here it may be faintly traced towards Marylebone Lane, which it crossed twice, when it becomes again visible in the maps of Lea and Glynne (1777) and others. Crossing Oxford Street l near Stratford Place, it made its way by Lower Brook Street and the foot of Hay Hill (pos- sibly so called from a farm in the neighbourhood), through Lansdowne Gardens, down Half Moon Street and the hollow of Piccadilly, by a diagonal line to the Green Park, through which it flowed to the front of Buckingham House, where it was covered in from view. It then pursued its course down what are now St. James Street, Orchard Street, and 1 The maps of Morden and Lea, dated 1690 and 1700, show that the highway now called Oxford Street crossed by a bridge the stream which in them is nameless, but in later plans is variously called Aye Brook or Tybourne. 47 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London College Street, by the walls of the monastery of Westminster, until it fell into the Thames. The other branch of the Tybourne, from the front of Buckingham Palace, swept westwards, forming the ancient boundary of the City of Westminster, crossing Vauxhall Bridge Road and Grosvenor Road and falling into the Thames. In the later plans and maps the Tybourne is variously called Aye Brook or Eye Brook, 1 from the ancient estate of Eia, nearly 900 acres in extent, which reached from the Bayswater Road to the Thames : in the survey by Morden and Lea {temp. William and Mary) it is marked "A Brooke," and in " Leland's Itinerary" (1770) " Mariburne Brook." As a proof of its continued existence, it may be mentioned that in Oxford Street it was tapped by the engineers of the Central London Railway, familiarly known as the "Twopenny Tube" (opened in 1900), causing much delay in their work. To the proximity of the same stream, St. Cyprian's Church, Glentworth Street, Dorset Square, owes the great depth of its foundations. The Westbourne was probably larger than the Holebourne ; it is marked "Bayswater Brook" in Greenwood's map of 1824-7. Some of its tributary springs were close to those of the Tybourne, so that, as pointed out by Mr. Waller, a little difference in the levels would have made the latter merely a tributary. The farthest of its sources of supply was formerly marked by a small pond on the south-western side of 1 In the Crace Collection there is a plan of Stratford Place, showing Ayre (sic) brook before it was covered in. (Cat., p. 100, No. 25.) 48 The Westbourne Hampstead Heath. The next was within the village, near Frognal Estate, with an arch over it. The main stream flowed westward through meadows towards the Great North Road, receiving a small affluent, the Kilburn. Leaving the nunnery of that name, it crossed the Edgware Road beneath an ancient thirteenth-century bridge, into low-lying meadows, receiving another affluent from Willesden Lane. It then flowed for some distance in a direct though sinuous course, when it bent almost at right angles, and following the trend of the present Cambridge and Shirland Roads, passed under the Grand Junction Canal. From here it proceeded parallel with the Edgware Road, through the once rural Westbourne Green, a part of which was almost on the spot where Royal Oak Station now is, and passed Craven Hill l on the west, where formerly stood the Pest House, marked so prominently on Rocque's map. It then formed the main body of the water of the Serpentine. A few words as to the formation of this fine sheet of water. It is probably known only to the few that it was at the instigation of Queen Caroline, Consort of George II., that the Westbourne, or rather the pools in its bed, of which there were eleven alto- gether, was dammed up and converted into a lake of some 40 acres (not 50, as generally reputed), about 7 furlongs in length by about 200 yards in width towards the eastern or Knightsbridge end. It was named, not very appropriately, the Serpentine River, though the outline 170 years ago may have presented more frequent and serpent-like windings than are now 1 One of the places occupied by the citizens of London during the Plague. 49 D Springs, Streams, and Spas of London seen in its course. The making of it — a work of some magnitude — is described very fully by Mr. W. L. Rutton in the Home Counties Magazine for 1903, who goes into all the minutiae of the charges and expenses incurred in the work. 1 In Rocque's map (1746) the Serpentine is called the New River. The Westbourne continued to supply the Serpentine up to 1834, when it was cut off, the water having become too impure for feeding it, owing to the drains of the houses finding their way into the stream. Emerging at the lower end of the Serpentine, at the cascade not far from Hyde Park Corner, the West- bourne was crossed at Knightsbridge by a stone bridge, 2 the situation of which was between Knights- bridge Terrace and the house occupied as the French Embassy, and a part of it existed in 1857 under the road at Albert Gate. Crossing the Great Western Road, it passed along in a line parallel with Sloane Street, behind the east side of Lowndes Square and Cadogan Square — a district named, up to 1825, the Five Fields, on which were a few market gardens. In R. Horwood's plan of London (1799) it is shown in these parts dividing Chelsea parish from St. George's parish. Bending to the right, the stream passed under Grosvenor Bridge, where it divided and emptied itself into the Thames near Ranelagh Gardens by two mouths. The eastern course was stopped up when Grosvenor Canal was formed, the 1 "The Making of the Serpentine," W. L. Rutton, Home Counties Magazine, vol. v., 1903. 2 Walford, in "Old and New London," vol. iv., ed. 1902, reproduces a drawing of the outfall of the Serpentine at Knights- bridge in 1880, from the Crace Collection. 50 The Westbourne head of which, forming a large basin, is now entirely covered by the Victoria Railway Station. The western mouth is the entrance to the Ranelagh Sewer, into which the stream had for many years degenerated. By 1856-7 the whole of its course was covered in, although part of it was open so late as 1854. The Westbourne was occasionally a cause of annoyance to the inhabitants of Knights- bridge through its overflowings after heavy rains ; notably in 1768, when it did great damage, under- mining the foundations of some of the neighbouring houses. 1 The stream (or sewer) of the Westbourne is carried in a large conduit over the District Railway at Sloane Square Station. The old maps of Middlesex, e.g., those of Norden, 1593; Speed, 1 6 10, which was an augmentation of Norden; Seller, 17 10; Morden, 1730; and Rocque, 1 74 1-5, show but two streams — the Holebourne and the Westbourne. The Tybourne, probably from its being of less volume, is not figured, although it was important at an early period, as from its springs a supply of water was conducted to London. Robins, in " Paddington, Past and Present" (1853), contends that the names Tybourne and Westbourne were given to the same brook — an opinion opposed to those of all others who have studied the question. It cannot be denied that Mr. Robins has laboured hard to prove his case, and that his arguments in support of it carry some weight. In the endeavour to show that the two streams were really one and the 1 " Memorials of the Hamlet of Knightsbridge," by H. G. Davis, 1859, pp.. 20, 21. 51 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London same, he refers to an Act of Parliament so late as 1734, 1 in which "two messuages and six acres of land lying in the common Fields of Westbourn, in the said parish of Paddington," and three other acres in the same fields, are described as being " parcel of the manor of Tyburn, and called Byard's Watering Place." The Serpentine he takes to have been first called Tybourn, then Westbourn, then Ranelagh Sewer ; while the stream which crossed Oxford Street, west of Stratford Place, first bore the name of Eyebourn, then Tybourn, then King's Scholars Pond Sewer. The only vestige of the Westbourne now remaining is to be seen at the southern extremity of St. Luke's parish, Chelsea, where, having become a mere sewer, it empties itself into the Thames about 300 yards above Chelsea Bridge. 1 7 Geo. II., cap. xi. 52 CHAPTER III HOLY WELLS AND WELL-WORSHIP Holy wells — Enactments against offerings at springs in Saxon times — Survival of superstitions relating to them — Flower- dressing of wells : a custom still observed at Tissington in Derbyshire — Offerings of coins — Holy wells in London. THE earliest historian of London — William Fitz- Stephen 1 — writing towards the end of the twelfth century, presents us with a vision of London as he saw it, and speaks enthusiastically of the cornfields, pastures, and delightful meadows in the northern suburbs, and of certain excellent springs which rose at a short distance from the City, men- tioning in particular Holy Well, Clerks' Well, and Clement's Well ("fons sacer, fons clericorum, and fons Clementis "), then much frequented by scholars and City youths in their walks on summer evenings. Stow says that in his time — Elizabeth to James I. — 1 His graphic description of London in the twelfth century forms the preface to his most important work, "Vita Sancta Thomae," and is entitled " Descriptio Nobilissimae civitatis Londoniae." It was written between the years 1180 and 1182. Printed in Stow's " Survey of London," in " Leland's Itinerary," published by Hearne, third edition, 1770, and by Dr. Pegge in 1772. It also occurs in the " Liber Custumarum," vol. ii., Part I. (Guildhall Library). 53 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London every street and lane had " divers fayre welles and springes," which served the City with " sweet and fresh water." To name a few of these : there were wells of drinking water in Broad Street, at Aldgate, at St. Antholin's Church, Watling Street, at St. Paul's Churchyard, at the Grey Friar's, at Aldersgate, and in many private houses. But since Stow's " Survey " was completed, many destructive agencies have been at work, particularly the Great Fire of 1666, which wrought such fearful havoc in London, about five- sixths of which was laid waste ; so that any well or fountain within its range was choked, and afterwards built over and forgotten. Those specified by Fitz- Stephen, however, lay beyond the devastated area, and thus escaped destruction, and their sites can even now be pretty closely identified. Before proceeding with the detailed descriptions, there is one feature in connection with streams and wells which cannot be altogether ignored, and that is the prominent place they held in former times among nature-religions. There is an extensive litera- ture dealing with the folklore of holy wells and streams, the subject having of late years met with increasing recognition from students of anthropology and of comparative religions ; but this is not the place for an examination into such a wide field of research ; and so the reader need only to be reminded here of the theory of the descent of the churches from the holy stones (circles, dolmens, cromlechs, menhirs, &c.) which they replaced, and of the close association of wells with these sacred erections. A few points may, however, be touched upon relative to this fascinating subject. There are instances of wells near stone 54 Holy Wells and Well-worship circles in Cornwall, Aberdeenshire, in County Kerry, and in the Isle of Man. The number of holy wells and streams in Britain is legion. Mr. Gomme says I that well-worship prevailed in every county of the three kingdoms. It seems now to be generally accepted that well- worship in Britain originated long before the Christian era ; that the Christian missionaries found it in vogue on their arrival, and tolerated it at first, and utilised it afterwards for their own ends. 2 But in the times of transition from paganism to Christianity the higher Christian authorities made protest against the old worship, passing laws to forbid adoration and sacrifice to fountains — as when Duke Bretislav forbade the still half-pagan country-folk of Bohemia to offer libations and sacrifice victims at springs, and in England there were prohibitions by the Saxon clergy, and Ecgberht's Pcenitentiale proscribes the like rites : " If any man vow or bring his offering to any well" — "If one holds his vigils at any well." 3 But the old veneration was too strong to be put down, and with a veneer of Christianity, and the substitution of a Saint's name, water-worship has held its own to our day. To prove this, it is only necessary to say that in remote country places there are to be found, even now, persons who openly avow their belief in the miraculous properties of holy wells, although one would suppose that in these enlightened times such superstition could hardly exist. Yet as a proof of the persistence of a 1 " Etymology in Folklore," 1892. 8 "Stonehenge and other British Stone Monuments," Sir Norman Lockyer, 1906. 3 " Primitive Culture," E. B. Tylor, 1871. 55 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London deeply rooted belief, there are wells in some parts of Cornwall, for instance, which are popularly supposed to possess supernatural powers over their votaries. 1 Streams, rivers, fountains, springs, and wells have all been accounted holy, 2 and possessed each its nymph or its god, who exacted sacrifice or offering of some kind. Wells were sometimes dressed with flowers, as at the village of Tissington, near Ash- bourne, in Derbyshire, where the custom of garland- dressing of the well is still observed on every anni- versary of the Ascension. At a well still called Bede's Well, near Jarrow, Northumberland, as late as 1740, a custom prevailed to bring children troubled with any disease or infirmity. In the south (Teutonic England) an example is found where some details of local ritual are still preserved. This is at Bon- church in the Isle of Wight, where on St. Boniface's Day, June 5th, the well is decorated with flowers. 3 In other cases wells were resorted to for the pur- pose of obtaining change of weather, or good luck, and to effect this offerings were made to them to pro- pitiate their guardian gods and nymphs. Coins have been found by the hundred in wells into which they were thrown in order to read an oracle from the troubling of the waters : there were superstitions about water drawn on certain nights ; there were wishing wells, and there were wakes of the well. * " Miraculous Wells, " C. N. Bennett — Good Words, Septem- ber, 1905. 2 The earliest holy well known to history is the famous well at Heliopolis, where Ra used to wash himself, and Piankhi, B.C. 740, went and washed his face in it. 3 " Tour in the Isle of Wight," Chas. Tomkins, 1796, II. 121. 56 Holy Wells and Well-worship Many of the ancient holy wells were frequented by people with skin diseases or suffering from complaints of the eyes. This arose in many cases from their chalybeate water — known, but not understood. " I have found," says Mr. T. W. Shore, "sesquioxide (now called ferric oxide) of iron, a common ingredient in holy wells, now frequented by people for the purpose of washing mangy dogs ; so greatly has the character of many of these ancient holy wells fallen from their former reputation." x That some among the historic wells in and around London were deemed sacred is evidenced by their dedication to Saints of the early Christian faith, as well as from their close proximity to churches, e.g., those of St. Bride and St. Clement in the west, Clerks' Well (or Clerkenwell) north of the City, near which was the priory church of St. John of Jerusalem ; while eastward was the Holy Well, Shoreditch, near the ancient Priory of Halliwell (or Holywell). Some of the outlying districts of the metropolis, such as Muswell Hill, Tottenham (St. Eloy), and Ladywell, also had their holy wells. Having their existence near some abbey, monas- tery, or religious house, the holy wells often formed, by the attraction of real or fancied virtues, no trifling addition to the revenues of the pious dwellers in those sacred edifices. 1 "The Anglo-Saxon Settlement round London," &c., by T. W. Shore, Trans. London and Middlesex Arch. Soc, vol. i., 1905. 57 CHAPTER IV CENTRAL LONDON GROUP OF WELLS AND SPAS St. Bride's Well — Milton's lodgings in the churchyard — Clement's Well — Stow's evidence as to its position and identification — Allusions to it by later writers — Evidence of the Ordnance Survey maps — Holy Well, Strand — Remarks of various observers regarding its true position — Gray's Inn Lane — Bagnigge House and Wells — Origin of the name — Nell Gwynne at Bagnigge House — Properties of the water —Battle Bridge— Black Mary's Hole— St. Chad's Well : its many vicissitudes — Pancras Wells and garden — Visit of Pepys thereto — Holt Waters — Sadler's Music House and Wells — Sadler succeeded by Miles and Forcer — The Theatre and notable performers — It sinks to a low-type music- hall — Islington Spa, or New Tunbridge Wells — At one time a fashionable resort — The proprietor's house — Rose- bery Avenue — London Spaw — New Wells near the latter — Priory of St. John of Jerusalem — Clerks' Well — Miracle or Mystery Plays performed there — St. Mary's Nunnery, Clerk- enwell — Hockley in the Hole — Skinners' Well — Fagswell — Godewell — Loder's Well — Radwell — Crowder's Well — — Monkswell — St. Agnes le Clere — Well or pool — Mineral Baths — Perilous Pond, later called Peerless Pool — Swim- ming-bath and fishing-pond — Swimming-bath survived to nineteenth century. ON the right bank of the Fleet, close to its outfall into the Thames, stood a large castel- lated building, half fortress, half palace, called Bridewell, in which, from the reign of Henry III., 58 Central London Group of Wells and Spas if not of John, the sovereigns of this realm were lodged and kept their Courts. There are few parti- culars of the spot on which it stood, but like the neighbouring Savoy, it was probably foreshore, which, under the riparian laws, belonged to the Crown. Stow says : " This house of St. Bride's, of later time, being left, and not used by the Kings, fell to ruin, . . . only a fayre well remained here." l The palace, 2 described as a stately and beautiful house, was rebuilt by Henry VIII., for the reception and accommodation of the Emperor Charles V. and his retinue, when he visited England for the second time in 1522. In 1553 Edward VI. gave it over to the City of London, to be used as a workhouse for the poor, and a house of cor- rection " for the strumpet and idle person, for the rioter that consumeth all, and for the vagabond that will abide in no place." The old palace was burnt down in the Great Fire. Many views of it are extant as it appeared previous to its destruc- tion. The well was near the church dedicated to St. Bridget (of which Bride is a corruption ; a Scottish or Irish saint who flourished in the sixth century), and was one of the holy wells or springs so numerous in London, the waters of which were supposed to possess peculiar virtues if taken at particular times. Whether the Well of St. Bride was so called after the church, or whether, being already there, it gave its name to it, is uncertain, more especially as the date of the 1 Strype's Edition of Stow, 1720. 2 The whole 3rd Act of Shakespeare's play of " Henry VIII." is laid in the Palace of Bridewell. 59 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London erection of the first church of St. Bride is not known and no mention of it has been discovered prior to the year 1222. The position of the ancient well is stated to have been identical with that of the pump in a niche in the eastern wall of the church- yard overhanging Bride Lane. William Hone, in his " Every- Day Book" for 1 831, thus relates how the well became exhausted : " The last public use of the water of St. Bride's well drained it so much that the inhabitants of the parish could not get their usual supply. This exhaustion was caused by a sudden demand on the occasion of King George IV. being crowned at Westminster in July, 1 82 1. Mr. Walker, of the Hotel, No. 10 Bridge Street, Blackfriars, engaged a number of men in filling thousands of bottles with the sanctified fluid from the cast-iron pump over St. Bride's Well, in Bride Lane." Beyond this there is little else to tell about the well itself, but the spot is hal- lowed by the memory of the poet Milton, who, as his nephew, Edward Philips, 1 records, lodged in the churchyard on his return from Italy, about August, 1640, "at the house of one Russel a taylor." The house itself was a small tenement, which was burnt down in 1824 : the back part of the old office of Punch occupied its site. There were at least two wells of importance in the near neighbourhood of St. Clement Danes Church, in the Strand. The earliest mention of the well of St. Clement was made by the Anglo- Norman chronicler, FitzStephen, in his " History of x " Life of Milton," by Edward Philips, 1694, p. 16. 60 Central London Group of Wells and Spas London," prefixed to his Life of Becket (written between the years 1180 and 1182), where in the oft-quoted passage, he describes the water as "sweete, wholesome, and cleere," and the spot as being "much frequented by scholars and youths of the Citie in summer evenings, when they walk forth to take the aire." Turning to Stow (1598), a fairly correct idea of the position of the holy well may be formed from his remarks. Referring to Clement's Inn, he defines it as " an Inne of Chancerie, so called because it standeth near St. Clement's Church, but nearer to the faire fountain called Clement's Well." As to its condition at the time he wrote, he says : " It is yet faire and curbed square with hard stone, and is always kept clean for common use. It is always full and never wanteth water." Seymour writes of it in his " Survey of London" (1734-35) as "St. Clement's pump, or well, of note for its excellent spring water." Maitland (1756) says of it: "The well is now covered, and a pump placed therein on the east side of Clement's Inn and lower end of St. Clement's Lane." This appears to be the first specific reference to the change from a draw-well to a pump. Hughson (1806-09), and Allen (1827-29) both allude briefly to the well, but the following authors say nothing about it : Northouck "A New History of London" (1773); Pennant, "Some Account of London" (1790 and 1793); Malcolm, " Londinium Redivivum " (1803-07); and Riley, " Memorials of London and London Life in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries " (1868). Among the more modern writers, John Sanders in 61 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London his " Strand" article, published in Knight's " London" (1842), says : " The well is now covered with a pump, but there still remains the spring, flowing as steadily and freshly as ever." George Emerson (1862), in speaking of the Church, says: "It stood near a celebrated well, which for centuries was a favourite resort for Londoners. The water was slightly medicinal, and having effected some cures, the name Holy Well was applied." John Diprose, an old inhabitant of the parish of St. Clement Danes, in his account of the parish (published in two volumes in 1868 and 1876), has this passage on the subject : " It has been suggested that the Holy Well was situated on the side of the Churchyard (of St. Clement), facing Temple Bar, for here may be seen a stone-built house, looking like a burial vault above ground, which an inscription informs us was erected in 1839, to prevent people using a pump that the inhabitants had put up in 1807 over a remarkable well, which is 191 feet deep, with 150 feet of water in it. Perhaps this may be the ' holy well ' of bygone days, that gave the name to a street adjoining." Timbs says in his "Curiosities of London" (1853), " the holy well is stated to be that under the ' Old Dog' tavern, No. 24, Holywell Street." Mr. Parry, an optician in that street, and an old inhabitant, held the same opinion. Mr. Diprose, on the other hand, finds " upon examination, no reason for supposing that the holy well was under the ' Old Dog ' tavern, there being much older wells near the spot." Other inhabitants believe that the ancient well was adjacent to Lyon's Inn, which faced Newcastle Street, between Wych Street and Holywell Street. In the 62 Central London Group of Wells and Spas Times of May i, 1874, may be found the following paragraph, which reads like a requiem: "Another relic of Old London has lately passed away ; the holy well of St. Clement, on the north of St. Clement Danes Church, has been filled in and covered over with earth and rubble, in order to form part of the foundation of the Law Courts of the future." On the 3rd of September of the same year (1874) the Standard refers to this supposed choking up of the old well, and suggests that "there had been a mis- apprehension, for the well, instead of being choked up, was delivering into the main drainage of London something like 30,000 gallons of water daily of exquisite purity. This flow of water which wells up from the low-lying chalk through a fault in the London Clay, will be utilised for the new Law Courts." A contributor to Notes and Queries (9th series, July 29, 1899) draws attention to the following particulars from a correspondent, a Mr. J. C. Asten, in the Morning Herald of July 5, 1899: "Having lived at No. 273, Strand, for thirty years from 1858, it may interest your readers to know that at the back of No. 274, between that house and Holy Well Street, there exists an old well, which most probably is the ' Holy Well.' It is now built over. I and others have frequently drunk the exceedingly cool, bright water. There was an abundance of it, for in the later years a steam-printer used it to fill his boilers." An interesting account of another well, less likely, how- ever, to be the true well, is given by the late Mr. G. A. Sala in " Things I have Seen and People I have Met" (1894), who describes the clearing of the well which was not under, but behind the "Old Dog," 63 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London in Holy Well Street, where he resided for some months about 1840. One or two interesting things turned up, amongst them being a broken punch bowl, having a William and Mary guinea inserted at the bottom ; a scrap of paper with the words in faded ink, " Oliver Goldsmith, 13s. iod.," perhaps a tavern score, and a variety of other articles. The erection of the new Law Courts — 1874-82 — which, with the piece of garden ground on the western side, cover a space of nearly 8 acres, 1 swept away numbers of squalid courts, alleys, and houses, includ- ing a portion of Clement's Inn, where the well was. Further west another large area was denuded of houses, by which Holywell Street — demolished in 1 901 — and nearly the whole of Wych Street (a few houses on its northern side only being left), have been wiped off the map. In order, if possible, to obtain some corroboration of the Standards statement that the spring existed in 1874, the writer applied for information on the point to the Clerk of Works 2 at the Royal Courts of Justice, who wrote that he could find no trace of St. Clement's Well, so that the report in the Times (quoted above) is probably correct. The water-supply to the Courts of Justice, he adds in his letter of June 13, 1907, is from the Water Board's mains, and an 1 " The existing buildings cover 5 acres, and the remaining 2 acres have hitherto formed the pleasant green space on the Clement's Inn side, to the west. Two-thirds of this space is to be occupied by the new Court. The remaining one-third will still remain open to the public" {Daily Telegraph, January 13, 1909). 2 Mr. E. Carpenter, who kindly communicated the informa- tion contained in the above paragraph to the author by letter. 64 Central London Group of Wells and Spas underground tank, used for the steam-engine boilers, situated between the principal and east blocks, is filled partly from the roofs and partly from shallow wells in the north (Carey Street) area of the building — the overflow running into the drains. On the Ordnance Survey Map, published in 1874, a spot is marked on the open space west of the Law Courts with the words " Site of St. Clement's Well " : this spot is distant about 200 feet north from the Church of St. Clement Danes, and about 90 feet east of Clement's Inn Hall, which was then standing. The Inn, with the ground attached to it, was disposed of not long after 1884, when the Society of Clement's Inn had been disestablished. To the north of the main thoroughfare of High Holborn, and rather more than half-way up Gray's Inn Road on the east side, was a well formerly appertaining to the Benedictine Nunnery of St. Mary's, Clerkenwell. The way to it is marked on Agas's map of the sixteenth century as a country lane (it used to be called Gray's Inn Lane), winding pleasantly between fields and hedgerows, though, strangely enough, it is recorded that it was paved so long ago as 14 1 7. "I take it," says Mr. Tomlins, in his " Perambulation of Islington" (1858), " Bagnigge Wells was the Reddewell or Reedwell mentioned in the Register of Clerkenwell." This is doubtless iden- tical with the Rad Well of Stow. That part of the road which followed the course of the Holebourne from Clerkenwell to Kentish Town, and lay in the valley between Clerkenwell and Battle Bridge, was called Bagnigge Vale, the river there being called Bagnigge Wash, and the wall of Bagnigge House, 65 E Springs, Streams, and Spas of London Bagnigge Wall. It is to be noted that Bagnigge Wells Road (afterwards King's Cross Road), is partly in Clerkenwell and partly in St. Pancras parish : the house itself was in Clerkenwell. Until this part was drained, a great drawback was its liability to be flooded, it having been originally a swamp. About the middle of the eighteenth century, and even later, the force of the current at Bagnigge Wells was sufficient to turn the wheels of a snuff-mill. The Fleet at Bagnigge was a river as late as 1 700, on which pleasure-boats might be seen, and there was nothing then to impede the torrents from the hills of Highgate and Hampstead from swelling its tide. The name Bagnigge must have existed from very early times, for Dr. Stukeley found in a Charter of William de Ewell prebendary of Vinesbury, otherwise Haliwell, without date but made in the thirteenth century, Domino Thoma de Basnigge as one of the attesting witnesses. There was an old and wealthy family of the name of Bagnigge residing in St. Pancras in the seventeenth century, and to whom the property comprising Bagnigge House belonged. The old gabled mansion was, in the time of Charles II., literally in the country, standing on the green slope of Pentonville Hill and sheltered on all sides, except the south, by the rising grounds of Primrose Hill, Hamp- stead, and Islington. Bagnigge House is claimed by some to have been the country residence of Nell Gwynne, and there is some evidence for the belief. Dr. E. F. Rimbault, writing in Notes and Queries in 1873, gives his im- pressions of a visit to the place in 1828. " I have a vivid recollection," he says, "of the Long Room, 66 Central London Group of Wells and Spas originally the banqueting-hall of the old house- measuring nearly 80 feet by 30 feet— in which Nellie entertained the King and his brother the Duke of York with concerts, breakfasts, &c. An alto-relievo bust in coloured delft of ' Mrs. Eleanor Gwin ' was over a fireplace. Old Thorogood was lessee of the wells when I first became acquainted with them." An old building called Nell Gwynne's Room stood in the garden. Mr. Samuel Palmer in his " History of St. Pancras" says: "At what period this property fell into the hands of Nell Gwynne is unknown, but that she occupied it either as a tenant— which is most probable —or received it as a gift from her royal lover is certain." The late Mr. Peter Cunningham, on 'the other hand, after long and careful inquiry as to the places where she is supposed to have lived found himself obliged to reject this as one of them.i An engraving described as Nell Gwynne's house, when it was in process of demolition in 1844 is given by Pinks ("History of Clerkenwell" P- 559). There is a tradition that the place of old was called Blessed Mary's Well, but the name of the Holy Virgin having fallen into disesteem after the Reformation the title was altered to Black Mary's Well, as it stands upon • Rocque's map (1746-48), and then to Black Mary's Hole,2 which in 176 1 was described as " a few straggling houses near the Cold Bath Fields." There are those again who maintain that the later appellations GiLf^S^^^ 6 ^ ** **« John 67 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London referred to one Mary Wollaston, 1 a coloured woman whose occupation was attending at a well on the opposite eminence to Bagnigge, which was among the many springs in the neighbourhood. Mr. Loftie's idea is that the name may be referred to one of the wooden Madonnas, which were destroyed at the Reformation. The Black Virgin is still to be found in some French churches — "Our Lady of Puy" being black — and it is probable that the origin of the name lies here. This group has sometimes been confused with Bagnigge Wells, but was apparently quite sepa- rate, though not far distant. The narrator of the re-discovery of the medicinal springs was Dr. John Bevis, who in 1760 published a book which he called "An Experimental Inquiry con- cerning the Contents, Qualities, and Medicinal Virtues of the two mineral waters lately discovered at Bagnigge Wells near London," which, he writes, "were got into great repute." It was in the year 1757 that the spot of ground in which the well was sunk was let to a gentleman of the name of Hughes, who was "curious in gardening, and who observed that the oftener he watered his flowers from it the worse they seemed to thrive." Tasting the water at his request, Dr. Bevis found its flavour to be like that of the best German chaly- beates, having "an agreeable sub-acid tartness," and he proved it on analysis to be rich in mineral contents. This well was situated just behind the house, and was nearly two yards in diameter, the water ex- ceedingly clear, and having a sulphurous smell as it 1 On her death about 1687, a Mr. Walter Baynes, of the Inner Temple, enclosed the spring by a conduit. 68 Central London Group of Wells and Spas issued out. The water of another well about forty yards north of the chalybeate, was found to possess cathartic properties, leaving "a distinguishable brackish bitterness on the palate." Dr. Bevis describes this one as a powerful purgative ; a less quantity being required to be taken than perhaps of any other known in England ; three half-pint glasses sufficing for a dose in most constitutions. The two wells were each some 20 feet in depth : the water was brought to one point, and thence drawn from two pumps, enclosed within a small erection called the Temple, consisting of a roofed and circular kind of colonnade, formed by a double row of pillars with an interior balustrade — a building after the style of the water-temples at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. In the centre of the Temple was a double pump, one cylinder of which supplied the chalybeate water, and the other the cathartic water. The charge for drinking the water at the pump was threepence : half a guinea entitled the visitor to its use throughout the season. The poor had the water gratis, on producing a certificate from a physician or apothecary. From about 1760 till near the end of the eighteenth century Bagnigge Wells was a popular resort. Some hundreds of visitors were sometimes to be found in the morning for the water-drinking. In the afternoon the Long Room and the gardens were thronged by tea- drinkers, especially on Sundays. The grounds were behind the Long Room, and were laid out in formal walks with hedges of box and holly. Arbours for tea- drinking, covered with honeysuckle and sweetbriar, surrounded the gardens ; and there was a rustic cottage and a grotto, the latter a small castellated 69 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London building in the form of a hexagon, decorated with shells, pebbles, and fragments of glass. Among other attractions of the Wells were a bowling-green and skittle-alley. Three wooden bridges spanned the Fleet (locally called the Bagnigge River), which flowed through the grounds, separating the eastern from the western portions. There were seats on the banks, for such as "chuse to smoke, or drink cyder, ale, etc., which are not permitted in other parts of the garden." Hughes, the original proprietor, appears to have re- mained at the Wells till about 1775 ; subsequently a Mr. John Davis was the lessee, till his death in 1793. In the Daily Advertisement for July, 1775, is the following characteristic announcement : — "The Royal Bagnigge Wells, between the Found- ling Hospital and Islington. — Mr. Davis, the pro- prietor, takes this method to inform the publick, that both the chalybeate and purging waters are in the greatest perfection ever known, and may be drank at 3d. each person, or delivered at the pump room at 8d. per gallon. They are recommended by the most eminent physicians for various disorders, as specified in the handbills. Likewise in a treatise written on those waters by the late Dr. Bevis, dedicated to the Royal Society, and may be had at the bar, price is., where ladies and gentlemen may depend upon having the best tea, coffee, hot loaves, &c." A curious little volume called " A Sunday Ramble or Modern Sabbath-Day Journey " (published circa 1774) describes, among other places of recreation near town — Bagnigge Wells, which, it may be gathered had in its early days, little to boast of, being " only a small ale house, seldom visited by persons of any reputa- 70 Central London Group of Wells and Spas tion." Under Mr. Davis's proprietorship various improvements were carried out in the gardens and permanent buildings, and in his hands it became one of the recognised summer resorts of pleasure-seek- ing Londoners. These included people of various degrees, with a sprinkling of aristocracy, but, like other tea-gardens and spas, Bagnigge was by no means over-exclusive or select. As a place of entertainment Bagnigge Wells appears to have been opened earlier than is generally stated, for Dr. Rimbault pointed out in Notes and Queries in 1850 that Bickham's curious work, " The Musical En- tertainer" {circa 1738) contains an engraving of Tom Hippersley, mounted in the singing rostrum, regaling the company with a song. Among some of the versifiers of this period who noticed Bagnigge Wells was William Woty, a Grub Street writer, who issued in 1760, under the pseudonym of "J. Copywell of Lincoln's Inn," a volume entitled "The Shrubs of Parnassus," in which the following allusion is made to the springs : — "... there stands a dome superb, Hight Bagnigge, where from our forefathers hid, Long have two springs in dull stagnation slept." Colman's prologue to Garrick's "Bon Ton" (1775), imputes a rather vulgar tone to the place : — u Bon Ton's the space 'twixt Saturday and Monday, And riding in a one-horse chair on Sunday : 'Tis drinking tea on summer afternoons At Bagnigge Wells with china and gilt spoons." In later days Miss Maria Edgeworth, in one of her 7i Springs, Streams, and Spas of London tales, alludes to this place somewhat disparagingly in the lines : — " The Cits to Bagnigge Wells repair, To swallow dust, and call it air." x A relic of the old house, in the shape of an inscribed stone tablet is mentioned by Dr. Bevis in 1760 as having been over an old Gothic portal, which was taken down about three years previously, the tablet being replaced over the door from the high road to the house. It is now built into the wall between two modern houses — Nos. 61 and 63 King's Cross Road — probably near the north-western limit of the gardens, and perhaps recording the actual site of Bagnigge House. The inscription upon the tablet, which, by the way, has nothing about wells in it, is as * follows : — "THIS IS BAGNIGGE HOUSE NEARE THE PINDER A WAKE- FEILDE, 1680." a Some writers have inferred from this that Bagnigge Wells itself was a place of entertainment as early as 1680, but there is nothing whatever to warrant this conclusion. The principal proprietors of Bagnigge Wells, which in the later years of its career frequently changed hands, were : Mr. Hughes in and after the year 1757 till about 1775 ; subsequently Mr. John Davis was 1 Quoted in " Every Night Book," 1827, p. 36. 2 " The Pindar of Wakefield " was the sign of an old inn or hostelry in Gray's Inn Road, destroyed by a hurricane in 1723. Pindar, or Pounder, meant bailiff or keeper of the pound to the manor of Wakefield. 72 e /(i/ o 5 South London Spas and Wells at the far end, and ranged along the walls on either side are tables for tea-drinking, at which some of the guests are sitting. The discovery of the coping-stones of the old Lady- Well was made about 1880, in digging to underpin an arch of the bridge over the Mid Kent Railway at Ladywell, where there had been a settlement of the ground. The stones were rescued from destruction by a signalman in the Company's employ, and in 1896 were re-erected and now form part of a fountain in the grounds of the Ladywell Public Baths. The bringing to light of these stones led to a controversy as to which of two springs — one a medicinal spring — was the true Lady Well, and this was carried on in the Kentish Mercury for some time during the year 1896. 1 The correspondence is summarised in a paper published by the Home Counties Magazine (vol. i., 1899), by Mr. C. A. Bradford, who here records probably all that is known on the subject. The first mention of any spring in the parish of which, he says, he can find any trace, is in Warkworth's " Chronicles," edited by J. O. Halliwell for the Camden Society in 1839. Speaking of the hot summer in the 13th year of King Edward IV. 's reign (1472), Warkworth 2 says : " Also in the same year . . . water ran hugely, with such abundance that never man saw it run so 1 See the Kentish Mercury for June 12, 1896. 2 John Warkworth, Bachelor of Divinity, the reputed author of a Chronicle of Edward IV. 's time, was a man of unknown origin. He was appointed Master of the College of Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1473, and remained its head till his death in 1500. (Dictionary of National Biography.) 199 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London much afore this time . . . also as they saw this water run they knew well it was a token of dearth or of pestilence or of (a) great battle. Also there has run divers such other waters that betoken the likewise ; one at Levesham (Lewisham) in Kent." Warkworth is quoted by Leland in his " Collec- tanea," l by Kilburne in his Survey, 2 by Hasted,3 as well as by recent authors. The well is not men- tioned in Lewisham parish registers till towards the close of the eighteenth century. Lysons, writing in i8ii,4 evidently refers to the mineral spring when he says : " Between Lewisham and Brockley is a well of the same quality as those at Tonbridge (i.e., chalybeate) ; a woman attends to serve the water, which is delivered gratis to the inhabitants of the parish." In Knight's "Journey Book of England " 5 (Kent, p. 58, 1842), the author confuses the Lady Well with the mineral spring when, in describing the Ravens- bourne, he says : " At Catford Bridge, near Rushey Green, it receives into its channel the small river Chiffinch, and after crossing Brockley Lane, the waters from the Lady Well also, which is supposed to be the Great Spring mentioned by Kilburne as newly breaking out of the earth in 1472." Butt's " Historical Guide to Lewisham," published in 1878, is the most explicit as to its position in the 1 Vol. iii. part 2, p. 508, written before 1550. 2 " A Topographie or Survey of the County of Kent," by Richard Kilburne, 1659, p. 168. 3 " History of Kent," 1778. 4 " Environs of London," vol. ii. p. 572. s " The Journey Book of England," Chas. Knight and Co., 1842. Kensington Public Library. 200 South London Spas and Wells following passage (page 21): " Crossing the bridge and exactly in front of the Freemason's Arms Inn we have the site of the Lady Well. The old well was opposite Ladywell House, and in (what is now) nearly the centre of the road leading to the Railway Station (opened in 1857) and just by the railway arch. It had a railing of iron round it, was 6 or 7 feet deep, with a small grating at the bottom, where the spring rose, which used to fill the well and flow over. This well was filled up and covered over some years ago when a sewer was made just there." The guide-book then goes on to speak of the mineral well " situated by the left (south) side of the road at Ladywell Cottage, before the cemetery is reached." It adds : " Mrs. Beak, the present tenant of Lord Dartmouth, informs me that this well was situated in the garden above her Cottage ; that it was run dry by the making of the same sewer r which was fatal to the old Lady Well, somewhat more than eleven years ago (about 1865 or 1866) ; that a previous tenant named Stiles dismantled it, and sold the bottom stone. The well was railed round, and the spring reached by descending several steps. Her husband, on taking the cottage about 1868, found everything in disorder and the well destroyed. The water was noted for its benefit to weak eyes, and a lady, now residing at Norwood, told the present tenant that she, when a girl, came every day to drink of the water for the benefit of her health." Mr. Bradford concludes his article by remarking that " it seems certain the name Ladywell is of 1 Penge and Bell Green Sewers. (See Kentish Mercury, January 12, 1866.) 201 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London comparatively modern origin, neither name nor well being marked on Rocque's Survey (1745), nor on Hasted's map of the hundred of Blackheath (1778), whilst the Ordnance Survey Department, though admitting that a well is marked on the earliest Ordnance Survey Map of 1799, assert that the name of Lady well first appeared on the MS. one- inch Ordnance Survey Map of 1841. Both the place-name — Ladywell — and the well itself are marked on Crutchley's Map of London and its Environs (1831), the well being situated a little to the westward of the Ravensbourne, on the south side of Brockley Lane, which was afterwards crossed at this spot by the railway bridge. The arguments as to the identity of the well which gave its name to the place left the issue undecided, the disputants being about equally divided. The view of the Lady Well which illustrates Mr. Bradford's paper is put down by him as published approximately in 1820. He believes it to be the only copy extant of the earliest known representation of the well. It is shown in the picture, which is taken from a lithograph, as lying on the right of the foreground, its circular basin slightly raised above the level of the road. In the background is the tower of St. Mary's, the parish church of Lewisham. 1 A view taken some twenty years later is contained in Knight's V Journey Book," and shows the well-head of circular stones protected by an iron railing supported on five wooden posts, one side open to 1 The old parish church was taken down in 1774, and the present church erected on its site. 202 iVadBc" A. S. Foord fecit. THE OLD LADY WELL, 184: Kensington Public Library. A. S.Foord fecit. FOUNTAIN AT LADYWELL BATHS. Containing the coping-stones of the old well. South London Spas and Wells afford access to the water. The background is filled up with a fence and trees behind it. The sketch of the fountain is taken from a photo- graph belonging to Mr. Watson, the superintendent of the Ladywell Public Baths, and was lent by him to Mr. Graham, chief librarian of the Lewisham Central Library, who kindly forwarded it to the writer, and who was instrumental in procuring much of the information regarding the Lady Well history and associations contained in the foregoing description. The large spur of London Clay known as Shooter's Hill is one of the most prominent objects of the landscape in the south-eastern district of London, and is in marked contrast with the broad alluvial flats stretching along the valley of the Thames at its base. The hill rises up on all sides to a height of 200 feet and more above the surrounding country, sometimes with a slope of io°, and reaching, with its capping of gravel, the height of 420 feet above the sea-level. Shooter's Hill appears to have been long famous for its mineral wells, and there is abundance of water still to be found just under its surface, even on the crown of the hill, where a few ponds exist to attest the fact. The position of the mineral spring that bears its name is described by most modern writers as at the top of the hill, but in the earliest notice of it, contained in a hand-bill or broadside, printed and published by W. Godbid in 1673/ it is stated to be "at the foot of Shooter's Hill, on the north- west side, near the great road that leads to Graves- 1 There is a copy in the British Museum. 203 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London end." " The situation of the spring, says Godbid, " is pleasant, healthful and commodious, with conveni- ences of house-room at and near the well, and stable- room for horses." The waters he characterises as " medicinal for internal and external griefs : the scent nitrous and bituminous, the taste brisk and partly- bitterish." It is recorded that John Guy, who in 1675 was tenant of the ground on which the wells were sunk, claimed to have discovered their medicinal qualities, and called them " The Purging Wells." They con- sisted of three holes ; two were steined with brick by Guy at a cost of forty shillings, about four years after their discovery. The water was procured in a very primitive manner, being taken out of one hole by means of a ladder, and by a dish out of another, which was even with the ground. Charles Good- cheape, or Goodcheafe, of Plumstead, Yeoman, the succeeding tenant, erected a small house over one of the wells for greater convenience. The first tenant, Guy, died in 1699. In the August of that year John Evelyn tells us : "I drank the Shooter's Hill waters," and we learn from the London Dis- pensatory that the mineral well of Shooter's Hill was resorted to for sulphate of magnesia (or Epsom salts) in 1700. Queen Anne is said to have used it. Hughson, in his " History of London," as recently as 1808, speaks of the spring on the top of Shooter's Hill, which, he says, constantly overflows the well, and is not frozen in the sharpest winters. There is here either a mistake as to the position of the spring, or the reference is to a different one from that described by Godbid. Mr. W. T. Vincent, in 204 South London Spas and Wells ''Records of the Woolwich District" (1888-90), says the mineral well " was and is on the eastern edge of the waste ground behind the Royal Military Academy, and was to be seen until about 1870 under a shed in the garden of a cottage (in rear of the Eagle Tavern) occupied by a Sapper, who had charge of the well on behalf of the Government, and supplied the water to visitors at a small fee. The shed which covered this well seems to connect it with Charles Goodcheape aforesaid, but the shed has now dis- appeared and the well is seen in the garden under a flat stone." l Walford says, in " Greater London" (1884) : "The well is still visited by invalids of the neighbourhood." A wayside well existed, Mr. Vincent says, in his work already quoted, on the south side of Shooter's Hill Road until recently, but is now filled up and obliterated. It occupied the south-east corner of the Castle 2 approach, and was opposite "The Limes." This was virtually, if not actually, on the top of the hill ; but it was not generally regarded as medicinal. It was a dipping well, into which there was a descent of one or two steps. The three wells owned by John Guy, being of similar character, were probably near to each other. An analysis of the water was made 1 The Ordnance Survey Map (edition 1894-96) marks the position of the well. 2 Severndroog Castle — erected on Shooter's Hill by Lady James in 1784 to commemorate the taking of a pirate strong- hold of that name on the coast of Malabar by Sir William James in 1755. The castle is a triangular brick edifice, with turrets at the angles and containing specimens of native armour, weapons, &c, captured at Severn Droog. 205 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London in 1840 by Mr. James Marsh, chemist, Royal Arsenal, who found that a quart of it contained 151 grains of solid ingredients, which comprised about 58 per cent, of sulphate of magnesia, so that taken internally it would act as a mild aperient. 206 CHAPTER III OUTLYING SPAS AND WELLS OF SOUTH LONDON Camberwell — Evelyn's record of a visit — Different theories about the origin of the name — Lysons, Bray, Salmon, and Allport— Well at Dr. Lettsom's Villa at Grove Hill — Milkwell Manor — Effects of an iron spring upon the water in the public baths in the Old Kent Road — Dulwich Wells — Manor of Dulwich presented to the Priory of Bermondsey by Henry I. — Bew's Corner — Grove Tavern — The sinking of a well in the grounds by the proprietor Cox leads to discovery of a purging water — John Martyn experimented on the water, which was supplied to St. Bartholomew's Hospital — Sydenham Wells — Evelyn an early visitor here — Called also Dulwich Wells — John Peter, a physician, writes the first detailed account of Syden- ham Wells — Wells Cottage in Wells Road — George III.'s visit to the cottage — Thomas Campbell's house at Syden- ham — Beulah Spa — Beauty of its situation — Not known when or how the mineral spring was discovered — Described by Dr. Weatherhead — Analysis of the water by Professor Faraday — Entertainments recorded — Mr. J. Corbet Anderson on the Spa and well open when he wrote — Mineral spring at Biggin Hill — Analysis of the water — Streatham Wells — First account of them by Aubrey — Circumstances of their discovery — Well House, now "The Rookery" — Closing of the old spring and opening of another on Lime Common — Miss Priscilla Wakefield tastes the water — Analysis of the water made by Messrs. Redwood and de Hailes in 1895. IN Camberwell we again have, as in Islington, a name to which different meanings have been attached. The place is mentioned in the Domesday 207 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London Book as a manor of some value, the name being written Ca'brewelle. 1 In subsequent records the letter b was exchanged for m, and until the sixteenth or seventeenth century the name appeared under the guise of Cam well or of Camerwell. In the seventeenth century, as Blanch informs us in his history of the parish (1875) the b found its way back again ; but it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that Camberwell, as it is now written, was officially recognised. Lysons, in his " Environs of London," writes : " I can find nothing satisfactory with respect to its etymology ; the termi- nation seems to point to some remarkable spring." Evelyn records, under date of September 1, 1657: " I visited Sir Edmund Bowyer at his melancholie seat at Camerwell." Salmon, the Surrey historian, writing in 1736, says : " It seems to be named from some mineral water which was anciently in it ; " and Bray adopts the same idea. But it has also been conjectured by a writer of " A Short Historical and Topographical Account of St. Giles's Church" (1827), the parish church of Camberwell — that as the name of St. Giles conveys an idea of cripples, so, since the prefix cam 2 means crooked, the well which gave part of the name to the village might therefore have been famous for some medicinal virtues, occasioning the dedication of the church to this patron saint of 1 The name in the Conqueror's Survey oceurs in this sentence : " Ipse Haimo ten' Ca'brewelle." (Haimo himself holds Cambrewelle.) 2 To cam, in the Manchester dialect, is to cross or contradict a person, or to bend anything awry. ( u Words and Places," Isaac Taylor, p. 145.) 208 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London cripples and mendicants. Allport, 1 in his account of Camberwell (1841), says that the spring which gave its name to Camberwell rose in the grounds of Dr. Lettsom's Villa at Grove Hill, the lease of which he purchased in 1799. Manning and Bray, in their "History of Surrey" (1804-12), describe the house as standing on a considerable eminence rising gradually for about three-quarters of a mile from the village of Camberwell. Mr. Heckethorn, in dealing with the subject in " London Souvenirs " (1899), points out that the well " appears to have been of some consequence, for in 1782, when the property on which it was sunk changed hands, the owners of the estate reserved to themselves, their heirs and assigns, in common with the tenant, the free use of it." Brayley and Walford, on the other hand, in their "History of Surrey" (1848), treat the statement as merely traditional that the spring or well which gave the name to Camberwell was the same that supplied the reservoir for Dr. Lettsom's fountain. Within the last century or so, says Walford 2 three ancient wells were discovered in a field in the parish, but they were covered in again by the owner of the land. Among other manors in these parts was one called Milkwell, belonging to the Hospital of St. Thomas, Southwark : there was also a wood called Milkwell Wood in Lambeth, containing 20 acres. These were presumably named from some long- forgotten spring or well. 1 Douglas Allport, " Collections, illustrative of the History, Antiquities, &c., of Camberwell and Neighbourhood," 1841. ? " Old and New London," vol. vi. p. 269. 209 O Springs, Streams, and Spas of London As a proof of the prevalence of mineral springs in the London area, the recent discovery of one of these within the borough of Camberwell should be mentioned. An account of this quite unexpected " find " was given in the Daily Telegraph of June 5, 1906. It appears that the spring in question was tapped by the artesian well which was sunk to a depth of 400 feet to supply the water for the new public baths in the Old Kent Road. " The discovery came about," says the narrator, " in consequence of com- plaints made by bathers, and others using the baths that the water was dirty. It was a most unfounded charge, as investigation soon proved. The water, it is true, quickly discoloured, and after being warmed or exposed to the air it was found to assume a rusty tinge." The fact was soon established that the water contained not dirt, but iron. "The water," declared Dr. Bousfield, who analysed it "is unusually rich in iron, being comparable in this respect with the Tunbridge Wells water, and it would appear almost as if the (Borough) Council were in the position to set up a spa in the Old Kent Road." A represen- tative of the Daily Telegraph was assured by Mr. C. W. Tagg, the town clerk of Camberwell, that several people who were victims of rheumatism and had visited the baths had testified to having experienced undoubted relief after using them, the Mayor of Camberwell himself having found them distinctly efficacious. Dulwich, says Miss Priscilla Wakefield, in her "Perambulations in London" (1809), "is pleasantly retired, having no high road passing through it " ; 210 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London the nearest, before the nineteenth century, lay two or three miles off, passing through Streatham and Croydon, and the road that traversed Dulwich simply led to the still smaller village of Sydenham. This comparative seclusion may account for the saying that of all the village entrances in the environs of London, the prettiest is that of Dulwich, and even down to this day it has lost but little of its rural character, not only as regards the village itself, but also beyond it, where one can still saunter through lanes bordered by hedgerows and overhung by branches of oak or elm ; and if the nightingale's "long trills and gushing ecstasies of song" are no longer heard, there is yet the cheery voice of the skylark high amongst the morning clouds, and as the evening twilight advances the flute-like notes of the song-thrush. The ancient form of the name Dulwich appears in many documents as Dilwysshe, which is said to have been derived from De la Wyk or de Dilewisse, the owner of lands in Camberwell in the reign of Henry I. {circa noo). This monarch in 1127 pre- sented the manor with other estates to the Priory of Bermondsey, whose Abbot (the Priory having been raised to the dignity of an Abbey) in 1539 voluntarily surrendered it to the Crown. The pur- chase of the manor about the year 1606 by Edward Alleyn, founder of the famous "College of God's Gift," is well known. One of the most interesting spots within the hamlet, at least so far as concerns the subject of these pages, is that formerly known as Bew's Corner, Lordship Lane, on the verge of Dulwich Common, 211 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London where now Dulwich Common Lane meets Lordship Lane, and about a mile south-east of Dulwich College. The site was previously occupied by the " Green Man," a tavern of some note in the seven- teenth century. Ceasing to be used as an inn, it was renamed " Dulwich Grove," and became the temporary residence of Lord Chancellor Thurlow, while the house at Knight's Hill was being built for him, but which he is said never to have occupied. Subsequently the house, a substantial white stone building of two stories, was opened by Dr. Glennie as a school or academy, at which Lord Byron was a pupil for two years — 1 799-1801. The house was known to Dr. Webster — an authority on the subject of medicinal waters, and an old resident of the hamlet — in 181 5, and about ten years after (1825) when Dr. Glennie had left and the house had been pulled down, he remembered seeing a well within the premises, which had been long disused, but whose waters he tasted and found to be chalybeate. About this time a man named Bew, formerly employed at the college, opened a beer-house here, making use of some of the outbuildings of the once famous school, and converting the grounds into a tea-garden. The Grove Tavern was built on the site of the old school-house, its successor being erected in or about the year i860, under the name of the Grove Hotel, which it retains. It was in the grounds of the old "Green Man" during the autumn of 1739 that Mr. Francis Cox, 1 the proprietor, having occa- 1 The family of Cox was long resident in the neighbourhood, as is shown by the Chapel Registers. (" Norwood and Dul- wich/' Galer, 1890.) 212 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London sion to sink a well for the use of his family, dug down about 60 feet, and not finding water filled in the hole. In the succeeding Spring he reopened it in the presence of Mr. John Marty n, F.R.S., a Professor of Botany at Cambridge, who found it to contain about 25 feet of water, and having made a number of experiments, " was satisfied that the new spring was really a purging water . . . being drank fresh in the quantity of five half-pint glasses." It had a sulphurous taste and smell which went off by degrees after the well had been open some days. In a later description of the discovery and of the merits of this spring, published in 1740, Professor Marty n says : " There has not been any medicinal spring observed in Dulwich before." l To such an extent did the Londoners flock to the new spring that within a few years the " Green Man " was superseded by the more appropriate name of "Dulwich Wells." In the years 1748, 1757, and 1762, advertisements appeared announcing: "The purging waters now in their proper season for drinking. The Great Breakfast- Room at the 'Green Man' at Dulwich, opened 16 May, 1748, and con- tinued every Monday during the summer season at one shilling each person." The waters were supplied regularly to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, besides being sold in the streets of London. After the death of Francis Cox, his son William sold his interest to one James Rowles, a wine merchant in Westminster. This person in 1774 disposed of the house to Charles Maxwell, the 1 His account of the waters was sent to the Royal Society (Philosophical Trans., xli., 835). 213 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London remainder of whose term expired in 1780. His application to the then Master of the College for a new lease led to a lawsuit, owing to the arbitrary terms in which the lease was drawn up. The result was that the College had to pay the costs and give a renewal of the lease to Maxwell. Lord Thurlow heard the suit. Whether this litigation or the falling off of water-drinking in London was the cause, is uncertain, but the Dulwich Wells certainly did decline from this time. At all events they were not in use in 18 14, when Bray wrote the third volume of his " History of Surrey." The name of Cox is kept in remembrance by V Cox's Walk," facing the Grove Hotel — a broad pathway, shaded by an avenue of young trees, and leading by a rather steep ascent to Sydenham Hill. The local history of Sydenham l really commenced with the discovery there of the mineral springs about the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the place consisted of only a few farm-houses and cottages dotted about the common. Previous to 1854, in which year the Crystal Palace was opened, Sydenham was a hamlet and chapelry in the parish of Lewisham. For some reason, probably on account of their nearness to Dulwich, as suggested by Lysons, the Sydenham Wells were almost always called Dulwich Wells. Evelyn, who seems to have been 1 Sydenham appears as Cippenham in ancient documents. Thus in 1332, in the "Annals of Bermondsey Abbey," we learn that " inquiry was made at Cippenham for 60 shillings, due annually to the Church at Bermondsey from the Manor of Cippenham, viz., from the land called Dillehurst." ( u Norwood and Dulwich : Past and Present," Allan M. Galer, 1890.) 214 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London one of the earliest visitors of note, twice mentions them. Under date September 2, 1675, is an entry in his Diary : " I went to see Dulwich Colledge, being the pious foundation of one Allen, a famous Comedian in King James's time. . . . 'Tis a melan- cholie part of Camerwell parish. I came back (to Deptford) by certaine medicinal spa waters called Sydnam Wells, in Lewisham parish, much frequented in summer." Two years later, August 5, 1677, this entry occurs : " I went to visit my Lord Brounker, now taking the waters at Dulwich." Seeing that the medicinal spring at Dulwich was not known till 1739, the reference here must be to the Sydenham Wells. A still earlier allusion to them is incidentally made by Culpeper, in his " English Physician," &C., 1 first published in 1653, in which he says that the juniper bush ''grows plentifully hard by the New-found Wells at Dulwich." Lewisham Wells was yet another name applied to the wells at Sydenham, simply because they were in Lewisham parish. Six years after Evelyn's first visit an interesting and rather amusing tract was written and published in 1680 by John Peter, physician. It is a duodecimo of 88 pages, now very scarce, printed at London " by Thomas James, for Samuel Tidmarsh, at the Kings Head, in Corn Hill." The style is somewhat pompous and inflated, but his little book is of great interest as being the first detailed account of Syden- ham Wells. " It is observable," he writes, " that in that very place where now the Wells are, there used to be only gushings of waters, where multitudes 1 " The English Physician Enlarged with 369 Medicines made of English Herbs," Nicholas Culpeper, 1653. 215 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London of pigeons used to frequent ; enough to give in- telligence to any observing naturalist that there was something wherewith the water was impregnated that did invite and delight them, some saline aluminous liquor, of which the fowls naturally love to be tippling." Dr. Peter advises that the water should be taken warm, either as a posset drink made in the usual way, or by mixing three pints of the water with a quarter of a pint of boiling milk. He was followed in 1699 by Benjamin Allen, bachelor of medicine, who wrote "The Natural History of the Mineral Waters of Great Britain," an octavo volume which reached a second edition in 171 1. In this he describes the " Dulwich Water" as "a water medicated with a salt of the nature of common salt, but with a nitrous quality and a little more marcasitical " (i.e., having the properties of iron pyrites). " The wells," he goes on to say, " are at the foot of a heavy claiy Hill, about twelve in number, standing together, discovered about 1640. They are about nine feet deep, as I gess'd at view, in which the water stood about half a yard. The Petrif'd Incrusted Stones, when broke, glitter with Ferreous Parts, as Sulphurous marcasites- produce ; which I proved and found to be only parts of iron. . . . The water taken the same day with Richmond in the quantity of nine ounces and a quarter, was 28 grains heavier than common water and 12 than Richmond. The nature of the salt of this water, which it takes from the peculiarity of the earth which generates it, is that of common salt : in that it turn'd with gall, first yellow and clear, then thick and muddy, white not free of yellowness, in making no alteration in a 216 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London solution of sublimat and in making an effervescence with a spirit of niter, but none with spirit of salt." The first recorded patient who actually experienced the benefit of the Sydenham waters was a poor woman who, in 1640 or 1648 — so the story goes — suffering from a terrible disease, was directed by a physician to whom she had applied for advice, to try their effect. This she did, and being soon cured, the springs thus became famous. Besides being partaken of by visitors on the spot, the waters were hawked about the streets of London before 1678, as is proved by a pamphlet of that date preserved in the British Museum, describing how a man who used to cry "Dullidg" water in London killed his own son. The boy had been absent on an errand rather longer than was necessary, for which his father beat him so severely that he died an hour or so after- wards. " Any fresh and fair spring water here ! " was formerly the familiar London cry of those who made it their business to convey it to Town for the con- venience of persons who could not fetch it for them- selves, nor afford to buy it at the shops where it was on sale. Till 1802 Sydenham remained a mere sprinkling of houses upon a common, with some old houses on the hill above it — then called Pig Hill. Many of the poorer patients to the wells, it would appear, says Mr. William Young in his " History of Dulwich College " (1889) dwelt on Sydenham Common in huts or structures of a temporary nature. The story of the little house in the Wells Road, where, in days gone by, the Sydenham waters were 217 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London served, is interesting as having been in the occupa- tion of the same family for more than a century and three-quarters. In the early days of George the Second's reign the cottage was purchased by one Alexander Roberts. How long he lived in it is not known, but his daughter (born in 1737) continued to do so after her marriage with John Fairman, who thus became proprietor of the "Green Dragon," the sign adopted for the house. Their daughter Elizabeth married William Evance, 1 whose daughter Mary was the mother of Mr. J. T. Coling, the present owner and occupier of the house which, though slightly modernised, is substantially the same building. The well, which was close to the house on the west side, was filled up by Mr. Coling some fifteen years ago. The second well — there used to be two in the grounds — was covered by the roadway (Wells Road) made about seventy-five years ago. Dr. Webster, whose name has been mentioned in connection with Dulwich Wells, writes of "the little old cottage where the Sydenham Wells are," and of two elderly women of the name of Evans, who, on his expressing surprise that they had not been bought out for building, replied that they kept possession as the little property would be bene- ficial to their deceased brother's children. He adds : " It (the well) is not at all resorted to now for medicinal purposes ; but the water is strongly saline, similar to that at the quondam ' Beulah Spa,' at Streatham Common, and at Epsom." Some maintain that the principal spring of the 1 This seems to be merely a variation of the usual spelling of Evans. 218 The Dwelliri-g o£ Alexander Roberts at SYDENHAM WELLS From an old print in possession of Mr. J. T. Coling. WELLS COTTAGE, SYDENHAM. From a photograph taken in 1903. The well was behind the palings on the left of the picture. To face p. 218. Outlying Spas and Wells of South London group on Westwood Common, as it was formerly called, lies under the font in the Church of St. Philip (built 1865-66). Mr. Coling, however, avers that the site of a more important spring is covered by one of a row of small houses facing his own in Wells Road. A Sydenham Directory for 1859, 1 reprinted from Chambers's Edinburgh Jotcrnal, contains a descrip- tion of the spot from the sympathetic pen of a local authoress, in which the dragon is supposed thus to soliloquise : "It was in the year 1760 I received the last touch of the artist and was declared worthy of being exalted to the top of a pole to point out to passers-by the original old well of the Sydenham waters. These had a great reputation — they were a strong tonic — and I have seen them bring back the bloom of youth to many a fading cheek. Many, it is true, came here, who were sick of nothing but an idle life. Age came to drink itself young, dissipation to drown weariness,! and imagination to be cured of never-ending diseases ; but even these returned re- freshed by the early walk, the country breeze, and the matins of the birds." Our dragon then relates how that the Sydenham Wells were on a memorable occasion honoured by the presence of King George III., who spent the greater part of a day in the cottage (then occupied by Mrs. Elizabeth Evance), surrounded by His Majesty's escort of Life Guards), who prevented any curious eyes from looking in. This royal visit was no mere tradition, as some writers would have it, but an undoubted fact. Mr. Coling still possesses the table at which the King 2 Clark's Sydenham and Forest Hill Directory for 1859. 219 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London sat, and down to a recent date the chair he used, but this, having almost perished through age, had to be broken up. The Wells House continued to attract as a place of quiet entertainment, and was afterwards for some time the headquarters of the St. George's Bowmen, a Society of Archers established in 1789, till the enclosure of the greater part of Sydenham Common, about 1802, put an end to their practice. One of the few eminent residents in Sydenham was the poet Campbell, who went there in 1804 and remained till 1820. His house is described by Thorne in his " Handbook of the Environs of London" (1876) as on Peak Hill, the third on the right before reaching Sydenham Station of a row of tall red-brick buildings near Peak Hill Road, distinguished from the others by green jalousies at the windows. It was still standing in 1885, numbered 13, Peak Hill Avenue, and unaltered since the poet's occupancy of it, except that the gardens about it had been covered with modern villas and that its rural character had disappeared. The whole of " Gertrude of Wyoming " was written here. 1 Before concluding this sketch of Sydenham Wells, it may be mentioned that the Directory already quoted contains the name of " Elizabeth Evance, Laundress, of Sydenham Wells, Wells Road," which would seem to imply that they were still open for public use in 1859. The name of this worthy lady is enshrined in some not very poetical verses forming a pendant to an undated view of the grounds and 1 u Literary Landmarks of London," L. Hutton, 1892. 220 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London buildings, but, to judge from the costumes, appearing to be Early Victorian : — " And there you will find a wild rural retreat, From time immemorial called Sydenham Wells, With old Betty Evans, complacent and neat, And a Gipsy, if wish'd, who your fortune foretells." Elizabeth, the daughter of Alexander Roberts and grandmother of " Betty " Evans, was buried at Lewisham June 20, 1791. A note in the register of the parish church shows that she must have been a woman of extraordinary height and size ; it states : '• She was brought from Sydenham Wells ; her coffin was six feet ten inches long, three feet five inches wide, and two feet six inches deep." Northward of Croydon the hill-forming tendency of the London Clay is shown by the well-marked range of Norwood, Sydenham, and Forest Hills, rising with a long slope from the ground on the east to a height — at Beulah Hill — of about 320 feet above sea-level. From numerous names suggestive of wood or forest in the neighbourhood of Norwood, Dulwich, Sydenham, and Penge, it is evident that in former times a large proportion of the land here- abouts was sylvan. Maps of the middle of the eighteenth century, and later, show considerable areas still uncleared, among them being the great North Wood, lying to the north of the large ecclesias- tical town of Croydon. The mineral spring at Upper Norwood, afterwards known as Beulah Spa, we are rather vaguely told, had been "long resorted to by the country folk of the neighbourhood," but it does not appear to be 221 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London known when or how it was first discovered. There is also some doubt as to how the name originated. o On Rocque's Map of London and its Environs (1746) Bewly Wood and Bewly's Farm are marked, and in a plan of Norwood (1808) Beulah Hill appears as Beaulieu Hill. The Spa probably acquired the name of " Beulah " to express the uncommon beauty and salubrity of the situation — qualities which it certainly possessed in no small degree, so that very little art was needed to convert the place into an ideal garden, with its undulating lawns and sylvan spaces, and a lake in the lower grounds to enhance the effect. A brochure by Dr. George Hume Weatherhead, published in The Mirror of April 14, 1832, describes the spot as lying "embosomed in a wood of oaks, open to the south-west, whose dense foliage shelters and protects it, and is now the sole vestige of the former haunts of the gypsies." It was Mr. John Davidson Smith who first con- ceived the idea of laying out this portion of his manor of Whitehorse for the purpose of rendering available the medicinal properties of the spring, which, like Dulwich, Sydenham, and Streatham, was strongly impregnated with sulphate of magnesia. The conversion of the ground — some 25 to 30 acres in extent — into a place of recreation was begun about the year 1828. Its position was between Leather Bottle Lane (now Spa Hill) and Grange Wood. Through this estate carriage-drives and winding footpaths were cut ; and from thence extensive views were obtained. The buildings in connection with the Spa included a very ornate lodge at the entrance to the grounds, an orchestra, an octagon- 222 -•■ ■ — «««■ -,.■". a- z Outlying Spas and Wells of South London shaped reading-room, with arcades on either side in which refreshments were served, and the Spa Well under " a thatched hut built in the form of an Indian Wigwam " ; the whole being carried out from the designs of Mr. Decimus Burton, the architect. One of the seats in the gardens was the favourite resting-place of the late (1834) Countess of Essex, and from her afterwards called Lady Essex's seat. Referring to the spring itself, Dr. Weatherhead writes : " It rises about fourteen feet within a circular rock-work enclosure ; the water is drawn by a con- trivance at once ingenious and novel ; an urn-shaped vessel of glass, terminating with a cock of the same material, and having a stout rim and cross handle of silver, is attached to a thick worsted rope and let down into the spring by a pulley, when the vessel being taken up full, the water is drawn off by the cock." An analysis was made by Professor Michael Faraday, who pronounced it to be princi- pally distinguished for the quantity of magnesia contained in it, resembling, but far surpassing, in this respect, the Cheltenham waters. A pint of the water yielded solid ingredients in the following proportions : — Grains. Sulphate of Magnesia 6135 Chloride of Sodium 1774 Muriate of Magnesia 9-28 Carbonate of Lime 7-80 „ of Soda I'QO 98-07 It was, in fact, one of the purest and strongest of the saline spas in the country. 223 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London From guide-books to the Spa, of which three are preserved in the British Museum, namely, for the years 1832, 1834, and 1838, we learn that the price of admission was on ordinary days is. and on fete days 2S. 6d. ; the yearly subscription for a family was three guineas, and for one person a guinea and a half. Visitors could either drink the water on the premises or have it brought to their lodgings ; the water was also delivered in London at two shillings per gallon. Conveyance from and to Town was effected by a service of stage-coaches starting from the " Silver Cross" at Charing Cross, and running several times a day between that and the Spa. Fares : outside, is. 3d. ; inside, 2s. 6d. For the entertainment of the visitors during the season, a military band played every day from eleven till dusk, while for those who had a fancy to trip it on the light fantastic toe, there were lawns laid out for the purpose. There were also a camera obscura, a rosary, an archery ground, and for the more aesthetically inclined there was always the view from the upper terrace of the beautiful range of the Surrey hills lying on the horizon. On festive occasions, such as fete days, special amusements were provided of a kind to suit the tastes of the company expected. The various charitable institutions were also invited by the proprietors to hold their fetes here in aid of their funds. Some of these were evidently highly successful, for on the occasion of a fete champitre held at the Spa in the month of July, 1834, about 3,000 persons were present. But, after all, these open-air functions were very dependent for their success upon 224 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London the state of the weather, for we read that when, in July, 1838, a fete was organised for the benefit of the Polish refugees, it was so impropitious that the Committee who guaranteed it lost upwards of ^"300, the attendance falling woefully short of ex- pectations ; the poor Poles suffering accordingly. A Mr. James Fielding appears to have been the first manager or lessee when, in August, 183 1, Beulah Spa was first opened to the public. News- papers of the day mention how rapidly it grew in popularity, and became a fashionable rendezvous with the beau monde, many personages of rank and distinc- tion visiting it. In the season of 1833 Mrs. Fitz- herbert and the Earl and Countess of Munster were among the visitors. The following year the Duke of Gloucester visited the Spa to drink the waters. The season of 1835 commenced under the auspices of a new proprietor. A Mr. Newman had, it appears, already made many improvements, and had more in preparation on an extended basis. Great attention was paid to the flower-beds, and an immense tent was erected for the accommodation of the band. The price of admission was, at this time, lowered to is. On June 5th of this year (1835) the White- horse Estate, including the Spa and other properties, were put up to auction. The particulars of sale comprise the " Ornamental Grounds, Pump Room, Music Room, Gothic and other buildings attached to the Spa." The purchaser — Mr. Atkinson — was a man of property under whose tasteful direction the grounds were thoroughly renovated, the Spa being conducted upon the principle of a subscription, which seems to have been freely taken up by the 225 P Springs, Streams, and Spas of London neighbouring gentry, as well as by members of the upper classes in London. Vocal and instrumental concerts were a prominent feature of the entertain- ments. In 1839 a fete for the Freemasons' Girls' School was given here, under the special patronage of the Queen Dowager. The concert provided for the occasion was of a first-rate order ; Grisi, Persiani, Rubini, Ivanhoff, and other operatic celebrities lending their assistance. The attractions of the Spa were kept constantly before the public, through the newspapers, and for some few years — for its career was comparatively short — all went well. In 1844 the death took place of Mr. J. D. Smith, the original proprietor, and whether this occurrence reacted upon the place detrimentally, or not, the place is described in the Times of June 4, 1 851, as having " of late years fallen into a languid and deserted condition." About this time the widow of the original proprietor recovered possession of the grounds and contrived by spirited management to revive some of the " ancient glories " of the place. The gardens were again thrown open for the season and on August 31, 1852, 1 a Fete Villageoise was held, showing them to be once more in full operation. They were still open in 1854, but in the " Pictorial Handbook of London " for that year the buildings around the lawn are described as being "all now more or less decayed and neglected." Wroth (" Cremorne and the later London Gardens," I 9°7)> places their close in about the same year. 1 An admission ticket for the season 1852, signed "T. H. Evans, Director of the Fetes/' is preserved in the Rendle " London Wells " Collection at the Guildhall Library. 226 BEULAH SPA. From a photograph taken in 1903. The- well, boarded over, is seen in the foreground. STREATHAM (NEW) WELLS HOUSE (ABOUT I90; Now used as a dairy farm. (See page 237.) To face p. 226. Outlying Spas and Wells of South London The late Mr. C. H. Spurgeon's residence, " West- wood," Beulah Hill, occupied part of the property. More recently the Beulah Spa is noticed in a book by Mr. J. Corbet Anderson, entitled "The Great North Wood." Writing in 1898 he says: "The charm- ing grounds of Beulah Spa remain comparatively intact. The old paths still wind through the shrub- beries and woods ; the octagonal-shaped rustic orchestra, overgrown with ivy, still stands not far from the once famous well. The well itself, as yet uninjured, is about 12 feet deep, and full of water." The writer of the present article visited the place in the summer of 1903, and found it in much the same state as described by Mr. Anderson. The house and grounds, reduced to about 6 J acres, and called " The Lawns," were put up for sale on July 30, 1903, by order of trustees, but the hammer fell to a bid from the auctioneer of .£7,000, and the property was withdrawn. 1 There was an advertisement in the Athencsum of December 13, 1862, of a hydropathic establishment near by. This was succeeded by the Beulah Spa Hydro' and Hotel, the proprietor of which, Mr. Cephas Barker, recently informed the writer that there were several disused springs in their garden and one in that of the next house, at that time (1903) occupied by Mrs. Spurgeon. Several views of Beulah Spa were published in the newspapers and periodicals of fifty or sixty years ago, and it was the subject of a song, of the sentimental 1 In July, 1904, the house, with its 20 acres of grounds, &c., was again offered for sale, but the investment was withdrawn at ,£13,200. (Daily Telegraph, July 4, 1904.) 227 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London kind then in vogue, entitled " I met her at the Beulah Spa," the cover of which gives a picture of the grounds and buildings. There used to be another mineral well about half a mile to the north-west of Beulah Spa, at Biggin Hill, the water from which gushed up at the rate of seven gallons a minute. In 1898 it was closed. The sub- joined analysis of water from a well, which is at White Lodge, Biggin Hill, formerly the residence of Mr. H. Wilson Holman, was kindly supplied by him to the writer in 1907. This well, he says, "undoubtedly taps the same spring that used to come out at the bottom of Biggin Hill, and which was blocked by the sanitary authorities in 1898. The site of the spring was beyond the small tenement houses at the bottom of the hill, and there is still some masonry in existence — the end of the culvert where the water used to run out into a pond. The reason of its being blocked was that it is alleged to have poisoned some domestic animal." Report on Sample of Well Water taken from Pump in Back Court-yard at White Lodge, Biggin Hill, Beulah Hill, S.E. Ammonia Free ... '033 \ Parts per 100,000. Traces Albuminoid ... '025 ) of animal matter. Dissolved Solids, Inorganic ... 321*48 Grains per gallon. „ „ Organic, &c... 19*94 „ „ „ 341-42 Chlorine 23-10 ,, ,, „ Nitric Acid (N0 3 ) 0-20 „ „ „ Sulphuric Acid (SOj) 140*25 ,, ,, ,, Alkalies (Sodium and trace potassium) 50*12 „ ,, ,, 228 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London Magnesia (MgO) 9'59 Grains per gallon Lime (CaO) 97'4° i) )> n Sodium Chloride 38'ii » m n ,, Nitrate ... 0-30 i) V 5) ,, Sulphate = •• I433 n 11 It Magnesium Sulphate 2877 t) » 1> Calcium ,, 192*10 >) 1) 11 „ Carbonate 32-57 «> M )» .Rewards. Faintly yellow and turbid ; containing a trace of iron, but no poisonous metals ; the microscopical residue consists of vegetable debris. The character of this water is rather remarkable, con- taining a larger quantity of mineral matter than is often found in mineral springs. The mineral matter would make it a permanent hard water, only a little being destroyed by boiling. Organically this water is very impure, and this, in conjunction with the large amount of mineral matter it contains, renders it absolutely unfit for domestic purposes. (Signed) F. B. Burls, A.I.C. July 7, 1894. It is a somewhat remarkable fact that the mineral springs in Streatham have continued to supply their waters uninterruptedly for nearly two and a half centuries, while most others in and near London have either been drained away into the sewers or the wells formed from them filled up. The first account of the Streatham Wells is given by Aubrey, the well-known topographer and antiquary, in his " Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey," begun in the year 1673. About fourteen years before he wrote — namely, in 1659 — there was a field under cultivation on the south side of the top of Streatham Common, belonging to the Vauxhall Manor, in the grounds just below Wellfield House. Referring to the soil, Aubrey says: "It is a cold, weeping, and rushy clay ground ; in hot weather shoots a kind of salt or allum on the clay, as in the 229 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London lower grounds in North Wilts ; turns milk for a posset ; five or six cups is the most they drink, but the common dose is but three, which are held equivalent to nine at Epsom." Dr. Monro prescribes three pints or more for the dose (" Mineral Waters," 1770, vol. i. p. 135). The circumstances of the discovery were these : — In the early Spring of 1660 * the land was being ploughed, and the horses, floundering in a quagmire, suggested the existence of an underground spring. " Afterwards at weeding time," to use Aubrey's words, 11 the weeders being very dry, drinking of it, it purged them ; by which accident its medicinal virtue was first discovered." The owner of the ground at first restricted the use of these waters, but before the end of Charles II.'s reign they had come to be generally used. Three wells were formed and they possessed contrary properties : one acted as an emetic, and another was valued as a specific in the removal of intestinal worms. Among the physicians of the eighteenth century who describe Streatham waters is Dr. John Rutty, in his elaborate " Treatise on the Medicinal Waters of Great Britain and Ireland" (1757), in which he describes them as " a weak solution of a salt, partly like sea- salt and partly nitrous, with a little sulphur, and a greater proportion of absorbent earth than Acton water and some others." According to this writer the Streatham waters yielded 200 grains of mineral 1 1659 being the year of discovery, there is here an apparent discrepancy ; it may be explained by reminding the reader that previous to 1752 the year was held to begin on the 25th of March. 230 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London matter per gallon. He then proceeds to say : " Having occasion to go to the wells a twelvemonth ago, I found them situated on the declivity of a pleasant hill, about one hundred yards from the house on Streatham Green [i.e., Streatham Common) ; I saw but two, the third had been filled up some time. The wells were distant from each other about fifteen yards, both are arched, secure from rains." A pump was also fixed over the wells to prevent the decomposition of the water. Mr. Frederick Arnold, in his " History of Streatham" (1886), devotes a chapter to the subject of these springs, which contains probably all the infor- mation now procurable regarding them. Towards the end of the seventeenth century they had attained some renown. A house was enlarged or rebuilt for the accommodation of the numerous visitors, identical with the one now called "The Rookery," which is the last house at the top of the Common, but which at that time was called " Well House." The early years of the wells seem to have been somewhat chequered by their changing hands rather frequently, and the characters of their owners being alternately pushing and apathetic. By the commencement of the eighteenth century the reputation of Streatham Spa, under the regime of an energetic proprietor, may be said to have stood at its highest. The Common, with its broad lawn of smooth, bright turf sloping upwards, was then a fashionable promenade. Every Monday and Thursday during the summer of 1 70 1, there was a concert at the wells, and Streatham was then the scene of much gaiety. No doubt some persons of note in those days 231 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London visited the wells, though their names may be un- recorded. In 17 17 it appears from an advertisement in the Post Boy that the water was on sale at several London coffee-houses, namely, at Nando's Coffee House, near Temple Bar, Child's Coffee House in St. Paul's Churchyard, the Garter Coffee House behind the Royal Exchange, and at the " Two Post Boys" in Stocks Market. In the year just mentioned one Thomas Lambert was proprietor. About fifteen years after this an announcement appeared in the Daily Journal (June 13, 1732), that Streatham Wells House was to be let. It is described therein as being "a good brick house, with large stabling, famous for excellent waters, and is much frequented. Situate on Streatham Common, about six miles from London in the road to Croydon. The house being kept open by the desire of several gentlemen ; there is good accommodation and an ordinary every Sunday. — In- quire of Mr. Charles Shuckburgh, Grocer at the White Hart in Blowbladder Street, 1 the upper end of Cheapside." Dr. Rutty states that in 1744 Streatham waters, with those of Acton and Dulwich, were most in vogue. Assemblies are mentioned as being held in connection with Streatham Wells so late as 1755, but from that date till the time when Lysons was writing his " Environs of London " (1792) nothing of special interest is to be found concerning them, except for the visits of Dr. Johnson, who from about 1766 down to almost the last twenty years of his life, was a constant visitor at Thrale Place, whence a pleasant 1 Now Newgate Street. 232 Outlying Spas and Wells of South London walk over the Common, which then extended on the west side of the high road, brought him to the wells. A few years later, that is after about 1792, Mr. Arnold says, but without giving his authority, the spring was closed. A little building encloses the pump over the well, which attains the depth of 35 feet, the raising apparatus having gone to decay. 1 This little erection is in the kitchen garden of " The Rookery," which is surrounded by high walls, and in that way the old spring, of which John Aubrey wrote, is enshrined. The final closing of the old spring caused people to turn their attention to another spring of a similar kind, which had been discovered at the end of the eighteenth century, about half a mile distant on the east side of the village of Streatham, at the bottom of Wells Lane, on a part of the Common of the Manor of Leigham called Lime Common. And here it may be noted that most writers, from Lysons onwards, fail to make it sufficiently clear that the medicinal well in the Valley Road, the only one now open, is quite distinct from, and was in fact 1 The present condition of the old well is thus described by Mr. H. Wilson Holman in a letter to the writer : "The old Streatham Spa House, at present occupied by Mr. Ernest S. Holman, is the freehold property of the trustees of the Coster Estate. The well in the kitchen garden is still (1907) in exist- ence, with an old lead pump attached. During the tenancy of the former owner this water appears to have been used for bathing purposes, as there is a circular house over the well and pump and a big lead bath. I have not an analysis of this water, but believe it is aperient in its action, there being traces of Epsom salts and iron. It is reported to be now unfit for drink- ing purposes." 2 33 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London discovered more than a century and a half after, the original springs on the Common. Lysons, in the second edition of his "Environs of London " (1811), speaks of Streatham water as being "still held in considerable esteem," but that " there are no accom- modations for persons who come to drink it on the spot, yet the well is much resorted to by those who cannot afford a more expensive journey." These remarks convey the impression that he is referring to the old wells, were it not for the reference to the want of "accommodations," which we know the new wells were unable to provide. Some time before 1809 tne wells were visited by Miss Priscilla Wakefield, authoress of " Perambula- tions in London," published in that year, in which she writes : " We stopped at Streatham, where we tasted of a mineral spring which would probably be more highly esteemed for its medicinal qualities by the Londoners, if it was not so near home, as the water is sent in considerable quantities to the hospitals." Here again, relying upon Mr. Arnold's information as to the closing of the old wells, it was the new spring on Lime Common that Miss Wakefield visited. It was not until Walford undertook the revision of Brayley's "History of Surrey" (published by Virtue and Co. in 1848) that a proper distinction was made between the orio-inal well on Streatham Common and its successor on Lime Common, the former being described as belonging - to the Vauxhall Manor in Lower Streatham, and the latter to the Manor of Leigham. Later on in the nineteenth century, when tea- gardens were still resorted to by Londoners, the one 234 ,-m£m I lU§L 'r*r; r»r 2. 6 J Outlying Spas and Wells of South London attached to Streatham (new) Wells House was used down to the eighteen-sixties. The house itself is a plain but substantial building of brick, faced with stucco, and having a bust of /Esculapius over the doorway. On the north side of the house, and forming a sort of annexe to it, is a room which contains the pump over the well, where the water can be drunk on the premises. It is sold in bottles, at sixpence per gallon ; in glasses at one penny each ; and is delivered to all parts of London at one shilling per gallon. From inquiries made, it appears that the water is not advertised in the local newspapers, though casual notices have been published from time to time in some of the London papers, e.g., the Westminster Gazette, Pall Mall Gazette, Daily Mail, and Morning Post. However, according to a pamphlet procurable at the wells, the water is "delivered to all parts of London daily," and "sent to all parts of the United Kingdom " ; also exported to Delagoa Bay and Buenos Ayres ; so that a trade is still done in it. The following particulars are quoted from the pamphlet : " The water rises at a tem- perature of 5 2° Fahrenheit. When recently pumped up it has a slight odour of sulphur, is sparkling and bright, and although it contains much sulphate of magnesia, it is not unpleasant to the taste ; on the contrary, it leaves behind it a freshness which is grateful to the palate. Although it contains quite an appreciable amount of iron, causing an ochreous deposit to form upon the pumping apparatus, it cannot properly be classed as a chalybeate, like Hampstead Wells, for example. An analysis of the water was made in April, 1895, 235 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London by Messrs. Redwood and de Hailes, analytical chemists, of Red Lion Square, Holborn, with the following result : — Sample of Mineral Water from the Well at Streatham, in the possession of Messrs. Curtis Brothers, Valley Road. Magnesium Sulphate .. . 415-10 grains per gallon. Sodium Chloride • I9'65 >> n it Ferrous Carbonate 3"°4 i> II 11 Potassium Chloride .. . Traces Jf >> Calcium Carbonate 76-67 ii >» J> Sodium Carbonate i8'oo n II II The water is naturally charged with Carbonic Acid. Taken internally, it would act as a mild aperient. Redwood & de Hailes. The pamphlet goes on to describe the effect this water has upon the system : " The late Dr. Baillie found it a most valuable remedy in liver complaints and indigestion, especially in jaundice and bilious attacks. Its action as a tonic is not mechanical ; it restores strength and vigour to the weakened frame by a direct operation on the system in general, and by improving the quality of the blood." Without attributing to the Streatham waters any marvellous cures, they may still be credited with the power of restoring an impaired state of the digestive organs, which, considering the importance of their function, is no slight merit. The continued pureness and immunity from con- tamination of the well is doubtless due to its isolated position, the premises standing in their own grounds, apart from the nearest buildings in the Valley Road. Locally there seems to be only a very slight demand for the water ; a few regular customers there 236 " THE ROOKERY," STREATHAM COMMON. In the back garden is the medicinal well. From a photograph taken about iyoo. To face p. 237. Outlying Spas and Wells of South London may be, and occasionally a chance caller will drop in to taste the water, perhaps more through curiosity than from any intention of becoming a regular drinker. There would therefore appear to be little inducement to the proprietors to make any special efforts to attract customers. Such being the condition of affairs, there is small hope of any material increase in the local demand for these waters. With the object of ascertaining the earliest mention of these later wells, an exhaustive search was made by the writer some four years ago in the Streatham parish rate-books, back to the year 1780, covering a period of nearly 125 years, and though there was no great difficulty in identifying the house, yet in none of the books is any mention made of the mineral well, for, besides the house itself, only offices, outhouses, sheds, and meadow-land are par- ticularised. The Curtis family have, according to the rate- books, occupied these premises since about the year 1875, when Thomas Curtis took them over from one Nathaniel Hibbart, James Coster's executors being the owners. Thomas was succeeded by Mrs. Curtis (presumably his widow), after whom the brothers Curtis had possession, which they still retain. One of the earliest, if not quite the earliest, map on which the existing spring is marked, is by W. Faden, 1810 : the words "Streatham Wells" are inserted in it just against the hill of Lime Common. There is in the Guildhall Library an Indian-ink drawing of the house, dated 1831, and on the walls of the Pump Room hang two or three water-colour sketches of the house. 237 CHAPTER IV WELLS AT RICHMOND AND EAST SHEEN Richmond Wells — Saline spring — Noticed by Dr. Benjamin Allen in 1699 — House of entertainment — Balls and concerts advertised — Dissipated company at the wells — Raffling and card-playing — The place eventually purchased by the Misses Houblon — Well at East Sheen, adjoining Palewell Park. ABOUT the year 1689, or, according to some writers, two or three years earlier, a saline spring was discovered at Richmond in grounds subsequently occupied by Cardigan House, 1 which stands on the slope of the hill going towards the town. Dr. Benjamin Allen, in his " Natural History of the Chalybeate Waters of England" (1699), mentions, among other purging or aperient waters, this one at Richmond, but without giving any par- ticular account of it, merely saying : " This water is a level spring ; the wells are on the side of the 1 Cardigan House was once the residence of the Earl of Cardigan, and afterwards of Miss Roberts, who was occupying it in 1842, and who left it to her relative, Mr. James Campbell, from whom it was purchased by Captain Willis, one of the Conservators of the River Thames. (Chancellor's " History and Antiquities of Richmond," 1894.) 238 Wells at Richmond and East Sheen hill a few rods from the River Thames, in a brown loamy clay, and are about nine feet to the bottom of the water. . . . This water purgeth well, but I think scarce so much as Epsom and Acton, but more smoothly." It was not until about six or seven years after the discovery of the spring that a house of entertain- ment was built in conjunction with it. This was in 1695-96 : Assembly, Card, and Raffling Rooms were added, and the place received a considerable amount of public patronage. An advertisement in the London Gazette for April 20-23, 1696, affords some notion of the appearance of the place just before its opening. It runs thus: " The New Wells on Richmond Hill will be compleated for the reception of Company this following May. There is a large and lofty Dining Room, broad walks, open and shady, near 300 feet long, cut out of the descent of the Hill, with a prospect of all the country about." There were two entrances, one in the lower road leading to Petersham, the other about where the lodge and entrance-gates to Cardigan House now are. The management lost no time in providing amuse- ment for their patrons. An advertisement which appeared in the Post Boy for June 11, 1696, was as follows: "At Richmond New Wells a Consort of Musick, both Vocal and Instrumental, will be per- formed on Monday next (13th) at Noon, by principal Hands and the best Voices, composed new for the day by Mr. Frank ; the songs will be printed and sold there." Although not expressly stated, this was probably the occasion of the inauguration of the wells, for no advertisement prior to this date 239 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London appears in any newspaper of that day ; that of the previous April merely set forth the attractions of the spot. The success of the new speculation would appear to have far exceeded the expectations of the pro- prietor, for soon afterwards such a concourse of persons of quality attended that the price of admission was requested to be doubled, to keep the company select : this increase, however, made it only sixpence each person ; but probably this sum did not include any of the entertainments, the charge for concert tickets being, we are told, five shillings each. In the London Gazette for April 5-8, 1697, the wells were for some unexplained reason, advertised for disposal by purchase or lease. From the early years of the eighteenth century advertisements appeared in the public press at pretty frequent intervals : in these the principal attractions held out during the first five-and-twenty years or so were musical entertainments and dancing. Games of chance, as was customary at these resorts, were freely indulged in by those who had either passed the age for active amusements or lacked the taste for them. Referring to the Postman of August 9, 1 701, we read that a concert was to be held in the Great Room " to hear a Mr. Abel sing alone to the harp- sichord." Later in the evening there was to be dancing. In the same paper for August 10, 1703, is advertised a " Great Consort of Music, beginning at 5 and ending at 7, because of the dancing after." Tickets at five shillings each were to be had at White's Chocolate House and Garraway's Coffee House. Some of these advertisements have a postscript to 240 Wells at Richmond and East Sheen them containing hints about the tides upon the river, such as that "the Tyde of Flood begins at i o'clock in the afternoon and flows till 5, ebbs till 12 for the conveniency of returning." This reads rather oddly when one thinks of the Thames of to-day, which, except in the summer months, is comparatively deserted, save for a few barges and steam-tugs ; certainly no one thinks of using it at night. The waterway was chosen in those days because it offered a far easier, quicker, and even safer way, than the roads, which shortly after the Hanoverian accession must have been truly abominable, to say nothing of the risk of encountering footpads. In a work called "A Journey through England in 1724," Richmond Wells is mentioned thus : The author, one Mackay, says, " There are balls at Richmond Wells every Monday and Thursday evening during the summer season." The Crafts77ian of June 11, 1730, contains a notification " to all gentlemen and ladies that have a mind either to raffle for gold chains, equipages, or any other curious toys, and fine old china ; and like- wise play at quadrille, ombre, whist, &c, and on Saturdays and Mondays during the summer season there will be dancing as usual." The dissipation here indicated went gaily on, and dating from its com- mencement' in 1696, the wells enjoyed a career of success and popularity for above half a century. Like Ranelagh and Bagnigge Wells, and indeed most of the pleasure gardens, breakfasts, as well as dinners and teas, were supplied at the Richmond Wells. The fashion of the public breakfast, now so entirely for- gotten, was brought to London from Bath, Tunbridge Wells, and Epsom. Tea and coffee were served at 241 Q Springs, Streams, and Spas of London this meal, which is specially mentioned in advertise- ments issued in May and June, 1748, when a Mr. W. Knight was proprietor of the wells. In 1750 they appear to have reached the summit of their prosperity, and from about this period their rather rapid decline may be dated. Assemblies were still made known in 1755, and also in 1756, at which time a Mr. Williams was proprietor. A change for the worse seems now to have stolen over the tastes and pursuits of the visitors. There was much card-playing but little water-drinking ! The wealthier visitors soon began to withdraw their support ; the prices of admission were lowered in order to attract a lower class of customers, and these soon obtained for the place an unenviable notoriety. The noise and tumult pre- vailing each night became a nuisance to the neigh- bourhood. The place was eventually (in 1775) purchased by two maiden ladies — the Misses Houblon — founders of the charity known as the Houblon Almshouses in the Marsh Gate Road, Richmond. Dr. John Evans, writing about Richmond in 1825, says : " Some of the oldest inhabitants of Richmond recollect there being a house and assembly room adjoining the medicinal well." A large antiquated building in the Lower Road was pulled down a few years before 1866, which was said by an old in- habitant to have originally formed a portion of the wells establishment. The rooms of this building, from their peculiar construction and style, had evidently been originally intended for a house of public entertainment. They bore traces of a structure of a superior character, being well finished 242 Wells at Richmond and East Sheen and ornamented with heavy cornices. An old pile, consisting of stabling and coach-houses, &c, cleared away about 1861-62 for the purpose of building the row of small houses known as River Dale Terrace, doubtless formed a small remaining portion of a much larger erection for putting up the horses and vehicles of the nobility and others who came to the wells at one time in great numbers, especially on gala nights. With the exception of these buildings, all the others were demolished, and according to Mr. Richard Crisp, 1 about the year 1780 Richmond Wells as a place of entertainment had ceased to exist. Dr. Evans, 2 who has been already mentioned, says: "There is no chalybeate spring now at Richmond, properly speaking; but there is in the New Park,3 at the top of the hill, a bubbling up of water, which running down into the adjacent vale, exhibits indica- tions of an ochreous description, which," he naively adds, "might be gathered into a basin, and become subservient to the health of visitants." In reply to an inquiry made by the writer about three years ago as to the existence of the well in the grounds of Cardigan House, the information given by Miss Willis, who resides there, was that frequent search had been made for it during the last thirty years, but without a successful result. A search through the collections of local literature 1 "Richmond and its Inhabitants from the Olden Time," Richard Crisp, 1866. 2 " Richmond and its Vicinity," by John Evans, LL.D., second edition, 1825. 3 This answers to Richmond Park, as now known. The Old Deer Park adjoins Kew Gardens. 243 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London and prints at the Richmond Public Library, kindly made for the writer by the Librarian — Mr. Albert A. Barkas — failed to discover any picture of the Richmond Wells Buildings ; but it is of course possible that some representation of them may exist in private hands. At East Sheen, in the north-west corner of Palewell Common (known locally as the " Donkey Common "), adjoining Palewell Park, is a well, the water of which, some forty years ago, was, in the recollection of an old inhabitant, much used by people of the neighbourhood for bathing the eyes ; and for the legs, especially of children, probably those having skin complaints. The spring, which was reputed to contain some mineral constituents (among them probably a little iron) helps to feed a pond close by. There is now (1908) no apparatus for drawing the water, which, when in an undisturbed state, is clear and pure. Many of the eighteenth-century spas and tea- gardens lasted almost to our own time — at least those of us who are beyond middle age — but the original character of such places as Bagnigge Wells (closed 1 841), White Conduit House (closed 1849), and Highbury Barn (closed 1871) became greatly altered. Beulah Spa, the last of the London " Spas " {circa 1831-54), had a shorter life than either of the places just named. Its amusements were in every way characteristic of a later period ; the changes in the manners and morals of the age since the reigns of Anne and the Georges being doubt- less accountable for this. 244 PART III CONDUIT SYSTEM OF WATER-SUPPLY CHAPTER I THE LONDON BASIN, SHALLOW WELLS, CITY CONDUITS Geology of the London Basin — Tyburn Conduit — Population of London — Great Conduit in Chepe — Pay of workmen — Little Conduit— Conduit at Stocks Market— The Standard opposite the end of Honey Lane — John Lydgate — Pageants — Catherine of Aragon's State entry into London — The Tonne, or Tun, upon Cornhill — Stow's explanation of the name — Charterhouse, provided its own water-supply — Conduits at London Wall, Coleman Street, Bishopsgate. THE opening chapter of "Early London," the latest volume of Sir Walter Besant's "Survey of London," written by Professor Bonney, invites the reader to picture the valley of the Thames "as it was more than two thousand years ago, when the uplands north of the river were covered by a dense forest, and the ' Andreds Wald ' (as it was afterwards named) — a vast sheet of scrub, woodland, and waste stretching from the Sussex Coast to the slopes of the Kentish Downs." Through the valley the Thames must have flowed " in a channel broader but straighter than its present one, a channel which is now indi- cated by a tract of alluvial land a few feet below the level of the valley, and but little above high- water mark. . . . The most marked indication of 247 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London this alluvial plain begins about a mile below London Bridge. Here the left bank of the river is formed, as it has been from the bend at Hungerford Bridge, by a terrace ranging at first from about 25 to 40 feet above mean tide level, a most important physical feature, for it determined the site of London." 1 But the choice of the site was made primarily because of the river, for without the Thames there would have been no city ; the silent highway of its broad waters bears the commerce which sustains the city, and has enabled it to develop into the market-place of the world. The greater part of old London and the many villages 2 now incorporated in modern London were built on the valley gravel and loam (brick-earth) ; ancient alluvial deposits of the Thames and its tributaries, occupying tracts above the level of the marshland. The residential sites were naturally chosen where a supply of drinking-water could readily be obtained from springs and brooks or by means 1 The height of the ground on the Middlesex side is not inconsiderable, though it is difficult to realise, as the physical features are so much masked by buildings. Following a line from east to west along the top of what was once a low cliff overhanging the river, the highest points marked on the Ordnance Survey Map of London (ed. 1894-96) are these : On Tower Hill 42-3 feet above the mean level of the sea ; Grace- church Street 56"8 feet ; Royal Exchange (south side) 507 feet ; St, Paul's Churchyard (north-east angle of Cathedral) 57*9 feet ; Newgate Street (corner of St, Martin's-le-Grande) 59*8 feet ; Fleet Street (at Fetter Lane) 50*8 feet, &c. (Edinburgh Review, October, 1908). 2 Entick (" History and Survey of London," 1766) puts these at 49, together with one city (Westminster) and one borough (Southwark). 248 Shallow Wells, City Conduits of wells. Obtaining supplies from the latter by the bucket and windlass was, however, often attended with considerable difficulty on account of the great depth to the source of the water, except in the case of shallow wells, 1 long used for collecting moderate supplies of water, where a permeable stratum, such as the gravel, overlies an impermeable stratum, such as the London Clay. A few remarks on the geological structure of the London area may serve to render the subject more intelligible. London is situated on what is termed in geological language a "basin" — the "London Basin." The solid foundation, at some depth underground (150 to 300 feet, and less in places) is composed of the chalk, a formation here about 650 feet in thickness. This it is which constitutes the so-called basin, whose broad rim comes to the surface in the Chiltern Hills on the north and north-west, and in the North Downs on the south. The hollow of the London Basin is filled by a series of sedimentary formations which belongs to the period called Eocene and is classed as Tertiary. Conforming generally to the gentle fold into which the chalk has been bent, they consist of a lowermost group of sands, pebble-beds, and clays, known as the Lower London Tertiaries, over- lain by a great mass of clay, termed the London Clay, and followed by a group of sands with thin 1 Shallow wells catch the ground and subsoil water ; they are generally under 50 feet deep, the water is hard, nearly always impure, and often foul from sewage. They rarely supply enough water for more than a few houses, and the cost of pumping being generally prohibitive the water has to be carried by hand. 249 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London clayey bands known as the Bagshot Sand, which in London itself caps the higher grounds of Hampstead and Mighgate. Of these strata the London Clay occupies the most extensive area, the thinner group below (Lower London Tertiaries) appearing at the surface over a comparatively narrow belt. 1 North of the Thames the London Clay, overlain by gravel, is arranged in two well-marked terraces, each with a pronounced declivity bounding it on the south, while northwards it dies off imperceptibly as the clay rises to the surface. The lower terrace is bounded by the steep fall from the Strand to the Thames, and here the spring at the old Roman Bath still exists to mark the junction of gravel and clay. These terraced gravels were, in fact, the great water-bearing strata of London. 2 Most villages, like those of old in the London area, have been built on porous subsoils from which the water-supply was readily obtained, and in most cases such shallow sources became exposed to the worst forms of contamination. The soakage from stables, from cess-pits, and in some instances the infiltration of the decaying matter from burial- grounds, had rendered many of the shallow wells actually poisonous ; clear, sparkling, even palatable, though the water might be, there was often "death in the cup." A pump, the water of which was much esteemed, stood by the wall of the churchyard of 1 For the above information the writer is indebted to u Soils and Subsoils of London and its Neighbourhood," by Horace B. Woodward, 2nd cd., 1906. 2 A. Morlcy Davies, "London's First Conduit System," London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Transactions, 1907. 250 Shallow Wells, City Conduits St. Giles-in-the-Fields in High Street (south of New Oxford Street). The water became infected, and the cholera ravaged the immediate neighbourhood. Outside the City limits the growth of London was, as pointed out by Sir Joseph Prestwich, 1 restricted, till the regular establishment of waterworks, to the parts possessing superficial water-bearing strata, as at Chelsea, Kensington, and Hammersmith in the west ; at Clapham and Camberwell southwards ; Bow and Hackney eastwards ; and northwards at Clerkenwell, Bloomsbury, Marylebone, and Padding- ton. Here and there only, beyond the main body of the gravel, there were a few outliers, such as those at Islington and Highbury, and there houses were to be found. The clay area of Camden Town, Kentish Town, Maida Vale, Kilburn, and other tracts north of King's Cross and Marylebone, were not populated until a supply of drinking-water from a distance was brought in conduits. Within the City itself, as the population 2 gradually 1 Address to Geol. Soc, 1H72, Quart. Journ. Gcol. Soc, vol. xxviii. p. liii. 2 With all his fulness of detail, Stow makes no attempt to sum up the number of inhabitants. Some notion of the si/e of London in the Middle A^es may be formed from contemporary writers, from whom it appears that in 1199 London had 40,000 inhabitants. A century and a half later— namely, in 134.9 —the number could not have been more than 50,000, this estimate bein^ in keeping with the returns of the poll-tax in 1377 (Sub- sidy Rolls). During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there was no very appreciable change, but in Elizabethan London the increase was considerable ; in a normal year like 1580, the baptisms were one-fourth more than the burials. Under the Stuart Kings the population increased still more rapidly, partly due to the influx of people from the country and abroad, 251 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London increased, a plentiful supply of wholesome water was more than ever needed, and consequently the citizens, as Stow expresses it, were " forced to seek sweet waters abroad." In London, as in other cities, the obligation of furnishing water rested with the Corporation. Accordingly, in the 20th year of Henry III. (1236) they obtained leave to construct conduits, bringing water from springs in the Manor of Tyburn, at that time belonging to Gilbert de Sanford, on the site now known as Stratford Place, Oxford Street. Royal letters patent, bearing date 1236, set forth that this grant was "for the profit of the City, and good of the whole realm thither repairing : to wit, for the poor to drink, and the rich to dress their meat " — quaint terms which often recur in subsequent documents alluding to the Tyburn source of supply. City records mention the Tyburn Conduit (la funtayne de Tybourne) in the year 1237, when a convention or compact was entered into between the citizens of London and merchants of Amiens, Corby, and Nele, in Picardy. In return for the privilege of landing and warehousing woad and other com- modities within the City, which, until the compact of who filled up the gaps made by the " plagues," so that the population in 1661 from the contemporary estimate of Graunt was 460,000, though only one-fifth of this amount — namely, 92,000 — was in the City within the walls ; the rest was distributed in the larger out-parishes and liberties. (See " The Popula- tion of Old London," by Dr. C. Creighton, in Blackwood's Magazine, April, 1891.) Gregory King's estimate for 1694 is 530,000, but probably subject to the same distribution as Graunt's ; Richman (1701) 674,000 ; and Maitland (1738) 726,000. 252 Shallow Wells, City Conduits 1237, they could only sell on board their own vessels, the merchants, besides an annual payment of fifty marks, gave ,£100 sterling "au Conduyt del ewe (de l'eau ?) de la funtayne de Tybourne amener de la cite de Loundres " — then in course of building. 1 Many conduits, 2 as Stow and others call them (but more properly conduit-houses), were set up in various thoroughfares. There were in all nine conduits or bosses 3 in different parts of the City, but until late in the sixteenth century they were all on the western side of the Wallbrook ; east of that stream, the City was supplied by wells, especially by one opposite the future site of the Royal Exchange. The " Anglo-Norman Chronicles of London " (p. 237) mention one of these conduits in the following passage: "This year (i273~74) came King Edward I. and his Wife from the Holy Land, and were crowned at Westminster on the Sunday next after the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady (August 15th) ; and the Conduit in Chepe ran all the day with red and white wine to drink, for all such as wished." The Accounts of the " Masters " or Keepers of the Great Conduit in Chepe for the year 1350 1 Liber Custumarum, pp. 64-66. 2 In early writings and records " conduit " is used in a double sense, meaning both the channel or pipe for the conveyance of water and the structure from which it was distributed or made to issue. 3 Stow tells us that Boss Alley in Lower Thames Street was so called from " a bosse of spring water, continually running, which standeth by Billinsgate against this alley." This and another by St. Giles's Church without Cripplegate were built about the year 1423. 253 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London touch on many points of interest. 1 They show that the conduit was maintained and kept in repair by a rate levied on the houses of Chepe and the Poultry, and that this rate, for two years' con- sumption, varied from ios. to 13s. /\.d. The masters also account for having expended various sums for mending pipes ; for cleansing and washing the fountain-head ; for closing and opening the Conduit (which was doubtless closed and locked up at night) ; hire of two vadlets 2 twenty-four days to collect the money for the tankard, each man receiving 6d. per day. The pay of the workmen was 8d. per day, with a penny for drink. These donations for drink to workmen are called in Letter Book G, fol. iv. (27th Edward III.) " none-chenche," meaning probably " noon's quench." The Conduit of London, which apparently was not distinguished as the " Great" Conduit until the build- ing of the " Little " Conduit, is named also in a grant made by " Alice, late Wife of William de Chobham (Cobham) of the Vill of Tybourne to Adam Fraunceys, Mayor, and the Commonalty of the City, and their successors, of a parcel of land 24 feet square, situate atte Cherchende in the said vill of Tybourne, to serve for a fountain-head to the Conduit of London, together with a right to dig, lay cisterns and small subterranean ways under 40 feet of her land, adjacent to the aforesaid parcel of land." The deed is dated February 20th, 28th Edward III. (1355). Rymer ("Fcedera," xi. 29) contains a copy of the 1 Riley's " Memorials," pp. 264, 265. 2 Vadlet, a superior servant. 254 Shallow Wells, City Conduits grant, and there is a reference to it in the Liber Albus, Letter Book G, 181. The Great Conduit was situate at the Poultry end of Cheapside, opposite Mercers' Hall and Chapel — a spot which had been previously occupied by the hospital of St. Thomas de Aeon. In appearance it was a long and low stone building, battlemented, and enclosing a large leaden cistern, the water of which issued from a cock into a square stone basin at the eastern end. It is generally said to have been built about the year 1285, but it is mentioned as the Conduit in St. Mary Colechurch in West Cheape in 1 26 1 (Cal. Charter Rolls, ii. 3S), and again in an allusion to the fraternity of St. Thomas the Martyr "at the Conduit of London," in 1278 (Cal. Wills, i. 29, jo). The first building of the conduit, authorised in 1236, was begun in 1245 (Ann. Lond., 44). * The pipes conveying water to the Great Conduit were, according to Stow, laid in sections from Paddington to Cheapside (the details of the route are given in subsequent pages in the account of the Bayswater Conduit). In the year 1479, the 19th Edward IV., the Great Conduit was rebuilt and enlarged by Thomas Ham, one of the sheriffs. In the 14th year of King Richard II. (1390) certain "substantial men of the Ward of Farndone (Farringdon) within, and other citizens of London, for the common advantage and easement of the same, at their own costs and charges," decided to build a water-conduit near to the Church of St. Michael-le- Ouerne in the West Chepe, to be supplied by the 1 Stow's " Survey," text of 1603, C. L. Kingsford 1908, vol. ii., Notes p. 331. 255 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London great pipe of the conduit opposite to St. Thomas of Aeon. 1 Permission to do this was granted by the Mayor and Aldermen, provided that the pipes should not be injurious to the Great Conduit (for which three citizens gave security), but if they proved to be harmful, then the said pipes should be removed, &c. Half a century later the Little Conduit was built. Stow relates the circumstances in these words : " At the east end of this Church (of St. Michael-ad- Bladum, or at the Corne 2 — corruptly at the Quern), in place of the olde Crosse, is now a water conduit placed. William Eastfield, Mayor, the 9th of Henry VI. (1431) at the request of divers Common Councels, granted it so to be ; whereupon in the 19th of the same Henry, about the year 1442, one thousand marks was granted towards the works of this Conduit, and repayring of the other Conduits : this is called the little Conduit in West Cheape by Powles (Paul's) gate." On part of the site of the Church of St. Michael, after the Fire of London in 1666, was erected a conduit for supplying the neighbourhood with water ; but being found unnecessary, it was, with others, pulled down in 1727. The Little Conduit by the Stocks Market was built about the year 1500. Stow says: "Some distance west is the Royall Exchaunge 1 The Hospital of St. Thomas of Aeon (or Acre) was surrendered the 30th of Henry VIII. (1539) and purchased by the Mercers ; it was used in Stow's time as a chapel and free grammar school. 2 So called because there was at one time a corn market here, stretching westwards to the Shambles (Newgate Street). 256 Shallow Wells, City Conduits and so down to the little Conduit ... by the Stockes Market, and this is the south side of Three neeuie btreet." " Come along presently by the p — g-Conduit, With two brave drums and a Standard bearer." x In "Henry VI.," Pt. 2, Act IV. Sc. vi., Cade says : " Now is Mortimer lord of this city. And here, sitting upon London-stone, I charge and command that, of the city's cost, the p — g-conduit run nothing but claret wine this first year of our reign." The appearance of the buildings in the neighbour- hood, and of the Little Conduit, in the sixteenth century, are represented in a curious plan of the western end of West Cheap, dated 1585, a copy of which is in Wilkinson's " Londina Illustrata" (18 19) ; the age of its erection and decoration, that author observes, is expressed by the royal supporters of Henry VI. and his Queen, Margaret of Anjou — the antelope and eagle with the Tudor dragon — on the heads of the buttresses. 2 The plan also exhibits the direction of the pipes laid for the supply of both the reservoirs in West Cheap, the Little Conduit being probably also furnished from the same springs at Paddington. The tower at the north-west corner of this building was perhaps intended for raising the 1 Middleton, in " A Chaste Maid in Cheapside," Act III., Sc. ii. 2 According to the best authorities, Henry VI, had for supporters two antelopes argent, There is no mention of either eagle or dragon among the badges or cognisances of this king and queen. The heraldic figures on the buttresses may have been added in a later reign. 257 R Springs, Streams, and Spas of London water to the height of its original level, whence it fell down again into the cistern in the larger building. Two spouts or taps are shown from which the water could be drawn, and round the base of the structure are represented several of the ancient London water- tankards. 1 The Little Conduit was partly re-erected or preserved, since Strype 2 says : " Where the church of St. Michael-le-Ouerne stood (it was burnt down by the Great Fire and not rebuilt) is a Conduit, not yet finished, but designed for some magnificent structure." The following further notice of this build- ing appears in the " Magnse Britanniae Notitia," by John Chamberlayne : 3 "The obelisk in Cheapside is a piece of work designed and begun to be erected by the City at the west end of Cheapside, where, before the Fire of London stood the Church of St. Michael-le- Querne. It is to be, if finished as was intended, an obelisk upon a pedestal, the height to be 160 feet, and made in imitation of those formerly in Rome." In the 31st Edition of Chamberlayne's work (1735) this passage is wanting, which probably points out the time when the idea of erecting any building upon this spot was finally abandoned. Besides the two conduits in West Cheap there was also a third public reservoir in the same street called the " Standard," the site of which was in the centre of the road opposite the end of Honey Lane. The original object of the Standard appears to have been a monument erected at the place for public executions, of which Stow gives several 1 " Londina Illustrata," R. Wilkinson (1819), vol. i. 2 Strype's "Stow's Survey" (1720), vol i., chap. viii. 3 29th Edition, 1728, Pt. I. bk. iii. p. 251. 258 Shallow Wells, City Conduits instances between 1293 and 1461. 1 In 1430 John Wells, Mayor, caused it to be furnished with "a small cistern of fresh water, having one small cock continually running, when the same was not turned or locked." His design was finished by his executors, who bought a licence of Henry VI. to convey water to it. The Standard of that period was almost unquestion- ably of wood, the King's patent, issued in 1442, for the rebuilding of it, with a conduit in the same, stated that it should be strongly built of stone. Its appearance in the seventeenth century is shown in the picture representing the procession of Marie de' Medici through Cheapside, when she came to visit her daughter, Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., in 1 638.2 It is possible that the figures with which the Standard is decorated were erected for the occasion, since the Cross and Conduits of West Cheap were always anciently utilised as stations for pageants 3 in the triumphs, shows, and royal processions, called " ridings," through the City. Hence we find that of the six pageants displayed in celebration of King Henry V.'s home-coming after Agincourt (1415), two were on London Bridge, one at the conduit in Cornhill, another at the Great Conduit in Cheap, a fifth at Cheap Cross, and the sixth at the Little Conduit. The roofs of the conduits, which were 1 Strype's " Stow," 1720, chap iii. 35. 2 From La Serres' " Entree Royalle de la Reyne Mere du Roy tres Chrestien dans la Ville de Londres," 1638. 3 The original meaning of pageant has become obscured through being used to express the play itself, whereas it was really a movable stage or platform on which the play was presented. The "pageants" consisted of buildings of timber, sometimes in imitation of brickwork. 259 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London generally either castellated or enclosed by an orna- mental gallery, were usually filled with choristers or minstrels. John Lydgate, who was deviser and writer of verses for Court and civic ceremonies in the first half of the fifteenth century, and whose verses give one of the best descriptions of a mediaeval civic pageant, wrote a poem (it was really an official programme in verse) on the occasion of King Henry VI. 's reception in London, in February, 1432, on his return from France. The Great Conduit is alluded to in the following extract : — "The King fforth rydyng entryed into Chepe anoon, A lusty place, a place of all delytys, Kome to the conduyt, wher, as crystal stoon, The water Ranne like welles of paradys, The holsome lykour, ffull Riche and off greate prys, Like to the water of Archedeclyne, 1 Which by miracle was turned into wyne." 2 Cheapside, meaning market-place, was in those days a large square, reaching back as far as the present Honey Lane and other streets in a straight line with it, and with booth-lined streets branching away as far as the Guildhall and Basing Hall. All through the Plantagenet times, " the golden age of chivalry," the great square of the " Chepe " was the scene of tournaments and martial pageants. 3 1 Archedeclyne — erroneous form of Architricline, the triple couch of a banquet-room. The " ruler " of a feast. 2 u Chronicles of London," edited by C. L. Kingsford, 1906, in which the poem is printed in extenso. 3 " Mediaeval London," Benham and Welch, 1901. Numerous instances of these pageants, with references to the original authorities, will be found in Nichol's "Account of Fifty-five Royal Processions and Entertainments in the City of London " (London, 1831, 8vo). 260 Shallow Wells, City Conduits Catherine of Aragon's state entry into London on November 12, 1501, is thus described in the quaint language of the time. Having listened to benedictory orations, delivered by two personages representing St. Catherine and St. Ursula, at London Bridge, " Dame Kateryn rode fforth to ledenhall corner, and there turned down to the Conduyt in Cornhill, where was ordeyned a costlew pagent w l a volvell, by the which the Xij signes moved about the zodiak, and the mone shewed her course and dirknesse," &c, The conduits were sometimes made to subserve the purposes of moral instruction. When James I. passed through the City on his accession the conduits were decked out with verses, such as these, which are selected from a scarce and curious black-letter duodecimo, printed in 1607; — Upon the conduit in Cheapside were these verses : — " Life is a dross, a sparkle, a span, A bubble : yet how proud is man ! " Upon the conduit in Grateous (Gracechurch) Street : — "All in this world's Exchange do meete, But when death's burse-bell rings, away ye fleete." Gifts or benefactions, such as that already mentioned of John Wells, who furnished a cistern for the Standard in West Cheap, and of William Eastfield, who made provision for the Paddington conduit, were not uncommon ; they sometimes distinguished a term of office, or were given in charity. Posthumous gifts were also occasionally 261 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London made. Stow notices a bequest by one John Pope, citizen and barber, who by his will, dated May n, 1437, gave for the reparation of the Great Conduit, and the other conduits in the City, his tenement "with the appurtenances which by right descended to him." Another benefactor, William Love, be- queathed the sum of 10s. "annual quitrent charged on tenements in Ismongerelane in the parish of St. Martin Pomer (Pomary) to the work of the Conduit of London ; the Will of the said William being enrolled in the Husting for Pleas of London held on Monday after the feast of the Purification (of the) B.M." (February 2nd), 2nd Edward III., 1327-28. J The Tonne, or Tun, 2 upon Cornhill, Stow states, was built in the year 1282 by Henry Wales (Wallis), Mayor of London in that year, as a prison for night offenders. In 1401 it was "cisterned" on being turned into a conduit. Some years before this, namely, in 1378, a meeting of the Common Council was held at Guildhall to consider (among other matters) the best means of carrying out the repair of the conduit in Chepe, and carrying it up to the cross-ways on the top of Cornhill, for which purpose the executors of Adam Fraunceys had promised to contribute 1 Calendar of Wills, i., 330. 2 Thornbury ("Old and New London," ii. 169) reproduces a view of Cornhill in 1630, published by Boydell, showing the first Royal Exchange and a cylindrical Gothic structure standing in the middle of the street, which is the Tun. It was so called, Stow says, because it was built somewhat in the fashion of a tun, or barrel, standing on one end. There is another print of the Tun in the Gardner Collection, which is reproduced in Besant's " Mediaeval London," 1906, p. 355. 262 Shallow Wells, City Conduits 500 marks. This seems to refer to the fitting up of the Cornhill conduit, probably identical with the Tun. In one instance — in the year 1432 — a great con- ventual house — " Nostre Dame d'ordre de Charthous" — within the City walls, provided a water-supply of its own. Two years previously — in 1430 — John Ferriby and his wife Margery enfeoffed the Prior and Convent of the Carthusians of a certain well- spring in the meadow called Overmead, in the town of Islington (en la vill' de Iseldon), to make an aqueduct at the rent service of i2d., together with a certain piece of land, at a spot marked approximately in later times by a building known as the White Conduit House. 263 CHAPTER II CONDUITS WITHOUT THE CITY The White Conduit — Supplied water to the Carthusian Friars — Fleet Street — Its water-supply — Fleet Street Standard — Cistern made to receive its overflow — Thames water used by Londoners — Springs in Paddington granted by the Abbot of Westminster to the Mayor and citizens of London — Water from springs at Hackney — Banqueting House on the site of Stratford Place, with cisterns in the basement — Lamb's Conduit — References to the conduits in the Letter Books — Keepers or wardens to look after them — Measures taken to restrain keepers of brew-houses and others from making ale with the water from the conduits — Tynes and tankards used for conveying water — Grants of Quills — The London Waterbearers — Their petition — Water- bearers' Hall — List of conduits removed — The Standard in Cornhill a point of measurement for distances from the City — Explanation of a complete service on the Conduit System. THE stone conduit from which the house of entertainment — a kind of minor Vauxhall for the Londoners who went for cakes and cream to Islington and Hornsey — took its name appears, from all accounts, to have been an arched structure, built with stone, brick, and flint, and cased with white stone, from which it received its appellation of the White Conduit. A sculptured stone over the door bore the date 1641 and the initials and arms of 264 Conduits Without the City Thomas Sutton, who founded the Charterhouse as a school. Sutton was obviously only the restorer of this little edifice, for long antecedent to his time the water had flowed hence to supply the wants of the Carthusian Friars. The building remained much in the state represented in a print in the Gentleman s Magazine of May, 1801, till about 181 2, when it was suffered to fall into decay, being gradually stripped of its outer casing, and at last it was entirely destroyed in 1831, to make way for the completion of some new buildings in Barnsbury Road, as a con- tinuation of Penton Street, formed some five years previously. The materials were used to repair part of the New Road. Cromwell, who also incorporates some of Malcolm's information, says (" History of Clerkenwell," p. 438), " The original spring issued from the ground at the distance of 43 perches north frorn the Conduit House, and was conducted into the latter by a brick channel, which was discovered a few years since by the builders of the houses since erected all around. In the conduit was a massy cistern with an aperture at the bottom for carrying away the waste water." His remarks are referable to the year 1827. The place where the conduit stood when Mr. T. E. Tomlins wrote his "Perambulation of Islington," about 1858, was the back of a house occupied as a pawn- broker's shop — No. 10, Penton Street — at the corner of Edward Street. A view of the conduit when in the last stage of neglect (1827), by Mr. J. Fussell, is given in Hone's "Every-Day Book" (vol. ii. p. 1202). The water-supply of Fleet Street was anciently drawn, in part at least, from the "holy" wells of St. Clement and St. Bridget. Early notice of the regular 265 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London supply of this street occurs in the City records 1 in 1388, when the inhabitants complained that the pipes burst and the water found its way into their houses, flooding their cellars and damaging their goods and wares. They urged that the pipes should be covered, and licence was accordingly granted by the Mayor and Aldermen to build a pent-house (pinaculum) at a given point of the aqueduct, "opposite to the house and tavern of John Walworthe, vintner, which are situate near to the hostel of the Bishop of Salisbury." 2 Walworthe, John Rote (the Alderman of the Ward), and some twenty others were the applicants. The construction of the main from Paddington3 having been abandoned for six years or more, the executors of Sir William Eastfield obtained licence of the Mayor and Commonalty in the year 1453, and with the effects of Sir William took the work in hand and completed it by 1471, together with the conduit by Aldermanbury Church, not far distant from his dwelling-house. With the same powers his executors also conveyed water to Cripplegate. The Fleet Street Standard stood a little to the west of Shoe Lane. Over the cistern Stow describes a stone tower, ornamented with " images of St. Chris- topher on the top and angels round about, with sweet- sounding bells, which hourly with hammers chymed such an hymn as was appointed." To receive the 1 Letter Book H, p. 326. 2 The Inn or London House of the Bishops of Salisbury stood on the site of Salisbury Court, on the south side of Fleet Street. 3 Portions of the pipes were dug up in Fleet Street in 1743, and by St. Clement's Church in 1765. 266 Conduits Without the City overflow of the Standard a cistern was made at Fleet Bridge in 1478 "by the men of Fleet Streete," but Stow adds : " The watercourse is decayed and not restored." I The Standard was rebuilt, with a larger cistern, at the City's expense in the year 1582 ; it was destroyed in the Great Fire. It must not be supposed that Londoners had only the conduits on which to depend ; the river Thames was also freely drawn upon : the water-carriers, besides filling their tankards from the conduits, used the river- water to supply the houses of citizens for a small re- muneration. The carts also conveyed water in still greater quantities from the Thames. In the City ordinances made after the year 1275, but probably before the Great Conduit in Cheapside was opened, 2 there is a regulation that for carts taking water from Dowgate or Castle Baynard to Cheap the charge should be three halfpence ; if they went beyond Cheap two pence ; if they stopped short of Cheap one penny farthing (Liber Albus, i. p. 730). In one year — 1325-26 — it is recorded in the Anglo- Saxon Chronicles of London (p. 261) that, "for want 1 For surreptitiously tapping the conduit where it passed his door, and conveying the water into a private well, thereby causing a lack of water to his fellow-citizens, civic records relate that William Campion, of Fleet Street, was in 1478 sentenced to imprisonment, and was further punished in the following mediaeval fashion : Being set upon a horse, a vessel like unto a conduit was placed upon his head and kept filled with water, which ran down his person from small holes made for the purpose, keeping him continually drenched. In this condition he was taken round to the City conduits, where his offence was proclaimed, as a warning to other citizens. 2 The conduit is mentioned in Letter Book B, 6th Edward I. (1277-78). 267 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London of fresh water, the tide from the sea prevailed to such a degree that the water of the Thames was salt ; so much so that many folk complained of the ale being salt." Unless care were taken to take water from the river at certain periods of the ebb tide, and some distance from the bank, a similar complaint might have been justly made at any time. But the ever- recurring trouble which had to be contended with was the pollution of the Thames from accumulations of filth on the river-bank. This was the subject in 1357 of a peremptory letter to the Mayor and Sheriffs from the King (Edward III.). Various civic ordi- nances and enactments in Parliament tend to destroy one's faith in the general purity of the river and its fitness for drinking. There were penalties for casting refuse from stables and slaughter-houses into it, the Thames water at Dowgate Dock becoming - at this time so corrupted by filth thrown there that the water-carriers accustomed to fill their tankards from this dock "were no longer able to serve the Com- monalty, to their great loss." Orders were therefore given for cleansing the dock (Letter Book F, 19th Edward III., 1345). In the fifteenth century there is further evidence that the water-supply of London was a subject of concern to the Corporation. On March 11, 1439, Richard, Abbot of Westminster, granted to Robert Large, 1 the Mayor, and citizens of London, and their successors, one head of water, together with certain springs to the north and west of the same head, within a length of 26 perches, and a breadth of 1 A mercer, who will always be remembered as the master to whom Caxton served his apprenticeship. 268 Conduits Without the City i perch, in a certain close called Oxlese, within the manor of Paddington, in consideration of the City paying annually to the said Abbot and his successors, at the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, two peppercorns. This grant was confirmed by Henry VI. in the year 1442, and likewise a writ of Privy Seal issued allowing the citizens power to impress the necessary labour and to purchase 200 fodders (a fodder of lead being about a ton) of lead for the intended pipes or conduits. In the next century additional conduits were constructed by the Corporation in different parts of London : the conduit at Bishopsgate, built about the year 15 13 ; that at London Wall, against Coleman Street, about 1528. Without Aldgate, long known for its pure water, a conduit was built in 1535 by means of a grant of money from the Common Council : the source consisted of two heads, situated in fields near Dalston, whence it was conveyed by pipes laid in the ground at depths varying from 8 to 18 feet, till they terminated at the Conduit. In 1543 the municipal authorities obtained statutory powers to repair damaged Conduits and erect new ones, as well as to bring water to the City from Hampstead (Stat. 35 Henry VIII. c. 10). This was London's first Water Act. 1 It was entitled an Act " Concernynge the repayringe, making and amend- ynge of the Condytes in London." But the water yielded from the above and other sources, old and new, proved inadequate, for such was the insanitary condition of the City that the water problem was taken seriously in hand by the Common Council x The city of Gloucester obtained its Water Act two years earlier. 269 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London towards the close of the year 1545, when Sir Martin Bowes entered upon his mayoralty. A tax of two- fifteenths was imposed upon the inhabitants of the City for conveying water from certain " lively sprynges" recently discovered at Hackney. In fact, the City authorities appear from that time to have taken more active interest in water-supply. Accord- ing to Stow, it was their custom to pay annual visits of inspection to the various Conduit-heads, and on an occasion, cited by him, in 1562, the Mayor (Harpur), Aldermen, and many " worshipful persons " of the twelve livery Companies, rode on horseback to the Conduit-head at Marybone with great formality and parade, their wives making the journey in wagons. Here, after inspecting the reservoirs, they were en- tertained with good cheer by the City Chamberlain in a banqueting-house erected on the site of Stratford Place " for their convenience, after which they hunted a fox in the neighbouring woodlands. The old cis- terns, which were in the basement beneath the Banqueting House, being no longer wanted, were, in 1737, arched over and abandoned. The house itself was pulled down and its site let on lease. Notwithstanding the official recognition shown by these formal visits, the efforts of private individuals in attempts to improve the City's water-supply were by no means discouraged. The scheme of William Lamb entitles him to particular notice. He is usually described as a gentleman of the Chapel Royal to 1 In August, 1875, while making repairs or alterations in the roadway of Oxford Street at this point the workmen came upon the reservoirs and arches under the Banqueting House, which had remained in a fair state of preservation, 270 Conduits Without the City Henry VIII.; he was also a freeman of the Cloth- workers' Company. Among many other benefactions he generously undertook the charge of bringing water collected from several springs in leaden pipes a distance of about 2,000 yards to Snow Hill, where, in 1577, he rebuilt a conduit, standing a little below the Church of St. Sepulchre — at Oldbourne Crosse (Stow) — which had long been in a ruinous state, and disused, at a cost of ,£1,500. This conduit was again rebuilt in 1667 from a design by Sir Christopher Wren, consisting of a stone building of four sides, with four columns, over which was a pediment, surmounted by a pyramid, on which stood a lamb — a rebus on the name of Lamb. The public-house known by the sign of the " Lamb" at the north-east end of Lamb's Conduit Street is distinguished by the appropriate effigy of a lamb cut in stone, which the writer of an article in the Illustrated London News of November 22, 185 1, concluded to be no other than the one which stood upon the conduit. The same writer discovered in the yard of the public-house a trap-door in the pave- ment, which on being lifted led by a short flight of steps into a brick vault, where was to be seen the wooden cover of the well and beneath it the well itself. The "New View of London" (1707), com- piled, it is believed, by Hatton, describes the fountain- head of Lamb's Conduit as being in the vacant ground a little to the east of Ormond Street. The conduit was taken down in 1746. A pump, which was reputed to be erected on the Conduit-head, probably in the year just mentioned, stood against the corner house of a small turning leading out of 271 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London Lamb's Conduit Street, "on the right-hand side as you go towards the Foundling, known as Long Yard." Carved on the gable of one of the houses was the inscription : " Lamb's Conduit, the property of the City of London. This pump is erected for the benefit of the public." l The date became obliterated. A charge was a'ways made for water supplied by conduits when used for trade purposes. In the " Letter Books " are many references to the conduits, and particularly to their management. It appears from these that Keepers or Wardens were appointed to look after them. Such officers were, after being duly elected, admitted and sworn in the presence of the Mayor of London and the Aldermen, to faithfully collect the money left to, or acquired by, the conduit, and to render true account thereof when called upon. The custodian had also to receive the money assessed upon traders, such as brewers, pastelars (cooks), and fishmongers ; to see that the water was not wasted, and to take no fees or gratuities, or sell water for private profit, on pain of losing his freedom. The guardianship thus created was evidently very necessary in the interests of the consumer. In the Liber Albus there are several entries between the years 1309 and 13 16 and subsequently, showing that the City brewers 1 Notes and Queries, April, 1857, 2nd Series. In October, 1905, while cutting a cross-trench in connection with the work of the electrification of the tramway lines in Theobald's Road, the workmen came upon a length of about 12 feet of an old wooden water-conduit in excellent preservation. It was thought to be probably a part of Lamb's Conduit. The pipes had been made out of tree-trunks with a bore of about 9 inches. (The Standard, October, 1905.) 272 Conduits Without the City took so much water from the Great Conduit that the supply of their fellow-citizens ran short. As a con- sequence of this a "plaint" was made in the nth year of Edward III. (1337) in the Hustings Court by certain persons living near the Conduit, that " men who keep brew-houses in the streets and lanes near the Conduit, send day after day and night after night, their brewers with their tynes, and make the ale which they sell with the water thereof." In the year 1345 the Mayor and Alderman agreed, the Commonalty assenting, that such brewers should in future no longer presume to brew or make malt with water from the conduit, on pain of losing the tankard or tyne with which he shall have carried water from the conduit, and 4od. the first time ; the tankard or tyne and half a mark the second time ; and the third time the tankard or tyne and 10s. The means of obtaining water from the conduits consisted either in employing water-carriers, called in those days "cobs," 1 to bring it, or in sending servants to fetch it ; the latter could, of course, only be done by the wealthier citizens. The tyne, or vessel for holding the water, was a wooden tub formed in the ordinary way with staves and hoops ; the tankard contained about three gallons and was shaped like a cone ; it had a small iron handle at the upper (narrow) end, and, being fitted with a bung or stopple, was easily carried on the shoulders. In a 1 Oliver Cob, the water-bearer, is one of the characters in Ben Jonson's play, " Every Man in His Humour " (1598), and the sort of coarse repartee he indulged in may be taken as a fair sample of that used at the London conduits. The water- carriers resided chiefly in Cob's Court, Broadway, Blackfriars, and this is probably how they came to be called " cobs." 273 S Springs, Streams, and Spas of London rare print executed in the reign of James I. and preserved in the British Museum, reproduced by J. T. Smith in " Cries of London " (1839), the water- carrier is shown bearing the tankard upon his shoulder. He wears the dress of Henry VIII.'s time, and to keep him dry coarse aprons hang from his neck, one in front and one behind. In Tempest's 11 Cryes of London" (171 1) is an engraving of a water-bearer, with the words " New River Water " inscribed beneath the picture. He carries two tubs or tynes suspended from a yoke on his shoulders. Besides being carried by hand, the water was also conveyed by barrow and by cart. As the supply of water grew scarce through the laying down of pipes or " quills " of water to private dwellings, there were frequent disputes among the cobs for precedence in filling their vessels, and the Mayor forbade them to take clubs and staves, with which they would sometimes belabour each other. A curious print — published about the time of Elizabeth — is a satire on this custom ; it is entitled " Tittle Tattle," and tells in homely couplets how — "At the conduit striving for their turn The quarrel it grows great, That up in arms they are at last, And one another beat." While the citizens generally obtained water from these public fountains, some noblemen and other persons having mansions in the City or near the course of the conduit from Tyburn obtained leave to lay a small pipe or " quill " (probably, as the name implies, not exceeding a goose-quill in diameter) 274 Conduits Without the City connecting the conduit with their mansions or grounds. An instance of this occurs in 1582, when the Marquis of Winchester applied to the Mayor for leave to substitute a brick vault for the passage of water in place of the old pipes, which had decayed. Other similar applications were made : in 1592 by Lord Cobham, for a quill of water from the conduit at Ludgate for use in " his house within the Black- friars"; in 1601 by Lady Essex and Lady Walsing- ham for "a continuance of the pipe of water formerly granted to the Lord Admiral for use in Essex house"; and in 161 3 by Lord Fenton for his house near Charing Cross. The last records of these appli- cations to tap the City Conduits are of 1662-64. As grants of " quills" conferred privileges which brought no revenue to the Corporation, while the common stock of water was diminished, popular murmurs against the practice arose, the cause being taken up by the Company of Water-Tankard- Bearers. Following the example of the other crafts that flourished in the Middle Ages, the water-carriers of London, a numerous body of men, formed themselves into a guild or fraternity. Their rules and ordinances are dated October 20, 1496, the 12th of Henry VII., and purport to have been framed by " the Wardens and the whole fellowship of the brotherhood # of St. Christopher of the Waterbearers, founded within the Augustin Friars." A curious petition, 1 bearing no date, but, judging from the writing and spelling, probably drawn up about the close of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century, was 1 Mr. Clifford gives it without abridgment, "A History of Private Bill Legislation," vol. ii M 1887, pp. 59-61. 275 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London presented to the House of Commons from " the whole Company of the poore Water-Tankard- Bearers of the Cittie of London, and the suburbs thereof, they and their families being 4,000 in number," &c. Their Grievances are set forth at considerable length in the petition, which begins by referring to an Act of Parliament of 35th Henry VIII. (1543) concerning the making and repairing of the conduits of London, with a proviso that it should not be lawful for any person to undermine, minish, withdraw, or abate any spring from its "dew" course and conveyance to the conduits in London. Yet, the petition goes on to declare, that " notwithstanding the said Act, most of the water is taken, and kept from the said Conduits in London by many private branches and cockes, and laid into private dwellings, being suffered also to runne at waste, to the general grievance of citizens, and all others repairing to the same, having their meat dressed with other waters, neither so pure nor holsome as the Conduit water is." The City's Plumber, one Randoll, seems to have been a delin- quent, confessing to having laid fifteen branches or cocks into private houses, and drawn from the conduits. Various other cases of illegal abstraction of water are cited in the petition ; the supply of water to Cornhill, Aldermanbury, and Gracechurch Street Conduits being either wholly stopped or given to private houses by the way. The effect of these irregularities was to deprive the water- carriers of much of their legitimate employment, so that their complaints were well founded. The petition, in quaintly worded phrases, takes one, as it were, behind the scenes, showing, from the 276 Conduits Without the City workman's point of view at least, how the City was served by a body of men who followed a calling which, like others, was not without its grievances. It would be interesting to know what was the result of the petition, whether it effected its object, or, like others of its kind, was consigned to the limbo of unredressed wrongs. In a list dated February 8, 1582, of deeds, &c, belonging to the parish of St. Michael's, Cornhill, appear several notices of Waterbearers' Hall (now Numbers 143 and 144, Bishopsgate Street Without, between Lamb Alley and Angel Alley). Extracts from the Minute Book of the vestry of St. Michael's (1563 to 1697) show that the Brotherhood of Water- bearers existed at least seventy-two years after their rules were certified by the ecclesiastical authority — that is to say, until 1568, in which year a certain Robert Donkin, Citizen and Merchant Taylor of London, purchased his house of the Company of Waterbearers. The filing of their petition not long after James I. came to the throne proves that they were in existence for at least another half-century, but how much longer remains to be ascertained. With reference to the state of the conduits in general about this time, Richard Blome, writing circa 1673, says : "The greater part of them do still. continue where first erected, but some, by reason of the great quantity of ground they took up, standing in the midst of the City, were a great hindrance, not only to foot-passengers, but to porters, coaches, and cars ; and were therefore taken down and removed to places more convenient ; so that the water was the same. The Conduits taken away with their 277 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London cisterns are : the Great Conduit at the east end of Cheapside ; the Conduit called the Tun in Cornhill ; the Standard in Cheapside ; the Little Conduit at the west end of Cheapside ; the Conduit in Fleet Street ; the Conduit in Grass-Church Street (built in accordance with the will of Thomas Hill, who was Mayor in 1484); the Conduit without Aldgate, and the Conduit at Dowgate." The conduit at the Stocks Market, after its re-erection, appears to have been celebrated principally as being near the equestrian statue of Charles II. ; set up in 1672 by Sir Robert Vyner, the convivial Mayor who pulled the King back to the table to "take t'other bottle." Market and statue were both removed for the present Mansion House in 1739. The Standard in Corn- hill, 1 built in 1581-82, existed only for a few years after the Great Fire. For some time previously it was in an imperfect state, being sometimes dry and at other times overflowing ; for which last condition it was frequently presented as a nuisance by the Inquest of Cornhill Ward, under the names of "the Carrefour " 2 (or Quarrefour), and the " Foure Spowts." It received the first of these names from its position at the intersection of Gracechurch Street, Cornhill, 1 An engraving of this, dated 1814, is in Wilkinson's " Londina Illustrata." There was a Standard in Cornhill as early as the 2nd Henry V. (1415). (" Chronicle of London," edited by Sir N. H. Nicholas, 1827, p. 99.) 2 At Aubervilliers (Seine), where, at the meeting of four cross- roads, many crimes have been committed, the spot is popularly called the " Carrefour du Crime." " The Carfukes of Leaden- halle " is mentioned in a proclamation made at the Leaden Hall for men of the poultry trade, in the 49th Edward III. (1375) (Riley, " Memorials, p. 389). The Carfukes of the Leaden Hall was best known as the Standard in Cornhill. 278 Conduits Without the City Bishopsgate Street, and Leadenhall Street. The other name was given to it because of four spouts which were directed as many different ways, for the use of the inhabitants living near it, and also for cleansing the channels of the streets diverging from it, namely, north towards Bishopsgate, east towards Aldgate, south towards the bridge, and west towards the Stocks Market. On account of the inconvenience of its situation, this conduit was one of those which was not rebuilt, and the last notice of it is probably the following entry contained in an official manuscript record of the expenses of erecting public buildings in London after the Great Fire, preserved in the Guildhall Library: "1671, July 10, Paid Nicholas Duncome for taking down the Conduit in Cornhill, &c, ^15 10s." That the City conduits were not entirely destroyed by the Great Fire we have the assurance of a contemporary writer — Dr. Samuel Rolles — in his " Relation of the late Dreadful Fire of London in the year 1666" (Meditation XL., "Spoiling of the City Conduits," London, 1667), and he is borne out, as regards one of them, by Evelyn, who records in his Diary, September 7, 1666, only five days after the outbreak, when the ashes were so hot as to burn the soles of his shoes, that the Standard in Cornhill " continued with but little detriment." But there is no doubt that the conduits suffered severely, par- ticularly the leaden pipes and cisterns. The Standard was long in use as a point of measurement for distances from the City, and several suburban milestones are still inscribed with so many miles from the Standard in Cornhill — e.g., on the south 279 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London side of Barnes Common, in the Upper Richmond Road, is one marked "IX. miles from the Standard in Cornhill." : After serving their purpose for more than five hundred years the conduits by about the middle oi the eighteenth century had ceased to be used in London. In a few provincial towns they are still in use ; at Wells, Somerset, the waterworks of Bishop Beckington continue to supply the city. The springs rise in the garden of the Bishop's palace, in which stands the little fifteenth-century structure, where the waters are gathered, and whence they are con veyed in leaden pipes to a conduit-house in the market-place. An arrangement of a similar kind, though more modern, exists at Cambridge, where the quaint Jacobean structure called Hobson's Con- duit now stands at the entrance to the town from the Trumpington road, having been removed from the market-place in 1 856.2 Another conduit-house is mentioned by Parker as having been " erected in Oxford by Otho Nicholson so late as the time of James I., and water to supply it was conveyed by pipes from Hincksey Hill, a distance of about two miles, where the small building for the conduit-head still remains (1859). The conduit itself was removed about the end of the eighteenth century from its original position at Carfax, where four streets meet, 1 A correspondent writes to the City Press, October 23, 1909, that upon a stone let into the wall of an old house in Lewes (Sussex) the following inscription appears : " 50 miles from the Standard in Cornhill ; 49 to Westminster Bridge ; 8 miles to Brighthelmstone " (Brighton). 2 Philip Norman, on "An Ancient Conduit-head in Queen Square, Bloomsbury," Archceologia, v. 56, Pt. 2. 280 Conduits Without the City and where it must have been a considerable obstruc- tion to the traffic." l For the sake of clearness it may be useful to explain that a complete service on the conduit or aqueduct system was carried out somewhat on this wise : The conduit-head was placed as near as possible to, if not actually over, the natural spring or springs forming the source of supply. Into this " Receipt-house," as it used to be called, the water was led, filling a cistern or tank in the building, and passing on into the pipes in its course to the distributing base, which might be from one to three or more miles distant. Here the water was stored in a receptacle of greater capacity, and drawn from cocks or taps, as it was required. No mechanical contrivance was used either to raise the water into the cistern or to accelerate its passage through the pipes. All depended upon the very slight downward gradient necessary to ensure a steady flow of water ; and indeed this fundamental principle of gravitation was the only known method of water conveyance in the Middle Ages. It would appear that there is no record existing of the quantity of water which the old London reservoirs were capable of holding. This is regrettable, as it would be of some interest to know, for instance, what was the storage capacity of the great Cheapside Conduit, to which such frequent allusion is made in civic records. Stow, who gives a long list of the City conduits, omits any mention of the point, either directly or indirectly, nor do any of the later historians touch upon it. 1 " Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England," by T. Hudson Turner and J. H. Parker, vol. iii., 1859. 281 CHAPTER III CONDUITS WITHOUT THE CITY (continued)— LONDON BRIDGE WATERWORKS Bayswater or " Roundhead " Conduit — Its position and course indicated — Remarks by Matthews in " Hydraulia " — Mr. Morley Davies on the " Roundhead " — Paddington Conduit System transferred from the City to the Bishop of London and Trustees of Paddington Estate — Ancient conduit in Queen Square, Bloomsbury — Identification of the White Conduit — Conduit near Hyde Park Corner — Conduit-house in Greenwich Park — Underground passages in the Park ; their elaborate construction — Wooden water-pipes — Use of tree-trunks for water-pipes abroad — Morice and his London Bridge Waterworks — The engine described — Other schemes for supplying London with water. THE Bayswater or "Roundhead" Conduit, the earliest Conduit-head, may be taken as a type of its kind. It is mentioned by name as early as 1634, in a petition of the Corporation to the Privy Council. 1 It is there called the "Roundhead near Tyburn," and in a reply from the Council 2 " the Round Head in Oxelees near Paddington." An essay in the Gentleman s Magazine for April, 1798, gives a minute description of it — as a building — but what the essayist says as to its situation — " in the fields, nearly equidistant from 1 " Remembrancia " Index, p. 559, vii. m. 2 Ibid., vi. 116. 282 ll (' 9J i ffl, VHesa A. S. Foord fecit. ^^- i BAYSWATER CONDUIT. From the engraving of 1798 in the Guildhall Library. To lace p. 282 Conduits Without the City Paddington Church and the tea gardens, which were formerly the botanic gardens of Sir John Hill " — conveys no very clear idea on that point. Of the building and its surroundings several views are extant, drawn with more or less fidelity to the original, if the most careful drawing — that of 1798 1 — be accepted as a guide. Matthews has a lithograph plate of it in his " Hydraulia." Another view of it is preserved in the Crace Collection, two are in the Guildhall Library, and no less than four in the Gardner Collection. The dates of these extend between the years 1796 and 1820, and they all represent a circular building with a conical roof surmounted by a ball. The walls are built of large blocks of stone, fastened together with iron cramps to the brickwork with which they were lined. In the roof the stones overlap like tiles, and there are four small gables with lancet lights ; there is one door under a pointed arch, and over this is a panel with the inscription, which appears in a print of 1796 as Rep. Anno 1632. Another panel on the south side bears the City Arms, and the date 1782. Its height was about 20 feet. The water issued from the interior through a wooden pipe at the very moderate rate of 30 gallons an hour. Taking its course under Bayswater Bridge into Kensington Gardens, it supplied the Palace. Lysons, 2 who only refers briefly to this conduit, not being so much concerned with London as with its environs, says : " The water-wheel at Hyde-park wall, near Knightsbridge Chapel, 3 was 1 This is an engraving in Lysons' " Environs of London," 1795, published August 10, 1798, by N. Smith (Guildhall Library). 2 " Environs of London," 1795, iii. 331. 3 Stood on the north side of the main road, a little to the eastward of Albert Gate. Built 1789. 283 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London made for the conveyance of this water." He also mentions that the water from the same conduit, " being conveyed by brick drains, supplies the houses in and about Bond Street, which stand upon the City lands." In 1835 William Matthews l wrote with reference to this conduit : " Great as was the solicitude and interest formerly excited by the various conduits, at present scarcely any traces remain to indicate the precise places whence the water was derived that flowed into them. That at Paddington, however, which was the first constructed, still exists, though probably not in its original form, but at a recent period it afforded a plentiful supply to some houses in Oxford Street. The conduit-head, or spring, is situate in a garden about half a mile to the west of the Edgeware Road, and the same distance from Bayswater, within two or three hundred yards of the Grand Junction Water Company's reservoirs. It is covered by a circular building in good condition." There is an article in the Saturday Magazine for May 18, 1844, on the Old London Conduits, the information in which is acknowledged by the writer to be chiefly derived from Matthews' " Hydraulia." Speaking of the Roundhead Conduit, he says : "The sources of the various conduits of London, formerly kept with so much care, have for the most part entirely disappeared. That at Paddington, however, still exists, though probably not in its original form." The words of the last sentence are precisely those used by Matthews, so that Walford and others seem hardly justified in assuming therefrom that the Roundhead existed in 1844, nine years after Matthews wrote. 1 " Hydraulia," p. 22. 284 Conduits Without the City But however this may be, it at all events survived far into the nineteenth century. The Builder for September 4, 1875, contains an interesting reminiscence of the building (reprinted from the Daily News) communicated by a Mr. George Musgrave, M.A., who writes : " I am old enough to remember the stone-built conduit-house, from which Conduit passage and Spring Street, Paddington, derive their designation. It stood in a meadow described in an old document in my possession as situate between Paddington Church (close to the Vestry Hall) and the north side of Kensington Gardens ; but it will be more correctly pointed out by my stating that it stood on a slanting grassy bank about 100 feet I distant from No. 4, Craven Hill, at the back of the line of dwelling-houses bearing that name. . . . I drank of the little rivulet in 1804, and recollect per- fectly the haystack-shaped monument (sic) overshadow- ing the stone pipe from which it issued, the security of which was threatened by the roots of a very old pollard elm. When the Craven Hill Estate was parcelled out for building purposes this stone conduit-house was pulled down." The vexed question of the site is ably discussed in a paper entitled " London's First Conduit System," by Mr. A. Morley Davies, F.G.S. 2 In the section in which he deals with the evidence afforded by maps and plans, he points out that although it might be thought that with their aid there would be no 1 Walford ("Old and New London," v. 183), quoting from the same, has it, " about a hundred yards." 3 Transactions London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, N.S., vol. 2, pp. 9-59 (1907). 285 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London difficulty in fixing upon the precise site of the Round- head, yet this is far from being the case. The plan of 1 746 * in the Crace Collection — to the large scale of about 43 inches to the mile — which is the most detailed of any of the plans relating to the con- duits, and the earliest which includes those of Paddington, " may," he says, " perhaps be accurate as regards the measurements from point to point along the line of pipes, but the field boundaries and roads crossed can only have been sketched in the roughest way." While the exact site is, Mr. Davies considers, still an unsettled question, "the most prob- able site of the Roundhead seems to be on the north-western side of the street now called Craven Road, but originally named Conduit Street, some- where near its intersection of Westbourne Terrace (built 1847-52), or possibly a little nearer to Pad- dington Station. This agrees with what may be an indication of the Roundhead on a map of 1824 (Crace Collection, xiv. 4). On no later map can I find any indication of it." The evidence that the Roundhead Conduit belonged to the Westminster system is contained, as pointed out by Colonel Prideaux, in an entry in the Patent Rolls, dated March 1, 1439, 18th Henry VI., in which the Abbot of Westminster granted a head of water, " in quodam clauso vocato Oxlese infra Terram et Procinctum Manerii nostri de Padyngton." 2 1 It is entitled " A Plan of the Drains, Openings, Conduits, Pipes, &c., from the Spring Head at Paddington to the Receipt Conduit," and bears the note — " This Plan was copied from an original Plan drawn by John Rowley for Geo. Dance, December 18, 1746." 2 The grant then confers the right " to erect all necessary 286 Conduits Without the City From the plan of 1746 it appears that the conduit was divided into two branches at the spot where is now Stanhope Place, Connaught Square. One of these branches was carried through Hyde Park, and a surviving witness of it still exists in the shape of the little square conduit-house standing just within the palings of the Park where the buildings of Knightsbridge begin. The main branch, as it may be termed, from the starting-point at the Roundhead Conduit, of "two lead pipes, three inches diameter," ran to Tyburn in a nearly straight line, through enclosed fields. The distance, according to the scale on the plan, is about 3,900 feet. At about 1,500 feet from the Roundhead a "long drain" (for so it is called) begins, and extends past Tyburn, obliquely crossing the main road — Oxford or Tyburn Road — close by the gallows (portrayed on the plan) under the north-east corner of " Hide Park," continuing its course along the south side of Oxford Road (now Oxford Street) to about the site of Park Street, where the drain ends at "Oliver Cromwell's Conduit." The pipes continue past " Ann Wood's Conduit," by the end of North Audley Street, to a point just east of a bridge, and then turn abruptly south-eastwards, when the plan ends. A little further east on the same plan is a large " Receipt l Conduit," opposite the end of Marylebone Lane. cisterns," &c, the inference being that the Roundhead was probably erected about this time, in the fifteenth century. 1 The word " receipt," as a receptacle for water, was in use in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. It occurs — spelt receyte — on a Plan of Charterhouse Waterworks, c. 15 12 (Archcvologia, lviii., 1902). Bacon uses the word in the same sense in his essay on Gardens (1625). 287 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London The route from Paddington to Marylebone is thus clearly marked out on the 1746 plan, but as no map or plan is known on which the course of the conduit pipes between Marylebone and the City is shown, we have to fall back upon the well-known statement of Stow, who makes it quite clear that the direction taken by the watercourse from Paddington was by way of Charing Cross, the Strand, and Fleet Street, and not via Bloomsbury and Holborn : " The water course from Paddington to James Head hath 510 rods ; from James Head on the hill to Mewsgate 102 rods ; from the Mewsgate to the Crosse in Cheape 484 rods." l The position of James Head is worked out by Mr. Davies from measurements on the maps, and by other deductions, as about where the present St. James's Church stands. " James Head on the hill " seems to him to denote " a fountain-head or spring on the hill above St. James's Hospital (afterwards St. James's Palace), and the site indicated comes just where springs were likely to exist on the margin of the higher terrace of gravel." From James Head the pipes kept for some distance along the edge of the hill, and then turned at right angles down the slope to the Mews. The pipes of the Paddington Springs followed the course of the earlier pipes from Marylebone to the City, the latter passing through " Conduit Mead." 2 The route from 1 Taking the rod at 19 feet, this is 3,065 yards 1 foot. Mr. Davies gives the distance from Charing Cross to the site of the Great Conduit in Cheapside as 556 perches (or 3,058 yards), which is a fairly close approximation to Stow's measurement. 2 The name " Conduit Mead " occurs as far back as 1536. Among the lands exchanged between King Henry VIII. and the Abbot of Westminster is mentioned u a close called Brickclose 288 Conduits Without the City the Mews, near which was a separall r " made against the Chappell of Rounsevall 2 by Charing Crosse," was along the Strand and Fleet Street and up Lud- gate Hill. The pipes must, however, have been carried well to the north of the Strand and Fleet Street, or there would not have been a sufficient pressure to carry the water up the rise on the other side of the Fleet. There were then belonging to the Western System two distinct sources or spring-heads, namely : i. The original spring from which water was first brought to the City from without its walls in 1236, situated on what is now known as the Stratford Place site ; additional springs on or adjacent to the same site being impounded in 1355. 2. The Paddington Springs — first granted to the City in 1439, the works necessary to bring their water to the City not being completed until 1471. The pipes followed the course of the earlier pipes from Marylebone to the City. Both Strype and Maitland state that in 1703 the City leased the Marylebone conduits to Richard in the same parish [of St. Martin] between the Close belonging to Eybery [the region of Grosvenor Square] on the west and north and Condet Mede on the east" (State Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xi. (2), 84). The estate is still the freehold property of the City Corporation and forms the site of New Bond Street and Brook Street. 1 Probably a settling-tank, in which the heavier suspended matter is collected for ultimate removal. 2 St. Marie Rouncivall. Founded by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, in 1222, suppressed as an alien priory after 1432 (Cals. Pat. Rolls, Henry VI., ii. 247), and revived for a fraternity in 1476 (" Mon. Angl.," vi. 677 ; Cals. Pat. Rolls, Edward IV., ii. 542). It was on the site of the present Northumberland Avenue. 289 T Springs, Streams, and Spas of London Soams (or Soame), a citizen and goldsmith, for a period of forty-three years at a rent of £700 per annum. In 181 2 the whole Paddington Conduit System passed out of the hands of the City, being conveyed for the sum of ,£2,500 to the Bishop of London and the Trustees who held the Paddington Estate on lease, and were at that time developing it for resi- dential purposes by virtue of a private Act of Parlia- ment (52 Geo. III. cap. cxciii.). An interesting monograph by Mr. Philip Norman, published in Archceologia in 1899, describes in detail an ancient conduit-head existing in Queen Square, Bloomsbury, which, from the evidence of documents, shows it to have been one of the two sources whence the Franciscan monastery of the Grey Friars (or Friars Minor) drew their supplies of pure water. The register of this great religious establishment is preserved among the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum, and there is in it a detailed account of its system of water-supply. Guided by this topographical description of the conduit, Mr. Norman was enabled to trace the course of the water- pipes ; this, he says, was " under Newgate, close to St. Sepulchre's churchyard, crossing the Fleet River or Hole-Bourne at Holebourne Bridge ; up Leather Lane, then a mere track, and thence to the north-west into the open country, till on the land of Thomas de Basynges the nearer conduit-head was reached, whence was drawn the chief water-supply, and finally the little stone house beyond, which en- closes the more distant head." In the year 1893 Mr. Norman, in company with three other gentlemen, 290 Conduits Without the City- two of whom were architects, examined a remarkable tank or well-head in a garden at the back of a house, No. 20, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, which stands immediately north of a passage now called Queen Square Place, but formerly Brunswick Court, so marked on Rocque's map of 1746. The house is rather more than half a mile to the north-west of Leather Lane, Holborn. The masonry forming the structure of the well-head was pronounced by Mr. Norman's companions to be at least as old as the fourteenth, and very probably of the thirteenth, century. The descent to the tank — in plan a square of from 11 to 12 feet — is made by modern steps down to the level of the first arch forming the entrance to the mediaeval structure ; thence a straight flight of steps spanned by other arches leads to the tank below. The smaller well or tank (for there were two) may have indicated the site of a spring which still supplies the conduit-head. The whole structure is shown on a plan which accompanies the paper. An examination which Mr. Norman made of the records at Christ's Hospital cleared up all doubtful points as to the identity of the conduit traced by him with that described in the register of the monastery, the passage from which containing the topographical account of the water system he retranslated. From evidence subsequently accumulated Mr. Norman was able to prove beyond a doubt that this structure is in fact the remoter conduit-head specified in the above account. The reports of the committee meetings of the Hospital, Mr. Norman observes, not only showed conclusively that the structure in Queen Square had 291 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London formed part of the Grey Friars water system, but also threw a useful light on the later history of the old London conduits. The first Minute bearing on this subject, besides mentioning the conduit-head then in use and therein called the "Chimney Conduit," also refers to a " White Conduit " not far off. The date of the entry is 1661, when Christ's Hospital must already have been getting part of its supply from the New River, for at Michaelmas, 1665, a lease of the " river water " expired, and shortly afterwards the Governors resolved to renew it. In May, 1720, a letter is read at a committee meeting from " Nathaniel Curzon, Esquire (ancestor of Lord Scarsdale), about the Chimney Conduit, alias Devil's Conduit, in Red Lion Fields belonging to the Hospitall." He desires leave to take down the chimney, and instead thereof to place an image on a pedestal of stone with an air- hole at the top. This was agreed to. The site of the Devil's Conduit exactly corresponds with that of the well at back of No. 20, Queen Square, and if this supplied the Hospital it supplied the Monastery also. At what time the Chimney or Devil's Conduit fell into disuse does not appear from the Minutes. The " White Conduit," which Mr. Norman identifies with the "nearest head," as it is called in the monastic register, seems to have lingered on till November 9, 1739, when, according to Minutes, it seems to have been last viewed by the Hospital authorities. A seventeenth - century conduit, a square brick building, originally faced with cement, of which but little now remains, and having a stone roof, is still standing just within the Park railings, a short distance west of Hyde Park Corner, near where the houses 292 f: c* : ^v. -■■ ■ < f - CONDUIT HOUSE IN HYDE PARK. From an original drawing by the author. To face p. 292. Conduits Without the City begin. It is described as the " Receiving Conduit called the Standard" on a plan in the King's Collection at the British Museum, called "A Survey of the Con- duits, &c, to Whitehall, St. James's, &c, in 17 18," and various springs or " heads " in Hyde Park are shown to be connected with it. 1 There are no windows as in the Bayswater conduit : in the interior are four recessed round-headed arches, with chamfered edges. The building is 11 feet square, the height 22 feet, and the cubical contents of the iron tank 144 feet, equal to about 900 gallons. The entrance is by a door two steps below the ground-level ; a stone tablet above it is inscribed with the initials "G.R." and the date " 1820," when doubtless the building underwent some repairs. It has been long disused, and the tank had no water in it when the writer saw it in October, 1908. A much larger Conduit House is that in Greenwich Park, called the Standard, and as Greenwich is well within the scope of this book a short account may be useful, if only for the purpose of comparison. Its position is on the side of the Park opposite Croom's Hill, about 320 yards from St. Mary's Gate entrance. It is probably a late eighteenth-century building — of red brick and red-tiled roof — and the reservoir supplied Greenwich Hospital. Its use was discon- tinued early in 1903. The cubical contents of the tank is 1,51 1\ feet, equal to 9,426 gallons. 2 There 1 The reservoirs in Hyde Park and the Green Park were supplied by pipes from the Chelsea Waterworks. There was a conduit on the north side of the Serpentine River, of which there is a drawing in the Crace Collection, dated 1796. (Cat., p. 241, No. 26). 2 From information privately communicated to the writer by Mr. A. Souza, Park Superintendent of Greenwich Park (1908). 293 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London was formerly another Conduit - house in the Park, which is figured by Walford (" Old and New London," new edition, vol. vi. p. 168) as it appeared in 1835 ; this one was abolished many years ago. Two " Park Conduits," probably identical with the above, are mentioned in Hasted's "History of Kent" * as being connected with others outside the Park. In a plan facing page 42 in that work, entitled " A Survey of the King's Lordship or Manor of East Greenwich," a.d. 1695, 7 tn William III., five conduits are marked in different parts of the Park. A road running parallel with Croom's Hill is called in the plan "Conduit Walk"; here are two of the conduits, 2 the remaining three are on the east side of the Observatory. Besides the conduits, there are several underground passages in the Park, running in different directions, many of them intended for the conveyance of water ; one leads from beside the Standard Reservoir to near the drinking-fountain at the top of Hyde Vale ; another runs from the hollow ground by Queen Elizabeth's Oak towards Vanbrugh Castle ; while a third passes beneath One Tree Hill, a branch from which goes in the direction of Maze Hill House. 1 Edited by H. H. Drake — continued by Streatfield and Larking, "The Hundred of Blackheath," 1886. 2 In a book entitled "An Account of the Legacies, Gifts, Rents, &c, appertaining to the Church and Poor of the parish of East Greenwich," by John Kimbell, 1816, the two conduits on the west side of the Park, both of which conveyed water to the Old Palace, are named respectively "The Standard Conduit " and " The Standard " ; the position of the latter on the plan seems to coincide very nearly with that of the Standard Reservoir still existing. 294 Conduits Without the City Some of these passages must be of ancient date, for "on 3rd February, 1434, King Henry VI. granted to his uncle Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, and Eleanor, his wife, permission to construct a subter- ranean aqueduct between the house he was building (now the site of the Royal Observatory) and a certain fount in Greenwich called Stockwell (or ' Common Well ' as it was termed in early parish deeds) outside the King's highway, which led between the Duke's garden and the Park, and confirmed the same to the Duke and his heirs for ever." Mr. A. D. Webster, a former Superintendent of Greenwich Park, in a book on the subject published by him in 1902, speaks of the elaborate construction of these remarkable passages ; that which originates near the Standard Reservoir, in which two persons can walk side by side without stooping, is 6 feet high and 4 feet wide, is beautifully built of brick, the floor also being paved, while it is ventilated by three shafts, each 6 feet in diameter, which pass to the ground- level above, a distance of between 30 and 40 feet. There is an entrance to this passage on the piece of waste ground between the Ursuline Convent and Hyde Vale, down a flight of wide brick-built steps and well-formed arch-work, with a wooden door, 6 feet high at entrance. Sir Christopher Wren, about 1700, repaired the underground passages or conduits, and added water- pipes to two at least. Several of the conduits were abandoned in 1732, and the sale of water to the public then ceased. The method of conveying water in wooden pipes was brought into use after the New River works were 295 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London opened, and it seems to have lasted till about the middle of the eighteenth century. In populous centres wood was, however, not the only material used for conduit pipes ; stone and brick were some- times employed. A correspondent in the Times of the 25th of April, 1896, noticed that in excavating the road in Bond Street for some purpose, the labourers had turned up some Bath-stone pipes, drilled out of the solid stone. For special purposes the Romans introduced cast-lead pipes ; fragments of these have been found in London, and some may be seen in the Guildhall Museum, where they are referred to the Romano- British period. Others, which belong- to the seventeenth century, are of red brick, cylindrical in form, and with a projecting ridge at the mouth ; it is suggested that these objects may have been spouts to conduits. Within the nineteenth century cast iron became general in the case of large towns. In London the first iron main was laid by the Chelsea Water Company in 1746. It was a 12-inch main, and cost ,£2,740. In a volume of pamphlets in the Guildhall Library, there is a description by Mr. F. W. Reader 1 of two drawings of the neighbourhood of Clerkenwell with the lines of wooden water-mains exposed to view. Both are taken from about the same spot, which is on the course of the Fleet River, at this time — circa 1800 — an open stream as far as Holborn. The locality is that traversed by the King's Cross Road, formerly the Bagnigge Wells Road. One view shows the mains, four rows lying side by side, crossing the Fleet over 1 "Wooden Water-pipes at Clerkenwell," F. W. Reader, 1904. (Reprinted from the Essex Naturalist, vol. xiii. pp. 272-274.) 296 Conduits Without the City an arch in the Spa Fields, and stretching to the New River Head by Sadler's Wells. A street of houses seen in the distance is Exmouth Street, then occupied by well-to-do people. The dome of Spa Fields Chapel, once famous in connection with the Countess of Huntingdon, is seen over the tops of the houses. The Bagnigge Wells Road is seen crossing the picture from left to right in the middle-distance, marked by a line of fence. The second view is from nearly the same point, about where the present Calthorpe Street is, not far from Rowton Mansions, the spectator looking towards King's Cross. The trees of Bagnigge Wells, at this period a flourishing pleasure-garden, and through which wandered the stream of the Fleet, are on the left of the picture. In the foreground the water is seen spurting from defective joints in some of the pipes. These drawings are said to have been made for Sir John Soane, not on account of their topographical interest, but for the purpose of showing the defective system of the New River mains by the employment of wooden pipes. 1 Matthews (" Hydraulia," 1835, p. 75) descants on the advantage of leaving the pipes exposed as shown in the drawings, and he comes to the conclusion that upon the whole that method was more economical than covering them up, as this involved at times a great expenditure of time and labour in having to excavate them in order to find a leakage. Instances 1 Wooden pipes, commonly of 7 inches diameter, cost in 1 82 1 about 8s. a yard. The life of a wooden pipe has been variously estimated at from two to fifteen years, dependant on the soil in which it was laid. 297 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London occurred of 200 or 300 yards of a street being taken up and several days elapsing before the workmen could discover a defect. Interest in the old conduits is revived from time to time by the unearthing of these wooden water- pipes, of which 400 miles are said to have been laid in London ; and as it was not worth the expense to take them up when they came to be replaced by metal pipes, there must be many scores of miles of them still underground. The pipes were equally common in the East as well as in the West End of London ; some were found while excavations were being carried on in connection with the Whitechapel to Bow Railway extension, opened for traffic in 1902 ; several hollowed tree-trunks were turned up which were precisely similar in character to those which have at various times been brought to light in Bond Street and its neighbourhood. In the Guildhall Museum there is a specimen of a wooden water-pipe, 5I feet in length. The thick end of the tree-trunk has been hollowed out to 9 inches diameter to receive another pipe ; the thin end, with a bore of 6 inches, is tapered for insertion into the next length of pipe. In the same Museum is the front of a City conduit, from the corner of South Moulton Street, Oxford Street. The stone face measures 52x42^x15^ inches; the centre has an orifice in which was fixed the spout, or tap, and the City Arms are carved upon it, with the date 1627 above them. Other examples of the old wooden water-pipes are to be seen in the Museum of the Royal Botanic Society, Regent's Park. Every few years one of the walled-up cisterns is discovered 298 Conduits Without the City under the foundations of old houses. A stone used to mark the site of one near the point at which Marylebone Lane crosses Wigmore Street; another was found at the top of North Audley Street in 1875, and the cisterns under the Banqueting House, which once stood on part of the site of Stratford Place, are said yet to exist in dark oblivion. The use of tree-trunks for water-pipes is still common in the wooded mountain districts of Europe ; and in the Western States of America bordering on the Pacific there are miles of pipes made for carrying water to various towns, and also for irrigation and sewer purposes. They vary in diameter from 8 inches to as much as 10 feet, and are made from the famous Californian redwood-tree. Notwithstanding the numbers of conduits erected at different times in various parts of London, as well as the other modes adopted for supplying water to its inhabitants, the quantity proved inadequate to the demands of a constantly increasing population. In this exigency the invention of Peter Morice, 1 a Dutchman or Fleming, but a free-denizen of London, in the service of Sir Christopher Hatton, marked an important step in advance. Morice's was the first mechanical contrivance is this country for impelling water in an ascending direction, and thus supplying places much higher than the ordinary water-level. Stow calls it "a most artificial forcier" : it was, in fact, a plunger or force-pump. The earliest writer to mention Morice and his scheme is Abraham Fleming, one of the continuators of Holinshed's " Chronicles " 1 The name appears also as Morryce, Moryce, Morris, and Moris. 299 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London (circa 1587). On the condition of Morice paying 10s. annually, the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty granted him a lease, dated May 30, 1581, for a term of five hundred years, by which he was authorised to erect an engine within the first arch of London Bridge. The Thames water, which was conveyed hence in pipes of lead, was at the City's expense brought up to a Standard erected at the north-west corner of Leaden- hall, and supplied the eastern part of the City. Two years afterwards, his invention proving of the greatest benefit to the City, the Corporation granted him the use of a second arch for the same term. In the mean- time — in 1582 — Bernard Randolph, Common Serjeant of the City, agreed to advance money (Stow says the amount was ^700) as a charitable gift " towards bringing water out of the Thames, by an engine to be constructed by Peter Morice, from London Bridge to Old Fish Street, in like manner as he had already brought the water to Leadenhall," to supply the private houses of the citizens. This offer had been approved by the Court of Aldermen, and licensed by the Common Council, inasmuch as the work " would profit the whole City, and be no hindrance to the poor water-bearers, who would still have as much work as they were able to perform, so far as the water of the Conduits would satisfy." But before this work of private benevolence was contemplated the Cor- poration had granted the lease to Morice for his water-wheels at London Bridge. Some time in 1580 a kind of preliminary agreement for the above-mentioned lease was made by the Mayor and Commonalty with Morice, but for some reason they hesitated to complete it, although they 300 Conduits Without the City had paid ^50 out of ^100 stipulated, and had provided land for the erection of engines. By reason of his employment under Sir Christopher Hatton, Morice was, however, in a position to bring pressure to bear upon the Corporation through his patron, who moved the Lords of the Council to take action in the matter. This they did by addressing a letter l to the Mayor requesting "to be certified as to the grounds of the City authorities in refusing to com- plete the agreement " : a somewhat high-handed method of procedure, but which seems to have had the desired effect, though, according to Stow, it was not until 1582 that the new water service came into actual operation. For a minute account of these London Bridge Waterworks we are indebted to a Mr. Henry Beighton, F.R.S., an engineer, whose description and illustration, with references to the parts of the machine, as it then existed, appeared in the Philo- sophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London for 1 73 1. The following summary, extracted there- from, gives the distinguishing features of the machine : — The pumps, which were ram pumps, similar in principle to those used in the present day, were driven by means of water-wheels actuated by the tide, whether flowing up or down. The plant beneath the arch nearest the City consisted of a water-wheel, having an axle 19 feet long and 3 feet in diameter, carrying 26 floats, each 14 feet long and 18 inches deep, these floats being secured to four felloes carried 1 " Remembrancia," p. 551. The letter is dated Nonsuch, July 5, 1580. 301 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London on eight spokes secured to the axle. The water-wheel axle was journalled in bearings carried upon two levers, one at each end of the wheel, the said levers being fulcrumed at the ends of their shorter arms in the wooden framing ; the ends of the long arms of the levers were supported by means of chains which were capable of being raised and lowered manually by means of winch mechanism, the object of this arrange- ment being to admit of the raising and lowering of the water-wheel in the river. Secured to the ends of the axle of the water-wheel were gear wheels, inter- meshing with pinions secured upon 4-throw crank- shafts, one at each end of the wheel. Each of the four crank-pins was connected by means of a connecting- rod to the end of a beam or lever, pivoted at its centre in the framework of the device, so that oscilla- tion of these levers or beams took place upon rotation of the water-wheel. Pivoted to each end of levers or beams were connecting-rods, which directly operated the ram pumps fixed beneath each end of the beams, and as there were four beams at each end of the wheel, each operating two pumps, the single wheel drove sixteen pumps (or forcers, as they were called). In the third arch of the bridge were fixed three more water-wheels, the first of which worked twelve pumps, eight at one end and four at the other ; the second in the middle worked eight pumps, and the third sixteen ; making a grand total of fifty-two pumps. These, when working under the best con- ditions, were designed to pump 123,120 gallons per hour, to a height of 120 feet, though this figure assumed no losses which might be due to leakage 303 Conduits Without the City of the valve, pistons, &c. The pumps were con- nected to a common delivery pipe of 7-inch bore for the supply of the houses. Mr. Beighton con- sidered the apparatus well designed and effective in working, and far superior to a similar apparatus at Marly in France. Although no description of Morice's original plant, which was destroyed in the Great Fire, seems to have come down to us, it is probable that the one described by Beighton was made after the same model, with perhaps some improvements in the details. In the Act for rebuilding the City in 1667 it was provided that his grandson, Thomas Morris (sic), should have power to rebuild with timber his water-house adjoining London Bridge for supplying the City with water, "as it for almost this hundred years hath done (18 & 19 Charles II. c. 8, s. 39). The property in the Waterworks remained in the possession of Morice's descendants and heirs for many years until, finding the profits diminishing, Thomas and John Morris, surviving representatives of the original grantee, sold their rights in 1703 to Richard Soame (or Soams), citizen and goldsmith, and others, for ,£38,000. These persons procured from the Corporation the use of another (the fourth) arch of London Bridge ; paid £"300 fine to the City for the transfer of the lease, and turned the whole property into a company of three hundred shares at ^500 each for working and developing the Waterworks. The City conduits still remaining were about this time leased to the pro- prietors of the Waterworks for £joo a year. When the company was dissolved in 1822 the shares had been increased to 1,500. 303 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London On the Surrey side of the Bridge, at Southwark, Thames water was chiefly used, which fell into a large pond in St. Mary Overies, driving a mill called St. Saviour's Mill. At a subsequent period, with the view of erecting additional water-wheels to increase the efficiency of their supply to the City, the proprietors of the London Bridge Works obtained from the Court of Common Council leases of the third and fifth arches ; that for the third arch in 1761, and for the fifth arch, on the Southwark side of the Bridge, called from that circumstance "The Borough Wheel," in 1767. There was a stipulation that if the licence should be found to be injurious to the navigation of the river, the City might revoke the grant. The supply of water from the London Bridge Works extended over a large portion of the Borough of Southwark. The drawbacks to the supply from these Works were the commonly turbid state of the water, 1 and nearly the whole of the pipes being of wood, they were unable to sustain the pressure necessary for raising the water into the higher stories of many houses. The wheels also were of wood till 1817, when iron wheels were substituted, which proved more effective, but in seasons when the tides were low the machinery was inefficient, and a steam engine had to be used to pump water from 3 point near the middle of the river. The Waterworks 1 The principal method relied upon in the present day for the purification of water-supplies — namely, the slow passage of water through filter-beds — was introduced for the first time on a large scale in 1828, for a portion of the London water-supply, and has not even yet been very generally adopted by some of the principal civilised communities of the world (Sanitary Engineering, L. F. Vernon- Harcourt, 1907). 304 Conduits Without the City continued in this state until they were assigned to the New River Company by an Act passed July 26, 1822, the third year of George IV., when ,£15,000 was paid for the unexpired period of the grant. With the building of the new bridge — 1825-31 — their final demolition was inevitable, those who had obtained their supply from them getting it from the New River and East London Works. Such is the history in brief of the first private undertaking on record which supplied water for private gain. But besides the London Bridge Works there were other projects brought forward, though few were carried to a successful issue. One of these is noticed by Stow (edition 1633), which was pro- pounded by one Russel "about the year 1580 odd," to bring water from Isle worth, viz., the river of Uxbridge {i.e., the Colne), to supply the north of London ; an ambitious scheme on paper, but which seems never to have got beyond that stage. In 1592 a request had been made by Lord Cobham to the Court of Aldermen for a quill of water from the conduit at Ludgate for use in " his house within the Blackfriars " ; meanwhile the Lord Mayor wrote suggesting that for the present nothing could be done, but that the City were in treaty with one Frederico Genibella (or Genebelli), an Italian engineer skilled in waterworks, for the erection of a wind- mill at the fountain-head to increase the supply. If this plan succeeded, the request might be granted. Evidently it did not succeed, for in 1594 we find the request again urged, and supported by a letter from the Lord Burghley. 1 In 1593 Beavis Bulmar, 1 " Remembrancia," p. 554. 305 U Springs, Streams, and Spas of London another foreigner, obtained a concession to set up an engine at Broken Wharf, a short distance from Blackfriars Bridge. The works were discontinued on account of the expense being greater in pro- portion to the supply to be charged for than that of other works. About half a century after this a Sir Edward Ford (in 1641) published "a designe for bringing a navigable river from Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, to St. Gyles in the Fields." In this tract are set forth the advantages of the proposed river over the existing New River. 306 CHAPTER IV THE NEW RIVER— ARTESIAN WELLS Hugh Myddelton and the New River — Appeals against its con- struction by landowners and others — Myddelton receives financial assistance from the King — And a loan from the Corporation of London — Opening ceremony on Michaelmas Day, 1613, described by Stow — Monopoly established to oblige consumers to use the New River Company's water — Great value of King's and Adventurers' shares — Transfer- ence of the New River Company's business to the Metropolitan Water Board — Artesian wells. WHILE these and other schemes were being formed and promoted with varying success, and generally with the primary object of meeting local needs, an undertaking, far wider in its scope, and which was destined to outlive all others, came into being. This was the New River, the making of which, for public usefulness, may be classed among the most notable achievements of that age. It was carried through, in the face of much antagonism, by the enterprise and public spirit of a goldsmith of London — but of Welsh extraction — Hugh Myddel- ton. 1 1 The name is spelt in different documents Middleton, Middelton, Mydelton, but he himself usually signed his name Myddelton. 307 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London London had far outgrown its existing means of water-supply, but although complaints had been re- peatedly made of deficiency, no definite steps were taken in the way of remedy until an Act of Parlia- ment was obtained in the year 1606 (3 Jac. c. 18) authorising the Corporation to bring "a fresh stream of running water to the north parts of London from the springs of Chadwell and Amwell, 1 and other springs in the County of Hertford, not far distant from the same." This water was intended to be brought within the City by a trench not broader than 10 feet throughout its entire length. But even with these powers nothing was done, except that upon "advised consideration" it was thought more con- venient that the water should be conveyed through a trunk or vault of brick or stone than in an open trench. There was a good deal of opposition to the Bill of 1606. A Captain Edmund Colthurst, who appears to have been employed by the Corporation to make plans for a supply of water from the Hertfordshire springs, claimed compensation for having acquired prior rights in this project. In March, 1608, Colthurst offered to carry out the works, but the Court of Aldermen were of opinion that he had not the necessary means, and therefore refused his application. Some recompense was probably made him. No long time passed before the Corporation, un- willing or lacking the courage to embark upon an 1 They were fine chalk-water springs in the valley of the Lea, issuing from the foot of the chalk hills. Chadwell was the upper and larger of the two, Amwell lying to the south of Ware. 303 The New River engineering work of unknown difficulty and expense, abandoned the powers confided to them, and thus a second private undertaking for the supply of London with water became firmly established. By deeds dated in 1609 and 161 1 they transferred these powers to Hugh Myddelton, who, as member of Parliament, had sat on Committees for the considera- tion of the water-supply of North London, which had familiarised him with the subject, declared himself ready to take up the formidable task, and to complete the work within four years. His offer was accepted, and the first sod of the proposed New River was turned on the 21st of April, 1609, the operations com- mencing at Chadwell, near Ware, the principal spring. At the very outset Myddelton's troubles began. The opposition of the landowners through whose estates the stream had to pass was so determined, that in the year 16 10 a Bill was brought into the House of Commons to repeal the New River Acts of 3 and 4 Jac. I. ; the petitioners objecting to the new works as destructive of their interests ; that " their meadows would be turned into bogs and quagmires," and arable land become " squalid " ; that their farms would be "mangled"; that the "cut "was no better than a ditch, dangerous alike to men and cattle. 1 But, de- spite all obstacles, Myddelton, with untiring energy, persevered in his undertaking, which progressed 1 The King himself had an unpleasant experience of this. While riding along its banks with Prince Charles in the winter of 1621-22, when the river was slightly frozen over, his horse stumbled and threw him into the water : the King's body dis- appeared under the ice, nothing but his boots remaining visible. He was quickly dragged out and took no harm from the mishap. 309 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London steadily ; the City, on his application, granting him an extension of five years, on the ground of difficulties interposed by occupiers and owners of the lands he required for the prosecution of his work. As might be expected, Myddelton's private purse was unequal to the constant drain upon it, and by the time the channel had been constructed as far as Enfield he found himself in straits for want of money. In this dilemma he applied to the King, with whom he had already had dealings as a jeweller. James, who had become interested in the works and their progress while at Theobalds, his hunting-lodge near Enfield, agreed to furnish one-half the outlay in bringing the New River to North London, and in distributing the water, on condition of receiving one moiety of the undertaking and of its annual profits. The Articles of Agreement between the King and Myddleton, which, however, precluded the former from taking any part in the management, were executed November 5, 161 1, and were confirmed by a Grant under the Great Seal on May 2nd of the year following. An abstract of the Grant from the original in the Public Record Office is given by Smiles in his "Lives of the Engineers" (pp. 1 16-17). In September, 16 14, the Corporation granted Myddel- ton a loan of .£3,000 for three years. With this money Myddleton was able to complete the works, and the water was let into the reservoir l at the New River 1 The reservoirs of the New River Company at the New River Head, Clerkenwell, varied in size — one consisted of about 2 acres, but the other three of about 1 acre each, the whole averaging in depth about 10 feet, and each one having a connection with the principal main. 310 The New River Head, in the parish of Clerkenwell, on Michaelmas Day, 1613, in the presence of Sir John Swinnerton, who was then Lord Mayor, and Thomas Myddelton, brother of Hugh, who was Lord Mayor-elect. Sir Hugh was knighted the same year, and made a baronet in 1622. There was also a great concourse of officials, workmen, and citizens. Stow, who records that he rode down divers times to see the works during their progress, gives a brief description of the opening ceremony, and a metrical speech com- posed for the occasion — in full. The shareholders were incorporated by letters patent on the 21st of June, 16 19, under the title of the "Governors and Company of the New River brought from Chadwell and Amwell to London." The government of the Corporation was vested in the twenty-nine Adventurers, who held amongst them the thirty-six shares originally belonging to Sir Hugh, who had by that time reduced his holding to only two shares. The New River, as originally con- structed, was a canal of 10 feet in width, and probably about 4 feet deep. It followed a very circuitous course, at various levels, of about 38! miles (but, as the crow flies, not more than 20 miles), with a slight fall, to Islington, where it discharged its water at the New River Head. The site of this had always been a pond, "an open idell poole," says Howes in his " Annales " (1631), "commonly called the ducking pond." Where the fall of the ground was found to be inconveniently steep a stop-gate (sluice) was introduced across the stream, penning from 3 to 4 feet perpendicularly, the water flow- ing over weirs down to the next level. In the 3ii Springs, Streams, and Spas of London opinion of Mr. Robert Mylne, one of the Company's engineers, the river, as originally constructed by Myddelton, obtained quite as large a supply of water from the grass-lands along the hillsides as from the Hertfordshire springs. The bridges over the river were about 160 in number, built mostly of timber, with a water-way under them, not exceeding 10 feet in width. Where roads had to pass under the stream it was carried in wooden troughs lined with lead, supported on arches. One of these troughs, or aqueducts, at Bush Hill, near Edmonton, was about 660 feet long and 5 feet deep. A brick arch also formed part of this aqueduct, under which flowed a stream which had its source in Enfield Chase, the arch sustaining the trough and the road alongside of it. This was considered one of the most important structures of the original New River works, and was said to have cost ^500. (Salmon, "History of Hertfordshire," 1728, p. 20.) There were other brick tunnels at Stoke Newington and Islington. The water, when it reached the City, was at first carried in pipes of wood, 1 and it was estimated by the Company's engineer that the waste by leakage from them, and by bursting under pressure, was about one-fourth of the total quantity of water supplied. 2 1 In the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1753 (vol. 23, p. 114), is a paper by Sir Christopher Wren, not published in his collected works, called "Thoughts concerning the Distribu- tion of the New River Water," in which he mentions the feeble flow in Soho and the higher parts of London, and suggests improvements ; but refers to it as " this noble aqueduct." 2 Down to 1805 the New River Company could not serve water above the ground floor in any part of London. All their 312 The New River Long accustomed to receive water without pay- ment, the citizens were naturally in no haste to take the New River supply into their houses. But in those days of monopolies there was little scruple in enforcing compliance ; unjust and arbitrary influence from high quarters was unblushingly exercised to check free competition and to oblige consumers to take water from favoured sources. Such influence was plainly shown in more than one instance, as in a proposal for new works at London Bridge for the supply of Southwark — which was prohibited ; and also in respect of intended works at Dowgate, certain brewers and others having applied for a lease of a water-house there belonging to the City, and to be allowed to lay pipes to convey any surplus water into their brew-houses without Cripple- gate. Although the City Lands Committee recom- mended that a lease should be granted, yet the Lords of the Council " deemed it expedient to require that stay should be made of any intended waterworks at Dowgate, the more so since the brewers could so conveniently be supplied from the new stream, which was of great consequence to His Majesty's service, and deserved all due encouragement." To such lengths did these prohibitions go when any pro- ceedings were taken which might be supposed to prejudice the New River Company. The following transaction will convey an idea of mains being of wood, the water was shut off at night to prevent waste, which was enormous. If a fire broke out it was necessary to send to the New River Head with instructions to turn on the water, and a watchman was kept to look out. (Committee of 1821 on Metropolitan Water Supply. Evidence of Mr. Myne, pp. 6, 8.) 313 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London the mode of charging for a supply of water at an early period. In 1616 Hugh Myddelton granted a lease l for twenty-one years to a citizen and his wife of a " pipe or quill of half an inch bore, for the service of their yarde and kitchine," by means of " tooe of the smallest swan-necked cockes," in consideration of the yearly sum of 26s. 8d. (Nelson's " History of St. Mary, Islington," 181.) It was a long time before there were any profits accruing to the shareholders of the New River Company; no dividend was paid until 1633 — twenty years from the date of opening. One of the privileges granted by the Charter of Incorporation to the Company was that the Adventurers should hold their property from the Crown in free and common socage, the effect of which was to make each pro- prietor's share a freehold estate. As the undertaking in its early days yielded no return, Charles I. re- granted his thirty-six shares (half the capital) to Sir Hugh Myddelton, in consideration of an annual pay- ment of ^500. This sum is still paid into the Exchequer, and attaches to the King's shares as a "clog" or charge. Mention is made of the Grant, which is dated November 15, 1631, in the Calendar of State Papers, 1631-33. After 1640 the Company's prosperity steadily increased ; by the end of the seventeenth century the dividend paid was at the rate of about ^200 per share ; at the end of the eighteenth century above ^500, and by the middle of the nineteenth century about ^850. Both King's and Adventurers' shares have been subjected to much 1 A copy of the lease is in Hughson's " History of London," vol. vi. p. 358 (1806-09). 314 The New River subdivision. Entick, writing in 1766, estimates the value of a share at that time, from a late sale, at £"8,000. At a sale by auction in London, in 1873, one quarter of a King's share was sold for ,£12,240, nearly £"49,000 for the whole share ; the income for the last year having been on this quarter share £448. In 1891 a xg-jyth part of a King's share was purchased for £"700; and on the 15th of November, 1893, in the open market, an undivided Adventurers' share fetched £"94,900. As regards the first cost of the New River works, the accidental destruction by fire in 1769 of the Company's early records makes it impossible to test the accuracy of the different estimates by comparison with them. Entick, who published his " History and Survey of London" in 1766, in a short notice of the New River, quotes Maitland word for word, merely saying, with reference to the cost : "He (Myddelton) began his work on the 20th February, 1608, and with great difficulty, art, and industry, and a prodigious expense (of, as it is recorded, no less than £"500,000) " — although he probably could have got the information at first hand from the Com- pany itself. Maitland (edition of 1760) does not mention the cost. Smiles, in his " Lives of the Engineers" (1861-62), bases his calculation of it upon the repayments out of the Royal Treasury for charges disbursed by Myddelton ; entries of these in the Pell records show that the payments made on the King's account were £8,609 14s. 6d., so that, adding the same sum for Myddelton's share, the total expenditure was £"17,219 19s. But this evidently does not include other initial outlays, 3i5 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London which run into high figures. A number of items of expenditure are mentioned in a circular dated February 27, 1812, issued by the New River Company to the occupiers of houses supplied with water by them, in which they allege that the forma- tion of their works in the time of the original projector, Hugh Myddelton, cost, "according to the best authorities, ,£500,000" — a very non-commital statement. In 1821 the Company furnished a Com- mittee of the House of Commons with an estimate of their capital expenditure, which included ,£369,600 " for original purchase of the springs of Chadwell and Amwell ; remuneration to millers upon the river of Lea ; purchase of land for formation of river ; excavation of ground ; levelling and puddling of banks ; timber and brick wharfing at various places on banks 80 miles long ; embankment of valleys, and tunnelling at five guineas a yard"; ,£15,700 for 157 brick, timber, and iron bridges; £"8,120 for 57 culverts; ;£6,ooo for "the purchase of 60 acres of land for reservoirs, ponds and head cisterns, and their construction, £"108,300. The total outlay down to 1820, including £32,000 paid for the York Buildings Waterworks, 1 was £"1,115,500." In more recent times the New River has enlarged its works, widening and otherwise improving the channel ; more capacious reservoirs have been con- structed, and a great additional supply of water has been obtained from the river Lea, and from numerous wells sunk in the chalk, through the 1 These works, situate at the bottom of Villiers Street, Strand, getting into financial difficulties, were conveyed to the New River Company in 1818. 316 The New River London Clay, &c, at Ware, Cheshunt, Hornsey, and elsewhere ; but the general course and site of the works are nearly the same as in the time of Myddelton. The New River Company was for many years the only Company by which water was supplied to London ; seven others were subsequently formed, the Chelsea Waterworks being the earliest in 1723 or 1724. With the advent of the water companies one might reasonably expect to find greatly improved conditions of water-supply, if not exactly ideal ones. This, however, was far from being the case. Mr. Jephson tells us in " The Sanitary Evolution of London" (1907) — among other interesting facts and figures — that the supply of water in the eighteen- fifties was not only very limited in quantity, but, with the exception of that supplied by one company, bad in quality. Moreover, the right of supplying this vital requirement, or, as it has been called, this " life-blood of cities," had been made over by Parliament to sundry private companies without taking any guarantee or security for a proper distribution to the people, or for the purity of the water, or the sufficiency of its supply. Although by the middle of the nineteenth century there was no portion of the metropolis into which the mains and pipes of some of the companies had not been carried, yet, as the companies were under no compulsion to supply it to all houses, large numbers, and particularly the poorer classes, received no supply. In the district supplied by the New River Company, containing about 900,000 persons, about one-third of the population were unsupplied ; and in 3i7 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London the much smaller area of the Southwark Company's district about 30,000 persons had no supply. Even in 1850 it was computed that 80,000 houses in London, inhabited by 640,000 persons, were un- supplied with water. A very large proportion of the people could only obtain water from stand-pipes erected in the courts or streets, and that only at intermittent periods and for a very short time in the day. The great shortage of company-supplied water compelled large numbers to have recourse to the pumps which still existed in considerable numbers in many parts of London, the water from which was drawn from shallow wells. In June, 1904, the undertakings of seven out of the eight companies passed to the Metropolitan Water Board (constituted 1902), which took over their debts, liabilities, &c, and a month later the business of the New River Company passed to the same authority, which now control the whole water- supply of London. The cost to the ratepayers of London of this huge transfer was not much less than ^"40,000,000. Artesian Wells. Many advantages were expected to have accrued to Londoners from the absorption of the old water companies, but these advantages, so confidently anticipated when the amalgamation was first mooted, have not been realised. On the contrary, the Water Board's charges under the new Metropolitan Water 318 Artesian Wells Board Charges Act (1907) are found to press very heavily upon large establishments, especially in the City proper, for there the rateable value on which the assessment is made is extremely high. In consequence of this the owners and occupiers of highly rated property, who are large users of water — in order to effect economy — now obtain their supplies by means of artesian wells. 1 As these wells have their origin below that zone which is affected by the changing superficial tempera- ture of the seasons, the water is of an even tempera- ture and, when drawn from deep-seated springs, of great purity and abundance ; it is therefore hardly a matter for wonder to find that most large buildings now being erected in the metropolis are provided with their own artesian wells. The principle on which artesian wells are made may be thus briefly stated. Let us suppose a geographical basin of greater or less extent, in which two impermeable layers (as of clay) enclose between them a permeable layer (as of gravel, sand, or lime- stone). The rain-water falling on that part of this porous layer which comes to the surface, and which is called the outcrop, will filter through it, and following the natural fall of the ground will collect in the hollow of the basin, whence it cannot escape owing to the impermeable strata above and below it. If, now, a vertical hole be sunk down to the water-bearing 1 One of the first artesian wells near London was bored in 1794, at Norland House, the site of which is now occupied by Norland Square, on the north-west of Holland House, Kensington (" Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures, " Div. I., footnote, p. 79). y 319 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London stratum, the water striving to regain its level will spout out to a height which depends on the difference between the levels of the outcrop and of the point at which the boring is made. 1 The conformation of the London Basin under and around the City seems to fulfil all these conditions. In an article headed "London Wells" in the Daily Telegraph of September 14, 1909, there is a table, by no means complete, but which gives the depth, and gallons yielded per hour, of some dozen of the principal artesian wells installed in London. The depth of these range from 300 to 500 feet, and the yield per hour is from 3,000 to 13,000 gallons. Still larger quantities, and from greater depths, are obtained from wells in France. The most famous artesian well is perhaps that of Grenelle, formerly a village, now forming a south-west quarter of Paris, which it supplies with water. The water is brought up from the gault at a depth of nearly 1,800 feet. It yields over 30,000 gallons an hour, the water rising with such force as to be propelled 32 feet above the surface. One at Tours jets 6 feet above-ground, and, rushing up with great energy, yields 237 gallons per minute (14,220 gallons per hour). But these are all outdone by some remarkably deep artesian wells which have been struck in various parts of Australia, especially in what is termed the main artesian area of that continent, which is of immense extent, forming an irregular triangle, and covering a large part of Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia. It is the 1 Ganot's " Physics," 13th edition, 1890, pp. 99, 100. 320 Artesian Wells largest artesian basin known in the world, except that of Dakota, in America. Some of the bores are of great depth : the Dolgelly bore, New South Wales, is 4,086 feet deep ; the outputs are even more extraordinary; one near Richmond, North Queens- land, with a depth of 841 feet, has an output of 1,500,000 gallons per day (or over 60,000 per hour) ; another bore in the same province yields 800,000 gallons per day. The deepest bore is at Bimerah in Queensland : it goes down 5,045 feet, or nearly a mile. The well which gives the greatest flow is that at Charleville, in the same state, which averages over 3,000,000 gallons per day. The cost of sinking artesian wells in London does not seem to be at all prohibitive, and when the ultimate saving is taken into consideration the capital expenditure usually proves to have been well laid out. At several places where wells have been sunk the cost is said not to exceed 3d. per 1,000 gallons, and even when compared with the old charge of the now defunct water companies, which was about 8d. per 1,000 gallons, this method of obtaining water is sufficiently economical to warrant the sinking of artesian wells. A leading firm of well-engineers in Southwark, who are responsible for many of the wells lately sunk, have stated that about twenty wells have recently been bored in the City and thirteen in the West End, while over one hundred have been put down in the metropolitan area. Most of this work has been done for large business establishments, such as banks, breweries, public baths, co-operative stores, hotels, and railway companies. 321 x APPENDIX APPENDIX SHALLOW OR SURFACE WELLS AND PUMPS OF LONDON. AMONG the Returns made by the parochial authorities to the Board of Trade in 1872, with reference to the supply of water in the metropolis, is one giving the name, position, and depth, where known, of every public surface well within the metropolis, specifying which of them had been permanently closed at that date. The list, which fills several pages, is too long to transcribe at length, but the notes here following include some of the principal public wells and pumps named in the Return, besides a few others which, for some unexplained reason, are omitted from it. Beginning with the East End. In the parish of St. George's- in-the-East, there were two public pumps, open in 1872, the date of the Return, viz., one in Wellclose Square, within the enclosure, and not accessible to the public, the other within the churchyard gates, of which the public were allowed the free use. In the district of Whitechapel four public wells were known to exist, all of which, when the Return was made, were on the point of being filled up. Many more in this part of London are scheduled, but they need not be specified here. Passing on then towards the City, one may read in Strype that " besides those waters brought into the City from abroad ; it affords abundance of excellent springs everywhere within itself, the waters whereof are much commended : particularly the pump at St. Martin's Outwich Church ; the pump near St. Antholin's Church (Watling Street) : the pump in St. Paul's Churchyard, the pump in Christ's 325 Appendix Hospital : at all which places, and others, are iron dishes hanging, for the use of strangers to drink in." » i While excavations were being made in Shoreditch in connection with the electric lighting installation (about the year 1897), an old well was disclosed, which, on measurements being taken, was found to be 20 feet deep and a yard in diameter, and to contain 7 feet of water. There were found in the well the elm-wood barrel and suction-pipe of a pump. Although unmistakably of ancient date, the brickwork was remarkably clean and perfect ; compact and mortared towards the top, but loose towards the bottom to allow the water to percolate into the well. The well was under the pathway in the High Street, two or three yards from the entrance to the Standard Theatre, close to the end of Holywell Lane, and in the district known as the Holywell Liberty. Unfortunately the well was filled in only three hours after its discovery, in order not to delay the work in hand ; so that no further investigations could be made. 2 In the Liberty of Norton Folgate, in the High Street opposite No. 32, there was formerly a well which had been under the control of the Board of Works for the Whitechapel District since 1855, but was closed by that Board about 1869 or 1870. Facing Aldgate 3 High Street, at the point where Leadenhall Street and Fenchurch Street meet, is Aldgate Pump. This old pump is a well-known landmark of the City, and must have been a very familiar object to the antiquary, John Stow, who for nearly thirty years was a working tailor in the neighbourhood of 1 Strype's " Stow," 1720, Bk. i. p. 27. 2 Extract from a newspaper cutting — undated — from Pen- nant's " London," 1805, vol. iii., in the Guildhall Library. 3 Aldgate is commonly supposed to be identical with Old Gate, but Mr. Loftie states that in a document in St. Paul's Cathedral, which must have been written before n 15, the name is spelt Alegate (Alegate = Allgate, i.e., gate for all, free of toll). The d was inserted from a mistaken notion, first by Stow, and after him by Dr. Stukeley, and the word was written Ealdgate, which is equivalent to Oldgate, not Aldgate. 326 Appendix Leaden Hall and Fenchurch Street : he alludes to it when he is describing Aldgate Ward, the principal street of which, he says, " beginneth at Aid Gate, stretching west to sometime a fayre well, where now a pumpe is placed." Aldgate Pump, more than any other, seems to have kept a firm hold upon the popular sentiment ; the origin of this may probably be traced back to the fifteenth century, when St. Michael's Well (so called from the neighbouring chapel of that name) occupied nearly the same spot. It is most likely that medicinal or holy virtues were claimed for the waters of St. Michael's Well. A pump was erected over the well probably about the latter part of the sixteenth century, when a row of houses on each side had formed a street. Previous to this, Fenchurch Street extended no further eastward than the grave- yard of St. Katherine Coleman, nor did Leadenhall Street extend further than Cree Lane. The space between the terminations of the two streets was occupied by mansions, with their court- yards and gardens. Some forty years ago (i.e., in the eighteen hundred and sixties) the pump was moved several feet further west, when the frontage of the property at the corner was set back to broaden the thoroughfare. The well of Aldgate was sunk in a spit of the gravel-bed extending northwards to Winchmore Hill. 1 Owing partly to the imaginary medicinal qualities of the water, and perhaps still more to its long-con- tinued use, the inhabitants resented, or at least obstructed, any proposals which were made for the removal of the pump. The continuance of its use by the public was, however, shown by chemical analysis to be attended with such grave risk to the public health that the well was in 1876 filled in, and a cistern below the ground connected with the New River supply sub- stituted. Thus, although the well is abolished, Aldgate Pump still exists. It is now enclosed in a stone casing of four sides, ornamented by bands of rustic work, and having a little gable roof : the spout is of bronze in the shape of a dog's head. 2 1 " Antiquities of the Ward of Aldgate," by S. T. Robinson and C. Humphreys, 1871 ; and u Some Notes on the Ward of Aldgate," by R. Kemp, 1904. 2 The previous structure, designed by Sir William Tite, had to make way, in 1870 or 1871, for the one described above (The Builder June 29, 1872.) 327 Appendix Some of the older maps and plans mark the well of St. Michael : the little pent-house which covered it is shown very distinctly in Agas's map. Views of the pump which succeeded it are not rare, but are of recent date. The Crace Collection contains a water-colour drawing of it by T. H. Shepherd — undated, but before 1853. r Besides the above, there were three other pumps in the Ward of Aldgate ; one at the corner of the Minories, opposite St. Botolph's Church. This one does not come into the 1872 Return, but some time before its publication the dismantling of the pump had begun by the removal of the handle and the breaking of the nozzle. In spite of repeated and costly attempts, no sample of the water from the surface well in connection with it was obtained. In the churchyard of St. Katherine Coleman, which is situated a little to the south of Fenchurch Street and east of Mark Lane, was a well of unknown depth, but believed to be very deep, and in all probability of ancient date, the site of the present church having been occupied by one of fifteenth-century age. Another well in Aldgate Ward, under 30 feet in depth, with a pump over it, stood opposite Church Row, Fenchurch Street, directly in front of the " East India Arms " public-house, and was open at the date of the Return. There used to be a mark on the kerbstone, showing where the pump stood. The immediate cause of its removal was owing to the main drain deep sewer having completely exhausted its supply. The pump is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1873-75. There was a well in Crutched Friars as far back as the sixteenth century. The Rev. Dr. Povah, in his " Annals of the Parish of St. Olave, Hart Street " (1904) gives an extract from the Burial Register, which bears this out. The entry runs thus : — " 1564, Aug. 9. Maister Gallierd dwelling over against the well not far from the Crochet Friars." The well here referred to was in the middle of the highway 1 "A draft (draught) on Aldgate Pump" was a mercantile phrase for a bad note (Fielding's Works), " Essay on the Character of Men," vol. viii. p. 172. 328 Appendix at the south or lower end of Jewry Street, which is a continua- tion of Crutched Friars z to Aldgate. Stow notices the same well or pump, when he describes the boundaries of the parish of St. Olave : " So returning againe, they goe up towards Aldgate on the east side, so far as directly against the signe of the Cocke, returning back on the west side, to the pumpe in Crochet Friars, and then to the place where they began." 2 The modern pump is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1873-75, on the west side of Crutched Friars, nearly opposite George Street. On the north side of the Tower glacis garden there was a well, 27 feet deep, with an iron pump over it, which, the Return states : " though now out of order, will shortly be repaired." This was of great use for the garden, and having a spout into Postern Row, was also a great convenience to the inhabitants in the vicinity. Replying to a recent inquiry made by the writer as to when the well was closed, &c, the Secretary of the Office of Works states, in a letter dated October 27, 1909 : " The Board have no definite information as to the antiquity of the well. The pump was put up by Phillips and Hopwood in 1801 (as inscribed on it) ; but it is not known when its use was discontinued." 3 It now (1909) stands at the top of the bank within the garden railings, in or near its original position. Drinking water is supplied from a small drinking-fountain in the gardens just below, and this is drawn from the mains. An engraving of the Mint in Hughson's " London" (1806-09, vol. ii.) brings in part of the Tower glacis overlooking the moat, and on the left of the picture is the pump. It is also marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1873-75. 1 Crutched Friars — so called after the building of the Great Monastery of the brethren of the holy cross ; Crouched or Crossed Friars, distinguished by the cross upon their dress. The street in the fourteenth century was known as Hart Street. a Stow's " Survey," Strype's, 1720, vol. i. Bk. 2, p. 41. 3 The removal of the houses known as Postern Row, between 1883 and 1887, was probably about the time that this pump ceased to be used. 329 Appendix The following description annexed to the Return applies to a well, 23 feet deep (open in 1872), in front of the doorway of St. Dunstan's Chambers, at the corner of St. Dunstan's Alley, in Idol Lane, near the Church of St. Dunstan's-in-the-East : " The soil is gravel, and at the bottom is placed chalk to the depth of one foot, which is occasionally taken out and cleaned. The water is considered so good that the fishermen from Billingsgate are in the habit of filling their casks with it to take to sea ; besides being much used in the neighbourhood." About the year 1873 there was a discussion in the vestry as to sinking an artesian well for the supply of water in place of the pump ; but it was found to be too costly, and the scheme was never carried out. 1 Subsequently the well was closed and the pump was moved to where it now stands in ±he churchyard of St. Dunstan, against the south wall of the church. It is cast in the shape of a fluted column and has the date 1818 inscribed on it. In Leadenhall Hides Market there was a well about 30 feet deep. It is thus referred to in the Return : " This well some years ago lost water owing, as is supposed, to the deepening of the sewers and the extensive excavations for the large buildings in the vicinity." A pump is marked on the Ordnance Survey map (1873-75) in the position mentioned above. In the Leaden Hall 2 proper was another well of the same depth as the last. " This well was sunk in the fifteenth century within the Hall, and subsequently a pump was put up in Half Moon Passage, but the water has in like manner gone, and the well is now out of use." 1 This information was obtained through the kindness of Mr. J. E. Shearman, M.A., Vestry Clerk of St. Dunstan's. 2 Stow says of Leaden Hall : "I read that in the year 1309 it belonged to Sir Hugh Nevill, Knight." The researches of Mr. Riley show that the Hall belonged to the City as early as 1320. It was converted into a granary, and probably a market, by Sir Simon Eyre (or, in mediaeval rolls, Symken Eyer), a draper, and Lord Mayor of London in 1445. The portion of the market in question, viz., the Leadenhall Street end, was rebuilt in 1881. 330 A.S. Foord fecit. PUMP IN CHURCHYARD OF ST. DUNSTAN-IN-THE-EAST. From an original sketch by the author (1909). To face p. 330. Appendix The setting up of a pump in Lime Street Ward is thus recounted by Stow : " In the year 1576, partly at the charges of the parish of St. Andrew (Undershaft), and partly at the charges of the Chamber of London, a water pumpe was raised in the high streete of Limestreete Warde {i.e., Leadenhall Street), near unto Limestreete Corner : for the placing of which pumpe . . . they were forced to dig more than two fadome. . . . Having set up the pumpe, with oft-repairing and great charges to the Parish (it) continued not four and twenty yeares, but being rotted, was taken up, and a new set in place, in the yeare 1600." x By the Church of St. Martin Outwich, formerly standing at the east corner of Threadneedle Street, facing Bishopsgate Street, there was an old well, of unknown depth, which was permanently closed about the year 1862. Its position is said by Stow to have been over against the east end of the church, and that it had two buckets so fastened that the drawing up of the one let down the other ; " but now of late turned into a pumpe. ,, The church was pulled down in 1874, and the site is now occupied by the head office of the Capital and Counties Bank. In Allen's " History of London " (1827-29) there is an en- graving of the pump in the position described by Stow ; it is a plain square structure, with a lamp on the top ; the date is 1794. Godwin and Britton's work on the " Churches of London " (1839) shows that this had been replaced by one of rather uncommon shape, which might have been copied from a classic model. In Bishopsgate Street Without there was also a pump, which stood on the edge of the pavement in front of the Church of St. Botolph. At the Bishopsgate Institute and Free Library there is a large, well executed engraving of the church, drawn and etched by A. P. Moore, and aquatinted by G. Hawkins, the date of publication being 1802. In this picture, the pump, being in deep shadow, cannot be made out very clearly. In another smaller and less pretentious print it is seen to be of the ordinary square shape, panelled on the sides, and with a drinking trough. 1 Stow's " Survey," text of 1603. Ed. by C. L. Kingsford, 1908, vol. i. p. 160. 331 Appendix No mention is made of this pump in the 1872 Return, but it is marked on the Ordnance Survey maps of 1873-75. It was in existence in 1878, as reference is made to it in a communication received by the Commissioners of Sewers, reported at their meeting of January 22nd in that year, from the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Asso- ciation, who proposed to remove the iron troughs from the pumps in Cornhill and Bishopsgate Street, and to provide granite troughs with self-acting apparatus for the supply of water, &c. (the City Press). It is probable that the well supplying the pump had been filled in before this time, in accordance with the recommendation of the Commissioners of Sewers addressed to all the ward and parochial authorities in 1875. A stand-pipe now indicates the spot where the pump formerly stood. On the west side of Gracechurch Street, in Bell Yard, there was a well, with a depth of about 30 feet. The pump over it stood in front of the Bell Tavern — an old house, having the date 1827 on a bell which is built into the wall of the house between the upper windows. The remarks in the Return are these: "The water from this well has recently (i.e., before 1872), been withdrawn from it because of some interference with the sewer in Gracechurch Street. The Ordnance Survey map of 1873-75 indicates the spot where the pump stood. A well was open in 1872 under the roadway of Cornhill, nearly midway between No. 24 and 27, about 30 feet in depth. " The well," the Return states, "in April, 1871, had about 14 feet of water in it, but later, i.e., in August and September of the same year, there were only about 3 feet of water in it, at which depth the water would not rise into the pipe." At the south-east corner of the Royal Exchange, standing on the edge of the kerb, with a granite drinking trough x in front of it, is Cornhill pump. It will repay a few moments' 1 These were formerly of iron, but about thirty years ago they were, in some cases, removed, and granite troughs with self-acting apparatus provided. 332 Appendix inspection. The case is an ornamental obelisk of iron, having at the bottom, but now hidden by the trough, the name « Nathaniel Wright, Architect " ; the founders being Messrs. Phillips and Hopwo'od— makers, it will be remembered, of the pump in the Tower gardens. The decorations consist of emblematical figures in relief, three of which are the badges of old-estab- lished Fire Offices, representing respectively the " Sun," the " Phcenix," and the " London Assurance." The fourth repre- sents the second Royal Exchange. The side which faces the roadway bears the following very interesting inscription : "On this spot a well was made, and a House of Correction 1 built thereon by Henry Wallis, 2 Mayor of London, in the year 1282." Further details are given on the side facing the pavement : " The well was discovered, and enlarged, and this pump erected in the year 1799, by the contributions of the Bank of England, the East India Company, the neighbouring Fire Offices, together with the Bankers and Traders of the Ward of Cornhill." The well had been laid open by a sinking of the pavement in front of the Royal Exchange, March 16, J 799- A correspondent of the City Press, of August, 21, 1875, writes : " I remember the time when the Cornhill;Pump was besieged by quite a little crowd of persons with cans, bottles, &c, to get some pure spring water." It may be doubted if this defi- nition was not too flattering, for even then the purity of some of the shallow- well waters of London had been called in question. The well and pump have been disused for some years past ; the water which fills the trough, so much enjoyed by the thirsty horses of passing vehicles, being derived from the New River Company's mains. The iron case of the pump remains, but deprived of handle and spout. The whole structure would be much the better for a coat of paint, which would not only improve its appearance, but would also tend to arrest decay. The pump is figured in Mr. Charles Welch's " Modern History of the City of London" (1896) : the reproduction apparently 1 From its fancied resemblance to a large cask standing on end, this building was nicknamed the Tonne (Tun). 9 In old documents the spelling is very varied—" le Galeys," " le Waleys," and " le Walies " ; showing the influence of the Norman- French language on surnames. 333 Appendix copied from a print in the Crace Collection (No. 1972), Rawle del. et sculp., 1800. There is also a photograph of it, as it appears to-day, in an entertaining little book of " Old London Memorials," by Mr. W. J. Roberts (1909). The handsome drinking fountain in the open space at the east end of the Royal Exchange, in front of the Peabody statue, was erected in 1878 by the authorities of Broad Street Ward to supply the place of the pump in Bartholomew Lane, the use of which was interdicted by the Commissioners of Sewers, on the recommendation of the Medical Officer of Health, in his report of 1875. The Bartholomew Lane site being too circumscribed, the Commissioners sanctioned the erection of the fountain at the northern end of Royal Exchange Avenue. The main por- tion of the fountain is of Penryn granite, and has four basins ; the canopy over the white marble group (sculptured by Mr. Dalon, of Chelsea), is of bronze. Mr. J. S. Edmeston was the architect, and the Drinking Fountain Association supplied the hydraulic work. A full-page engraving of this fountain occurs in the Builder of April 6, 1878. The pump in Bartholomew Lane was at one time much used by the people of the neighbourhood, who trusted implicitly in its water, as appears from a letter to the City Press of October 23^ 1875, which was only a short time before its removal. During the later years of its existence it was also used by the cabmen to water their horses. From its position in a side street, away from the main thoroughfare, it was never so important as those more centrally placed. Where the pump stood is a square pillar letter- box, and in front of it a stand-pipe for the use of the few horse- cabs on the rank ; placed there in 1877, at the request of occu- piers of premises in Bartholomew Lane and neighbourhood, in substitution of the water from the pump. The position of the " Guildhall " or " Corporation " pump was in Guildhall Buildings, between the Court of King's Bench (now the Lord Mayor's Court) and the Bankruptcy Court, which has been superseded by a large block of offices, built in 1890. The depth of the well was about 50 feet. It was not permanently closed in 1872, but the handle of the pump had been taken away, rendering it, of course, unusable. Not being among those reported upon by the Medical Officer in 1875, it had probably been already removed. 334 Appendix The Parish Pump of St. Michael Bassishaw ' stood on the foot- way opposite No. 18, Basinghall Street, by the Guildhall Library. It was placed there under a bequest of one John Bankes, who, in 1630, made an endowment of 13s. 4d. a year for keeping the pump in repair. The well beneath it was about 30 feet in depth. The pump was open in 1872, and was at that time enclosed in the hoardings around the buildings of the City Library, which was opened on November 5th of the same year. The pump was finally removed in 1876 by the parish authorities of St. Michael Bassishaw, at the request of the late Commissioners of Sewers, " as an obstruction and hindrance to the public going." 2 Against the Church of St. Olave, Jewry, which was situated on the west side of the Old Jewry, was a pump over a well of unknown depth. This had been closed before the Return was made. The old church (destroyed in the Great Fire) was named St. Olave, Upwell, from the presence of a well under the east end of the church, which was pulled down in 1888. The tower has been preserved and is used as the rectory house to St. Margaret, Lothbury. In Russia Row, Honey Lane Market, within the railings that enclosed the City of London School on the north side, was a well with a pump over it, which is understood to have been closed some years before 1872. Depth not known. The school, it may be noted, was removed to a site on the Victoria Embankment in 1882 ; the new school was opened in 1883, and the freehold building of the old school was sold privately in the same year. The site is occupied by Milk Street Buildings. The writer was recently informed by the secretary of the school that no record had been kept of the year in which the well was closed. The pump is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1873-75. In the churchyard of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, within the railings on the west side of the church, and having a pump over 1 The town residence of the Basing family, known as Basing's- haw, or hall, gave its name to the street. Solomon Basing was Mayor of London in 1216. The Bankruptcy Court was built in 1820 on the site of the old mansion. 2 These details were kindly furnished by Mr. P. W. Bicknell, of the Public Health Department, Guildhall. 335 Appendix it, was a well about 32 feet deep. The site is occupied by a pillar letter-box. There is no other well known of in this parish. In the vestry is a model of the church, designed and executed in wood, about seventy years ago, by John Watts, who was sexton of the church from 1835 to 1859. It was presented to the church by his son. The pump is shown in the model in the place it occupied close to the wall of the church. It also appears in a water-colour drawing of Bow Church, by G. Shepherd, 1812 (Crace Cat., No. 1850), which is reproduced in a history of the fabric by the Rev. A. W. Hutton, M.A., the present rector. After the pump had been condemned by the sanitary authori- ties, a drinking fountain was erected by Messrs. Copestake, Moore, Crampton and Co., of Bow Churchyard, on November 4, 1859, at the south-east corner of the church, next to Bow Lane. Describing the boundaries of Cripplegate Ward, Stow says, the ward l< runneth west to a pumpe where of old there was a fayre well with two buckets, at the south corner of Alderman burie Streete." The well is shown on Agas's map, at the meeting of the Old Jewry (which at that time was of greater extent), Milk Street, Lad Lane, and Aldermanbury. Strype defines Little Britain (which, according to Stow, took that name " of the Dukes of Brittany lodging there "), as coming out of Aldersgate Street by St. Botolph's Church and running west to a pump, where it opens into a broad street, and then as turning northwards to Duck Lane (Duke Street), where it has a passage to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. In the latter part of the seventeenth, and early part of the eighteenth century, Little Britain was much inhabited by booksellers, especially from the pump to Duck Lane, and at that time was a great emporium of learned authors. The shop of Edward Ballard (one of the last surviving booksellers of the eighteenth-century school), bearing the sign of the " Globe," stood over against the pump. Later still Washington Irving, wandering contemplatively in Little Britain, gives an admirable picture of that ancient mart of bibliopolists in his " Sketch Book." There seem to be no later references to this pump, though it would appear that one existed here down to the nineteenth century, but which has disappeared long since. No pump is marked hereabouts on the maps of the Ordnance Survey. 336 Appendix On the east side of Aldersgate Street was Fann's Alley, just without the Bars ; * the entrance, says Maitland (1739), " broad enough for carts, and but indifferently built and inhabited." The Alley thus referred to was in due time widened and improved by rebuilding, and became Fann Street. A peculiarity about this street is that its south side is in the City, while its north side is in the Borough of Finsbury ; the line of demarca- tion passing down the middle of the street. After much inquiry and record searching, the writer has been unsuccessful in fixing the exact position of the pump here, but if the memory of an old inhabitant of the district can be trusted, it stood at the Aldersgate Street end of Fann Street. This pump was one of the four reported upon by Dr. Saunders in 1875, which led to its being ultimately condemned and removed. For some time before this, however, the water was considered dangerous, and there was considerable difficulty in preventing children and others from pumping and drinking the water. As if to compensate the inhabitants for the loss of their pump, Mr. Alderman Besley, the Alderman of the Ward of Aldersgate, who died December 17, 1876, provided in his will for the setting up of two drinking fountains ; these, in the words of the testator, were "to be erected and placed flat against the two City boundary posts — at a cost not exceeding six hundred pounds." These two fountains are identical in design, and consist of obelisks built of grey granite and other coloured stones, each having a lamp on the top, and two basins. An inscription on them records the gift. In the parish of St. John, Clerkenwell, a well in Ray Street, with a pump near it, and connected with it, was open in 1856 and closed in 1857. It was 15 feet deep, and was called 11 Clerks' Well," being in fact one of the three wells mentioned by FitzStephen in his description of London in the twelfth century. In the Holborn district there were, besides others of less note, the following wells, all provided with pumps for raising the 1 " A pair of postes," as Stow calls them, which marked the City boundary in that direction. The name of Aldersgate Bars, by which they were known, long continued in use, and is marked on old plans of the Ward, but it is now obsolete. 337 Y Appendix water, viz. : In the centre of the crossing between Gloucester Street and Devonshire Street, a well 23 feet deep. In Gray's Inn Road, at the corner of Queen's Head Court, was another, 25 feet in depth ; and in Red Lion Square at the eastern end of the garden, which occupies the centre, was a well 20 feet deep. These are all marked on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1873-75. The parish of St. Clement Danes contained three public wells : One at New Inn l(which adjoins Clement's Inn) — depth, 25 feet ; another in front of Clement's Inn Hall — depth unknown ; the remarks upon this well in the Return are that there had been no water in it for eight years (i.e., since 1864). This was the far-famed " holy " well of St. Clement. A third was in the north-east corner of the churchyard of St. Clement Danes — of unknown depth, which, at the date of the Return (1872), had been closed for nearly twenty years, or about 1853 or 1854. I* * s marked on the Ordnance Survey maps of I873-5- Within the Liberty of the Rolls, there was formerly a well in Chancery Lane, between the houses numbered 89 and 90 re- spectively ; it was about 18 feet deep. The escape of gas from the mains having affected the water, the then Paving Board of the Rolls Liberty, about the year 1847, closed the well and had it filled up. At the same time they caused another well to be sunk in Breams Buildings, erecting a pump. This was open in 1872, and in use by the public, and was about 18 feet deep. It is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1873-75 on the north side of Breams Buildings, near St. Thomas's Church. In the precinct of the Savoy, on the east side of Savoy Street, at the back of No. 7, Lancaster Place, a well existed which was closed about the year 1869, on account of a threatened visitation of cholera. The pump is still (1909) in situ and bears this inscription upon it : " Repaired by the Commissioners for Paving Savoy Precinct, 1842. John Cochran, Chapel Warden." The pump is of cast iron, painted red, octagonal in shape, and the sides panelled by way of ornament. In parishes of St. Anne and St. James, Westminster, were several wells all permanently closed when the return was issued : 333 Appendix one in the former parish, opposite to the parish church in Dean Street, very deep, was closed about 1856. The pump in Great Dean's Yard, about 1870, was an unpre- tending iron structure, without ornamental details of any kind ; but happily for those who lived near it, and for St. Peter's College (better known as Westminster School), it was always ready with its best of spring water. But between the years 1870 and 1872 it ran dry. South of the Thames. There was a well on the north side of St. Thomas's Street, in front of St. Thomas's (old) Hospital. In Bermondsey. When the Return was made there were no wells in this parish open to the public and used for drinking. The only public wells in the parish, as far as could be ascer- tained, were at Valentine Place, Long Lane, Marigold Court, Star Corner, but these had all been closed many years. In the parish of St. George the Martyr, there were about thirteen wells, but these were closed by the Vestry since the passing of the Metropolis Management Act of 1855. In a report by Dr. W. Sedgwick Saunders (Medical Officer of Health) on some chemical analyses, which he had made, of the waters from the surface wells and pumps remaining in the City of London, and presented to the Commissioners of Sewers in 1875, he states that there were at that time only four pumps to which the public had free access in the City of London, namely, at Aldgate, Bartholomew Lane, Crutched Friars, and Fann Street. These were all that remained of the thirty-five public pumps which were in use in the City in 1866 (the year of cholera), some having been condemned by Dr. Saunders's pre- decessor, and closed by the local authorities, whilst others had become dry by the construction of the deep sewers and sub- ways, which utterly exhausted the sources of the supplies to the surface wells in connection with them. Some years later, in 1886, in the course of a discussion in the Commission of Sewers, on the water supply of the City, Dr. Saunders said that for the last twelve years no well had been closed of a greater depth than 30 feet. These wells had been practically closed by basements and the Underground Railway. Only a few words need be said here in reference to the results of the chemical examination to which Dr. Saunders submitted the water from the City pumps. A glance at the 339 Appendix table drawn up by him shows that the specimens taken from the four pumps above mentioned are polluted with albuminoid ammonia (most probably of organic origin), in poisonous quantities. The whole of Dr. Saunders's table of analyses is not given, but the extract below will be sufficient to show the marked contrast between the samples of good and bad waters. He explains that the variations noticed in the different samples of the same water depend upon the time passed between the drawing of the water from the well and its analysis, upon the state of the rain- fall, and upon other circumstances. Analyses of Waters from the City Pumps, from Samples Operated Upon by Dr. Saunders in His Laboratory at Various Periods, and in Different Weathers, During the Year 1875 : — Grains per Gallon. Parts pe ■ Million. Free Albuminoid Solids. Chlorine. Ammonia. Ammonia. Good. New River Company ... 177 1*1 O'OO o'o6 Thames 18-5 1*2 O'OI 0*06 Bad. Aldgate Pump 103 10-5 072 0*12 Aldgate Pump 108 9'4 0-48 0-08 Aldgate Pump not taken io-s 0-25 0*26 Bartholomew Lane 42 4'3 r8o 0-08 Bartholomew Lane 5o 4' 1 1*40 0-08 Crutched Friars 73 4*3 0*04 0"I0 Fann Street 142 9-9 2'20 0'22 Dr. W. Collingridge, the Medical Officer of Health for the City, kindly communicated to the writer the following notes, which describe how the last of the pumps were finally dealt with. As the result of Dr. Saunders's report in 1875 the late Com- missioners of Sewers passed the following resolution on November 2nd of that year : — " That a copy of the Medical Officer's report of the 19th of October in relation to Pumps be sent to the Deputy of each Ward 340 Appendix and to the Churchwardens of the Parishes in the City where such Pumps are situated, with a letter pointing their attention to the expediency of having the said Pumps closed, and warning them of the danger that may arise from the water being used for drinking purposes and that the Committee be authorised to investigate the condition of the Wells with the sanction of the proper authorities." This resulted in the closing of the wells mentioned in the report, viz., Fann Street, Bartholomew Lane, Crutched Friars, and Aldgate. 341 INDEX Acton Wells, 156-158 "Adam and Eve" Tavern, St. Pancras, 80 Agas' Map of London, 33, 43, 65, 103 Agnes le Clair, 108 Aldermanbury Church (St. Mary the Virgin), 266 Aldermanbury, Pump in, 336 Aldersgate Street, Drinking fountains in, 337 Aldgate pump, 326, 341 Allen, Benjamin, M.B., 216, 238 All Hallows on the Wall, 30 Allport, Douglas, historian of Camberwell, 209 Analyses of mineral waters — Beulah Spa, 223 Biggin Hill, Beulah Hill, 228, 229 Hampstead Wells, 152 Kilburn Wells (two), 164 Streatham Wells, 236 Armstrong, John, proprietor of Pancras Wells, 81 Arnold, F., 231, 233 Ashton, John, on the Fleet River, 105, 197 Assembly Room, Hampstead, 141 Assembly Room (new), Hampstead, 147 Aubrey, John, antiquary, 183, 229, 230 Aye Brook or Eye Brook, 48 Bagnigge House, 65 Bagnigge Wells, 65-74 Bank of England, 32, 34 Banqueting House, 270 Barge Yard, Bucklersbury, 28, 36 Barker, Mr. Cephas, proprietor of Beulah Spa Hydro' and Hotel, 227 Barnet Wells, 152-155 Bartholomew Lane, Pump in, 334, 341 Basinghall Street, Parish pump of St. Michael Bassishaw in, 335 Bateman, Mrs., at Sadler's Wells Theatre, 88 Battle Bridge, 65, 74, 75 Bayswater Brook, otherwise the Westbourne, 48 Bayswater or Roundhead Conduit, 282-286 Bedwell, Rev. William, historian of Tottenham, 125 Beighton, Henry, on London Bridge Waterworks, 301, 303 " Bell " Tavern, Kilburn, 161 Bell Yard, Gracechurch Street, Pump in, 332 343 Index Bermondsey, Public wells in, 339 Bermondsev Spa, 190-193 Berry, Mr. Walter, Shad well, 121 Besant, Sir Walter, 43, 124, 181, 247, 262 Bethlehem Hospital (old site), 30 Beulah Spa, Upper Norwood, 221-228 Bevis, Dr. John, 68 Bew's Corner, Lordship Lane, 211 Biggin Hill, Well at White Lodge, 228-229 Bishopsgate Street Without, Pump at St. Botolph's Church, 331 Bishop's Well, at Tottenham, 128 Black Mary's Hole, 67 Blanch, W. H., History of Camberwell, 208 Blemund's Ditch, 44 Bliss, John, M.R.C.S., on Hampstead waters, 143 on Kilburn waters, 162 Blomfield Street, 30 Boss or Conduit, 253 Bradford, Mr. C. A., on Ladywell, 199 Bray, W., 214 Brayley, E.W., 183 Brayley and Walford, 209, 234 Breams Buildings, Pump on north side of, 338 Brewer, J. Norris, Assembly House at Acton, 157 Bride Lane, 60 Bridewell Dock, 41 Bridewell, Palace of, 58, 59 Bruce Castle, Tottenham, 128-129 Budge Row, 35 Burbage, Richard, Curtein Theatre, 117 Burney, Miss Fanny, mentions Sadler's Wells, 86 Burton, Decimus, architect, 223 By field, Dr. T., account of mineral spring at Hoxton, 120 Byron, Lord, at Dulwich, 212 Camberwell, 207-210 Campbell, Thomas, 220 Cardigan House, Richmond, 238, 243 Chancery Lane, Well in, 338 Charterhouse, Water supply, 263 Cheapside in the Middle Ages, 260 Chigwell, 131, 132 Christ's Hospital, Pump in, 325 Churchfield Well, Hackney, 123 Clement's Inn, 61 Clement's Well, 60-65 Clerks' Well, 100-105, 337 Cloak Lane, Channel of the Wallbrook, 31 Cob, water-carrier so called, 273 Cob's Court, Blackfriars, 273 Coling, J. T., of Well's Cottage, Upper Sydenham, 218 Conduits — Aldermanbury, Conduit at, 276 Aldgate, Conduit without, 269 344 Index Conduits (continued) — Bayswater or " Roundhead " Conduit, 282-287 Bishopsgate, Conduit at, 269 Cambridge, Conduit at, 280 Cheapside, Standard in, 258, 278 Cornhill, The Standard in, whence distances were measured, 276, 278, 279 Cornhill, Tun in, 262, 263, 278 Dowgate, Conduit at, 278 Fleet Street Conduit, 266 Gracechurch Street Conduit, 261, 276, 278 Great Conduit, Cheapside, 254, 255, 260, 278 Greenwich Park Conduits, 293, 294 Hyde Park Conduit, 292 Lamb's Conduit, 271, 272 Little Conduit, Cheapside, 256, 278 London Wall, Conduit at, 269 Oxford, Conduit at, 280 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, Conduit in, 290-292 Stocks Market, Little Conduit by, 256, 278 Tyburn Conduit, 252, 253 Wells, Somerset, Conduit at, 280 White Conduit, 264 Conduit Fields or Shepherd's Fields, Hampstead, 47, 151 Conduit of London, afterwards the Great Conduit, 254 Constable, John, R.A., at Hampstead, 148 Cornhill pump and well, 332, 333 Corporation or Guildhall pump, 334 Cox, Francis, proprietor of "The Green Man," Dulwich, 212, 213 Cox's Walk, 214 Craven Hill, 49 Crisp, Richard, on Richmond, 243 Crosby, Mr. Anthony, on the Fleet River, 46 Crowder's Well, 107 Crutched Friars, well and pump, 328, 329, 341 Culpeper, Nicholas, 215 Curtain Road, 119 Curtein Theatre, 117 Curtis Brothers, present proprietors of Streatham Wells, 236, 237 Cutlers' Hall, 34 Davies, A. Morley, 250, 285, 288 Davis, H. G., on Knightsbridge, 51 Davis, John, lessee of Bagnigge Wells, 70, 72 Dean Street, Westminster, well in, 339 Death, Robert, of "The Falcon," 186 Delany, Mrs., on Islington Spa, 93 Dennis, George, C.M.G., 173 Devol's Neckinger, public house, 189 Dibdin, Charles, 87 Diprose, John, 62 Dobie, Roland, 44 Dodswell, George, proprietor of the " London Spaw," 97 "Dog and Duck" (St. George's Spa), 195-199 345 Index Domesday Survey, 40, 43, 90, 122, 125, 131, 155, 207 Dour, possible origin of Dow-gate, 30 Dowgate Dock or Port, 268 Dowgate Hill, 32 Dufneld, John, at Hampstead, 141, 142 Dugdale, Sir William, 46, 106, 108, 116, 118, 130, 289 Dulwich Grove, 212 Dulwich Wells, 210-214 Dyers' Hall, 33 Eastfield, William, Mayor of London, 256, 266 Edgeworth, Miss Maria, on Bagnigge Wells, 71 Effra River, 181-186 Eia, Estate of, 48 Eliza Place, Islington, 96 Elov, St., Well of, at Tottenham, 125-130 Evance, Elizabeth, Sydenham Wells, 220 Evance, William, Sydenham Wells, 218 Evans, Dr. John, on Richmond, 242 Evelyn, John, 90, 196, 204, 208, 214 Faggeswell or Fagswell, 106 Fairman, Elizabeth, Sydenham Wells, 221 Fairman, John, Sydenham Wells, 218 Falcon Brook, 186 Fann Street, Pump in, 337, 341 Farringdon Road, 45 Fielding, James, lessee of Beulah Spa, 225 Finsbury, 27, 31 FitzStephen, William, 30, 53, 54, 60, 101, 116 " Flask " Tavern, Hampstead, 140 Flask Walk, Hampstead, 140 Fleet Bridge, 42, 267 Fleet Ditch, applied to lower part of the Fleet River, 42 Fleet River (or Holebourne), 40-46 Fleet Street Conduit or Standard, 266 Fleet Street, discoveries of old waterpipes in, 266 Fleet Street, water supply, 265 Forcer, Francis, lessee of Sadler's Wells Theatre, 84 Forcer, the younger, lessee of Sadler's Wells Theatre, 85 Fothergill, Dr. John, on St. George's Spa water, 196 Frewen, Dr., of Chigwell, 132 Gainsborough, Earl of, 139 Gardner, C. W., Acton Wells, 157 Genibella, Frederico, 305 George III., visit to Sydenham Wells, 219 Gibbons, Dr., Hampstead physician, 143 Glennie's Academy, Dulwich Grove, 212 Godbid, W., on Shooter's Hill Spring, 203 Godewelle, 106 Goodcheape, Charles, 204 Goodwin, Mr. Thomas, surgeon, 144 Gray's Inn Lane, 65 346 Index Great Dean's Yard, Westminster, Pump in, 339 Green, J. R., historian, 27 " Green Man " Tavern at Dulwich, 212 " Green Man " Tavern at Hampstead, 142 Greenwich Park, Conduits, etc., in, 293, 294 Grey Friars Monastery, water system, 290 Grimaldi, Joseph, at Sadler's Wells Theatre, 87 "Grove" Tavern, Dulwich, 212 Guidol, Dr. Thomas, 83 Guildhall or Corporation pump, 334 Hackney, Wells of, 122-125 Halhed, John, proprietor of the " London Spaw," 96 Hampstead Assembly Rooms, 141 Hampstead Hill, geology of, 137 Hampstead Wells, 137-152 Heckethorn, C. W., 209 Hedger, J., " Dog and Duck," 197 Heisch, Professor C, analysis of Hampstead waters, 150 Herbert, William, 191 Highbury Barn, 244 Hockley-in-the-Hole, 41, 104 Holborn Bridge, 44 Holborn District, Wells in the, 337-338 Holebourne (or Fleet), its course described, 40-46 Holland, John, proprietor of Islington Spa, 94 Holt waters, 82 Holy Wells, 53-57 Holy Well, Shoreditch, 115-119 Holy Well, Strand, 62-65 Hone, William, 60, 76, 103, 113, 148, 197, 265 " Horns " Tavern, 80 " Horse-at-the-Well " Inn, Woodford Wells, 131 Horseshoe Bridge, over the Wallbrook, 35 Houblon, Sir John, 32 Howard, John, proprietor of Islington Spa, 94 Hoxton, Mineral Spring at, 119 Hughson, David, a historian of London, 32, 61, 113, 204, 314 Innholders' Hall, 33 Ireland, Mr., Lambeth Wells, 194 Islington Spa, 89-96 Katherine of Aragon, entry into London, 261 Keats, John, at Hampstead, 148 Keeffe, P., 194, 195 Kemp, William, proprietor of Peerless Pool, 112 Kensington Wells, 169-171 Keyse, Thomas, Bermondsey Spa, 191, 192, 193 Kilburn Priory, 159, 160 Kilburn Stream, affluent of the Westbourne, 49 Kilburn Wells, 158-164 King, Thomas, Sadler's Wells Theatre, 87 Kit-Kat Club at Hampstead, 146 347 Index Lady Well (Kent), 199-203 Lamb, William, 270 Lambeth Wells, 193-195 Langbourne, Stream, 38 Langbourne, Ward of, 37 Large, Robert, Mayor of London, 32, 268 Lawns, The (Beulah Spa), 227 Leadenhall Hides Market, Well and pump in, 330 Leaden Hall, Well and pump in, 330 Lethaby, W. R., 29, 33, 39, 43 Lettsom, Dr. John, of Camberwell, 209 Lime Street, Pump in, 331 Linden, Dr. D. W., on a mineral well in " Sun " Tavern Fields, 122 Little Britain, Pump in, 336 Little Conduit, by Stocks Market, 256 Little Conduit, West Cheap, 183, 256, 257 Little St Thomas Apostle Street, channel of Wallbrook, 31 Loftie, Rev. W. J., 29, 68, 170, 171 London Basin, The, 247, 249 London Bridge Waterworks, 299-303 London Spa, 96-98 Lucas, William, proprietor of St. Chad's Well, 78 Lysons, Dr. Daniel, 82, 83, 120, 122, 126, 132, 135, 152, 156, 158, 163, 200, 208, 214, 232, 233, 283 Macpherson, Dr. John, on Acton Wells, 157 on Kilburn Wells water, 163 Maitland, William, 32, 34, 61, 108, 112, 116, 252, 289, 315 Malcolm, J. P., 61, 85, 88, 94 Manning and Bray, 209 Martin, Edward, proprietor of the " Horns," St. Pancras, 80 Martyn, John, F.R.S., 213 Marybone Spa, 167 Marylebone Lane, 47 Marylebone Manor House, 165 Marylebone or Marybone Gardens, 165-168 Matthews, William, 383, 284, 297 Miles, James, at Sadler's Wells, 84 Milton, John, 60, 123 Mineral Springs, Analyses of water from, 175 Ancient, 173 Comparison of British with Foreign, 177 Solid matter in, 175 Miracle and Mystery Plays, 101-103 Monk Well, 107 Monro, Dr. Donald, 149, 230 Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 93 Moore, Mrs. R. M., St. Agnes le Clair Baths, 1 1 1 Morice, Peter, his engine described, 301-303 Water Works at London Bridge, 299 Morton, Dr., 84 Muswell, 132-136 Myddelton, Hugh, 307, 309, 310, 314, 316 Myddelton, The Sir Hugh, tavern, 89 348 Index Nash, Beau, at Islington Spa, 93 National Safe Deposit Company, excavations on site of their premises, 34,35 Neckinger Stream, 186-189 New River, 307-311 New River Company, Incorporation of, 31 1-3 18 Shares, " King's" and "Adventurers'," 314 New Spa, at Hampstead, 144 New Tunbridge Wells, see Islington Spa, 91 New Wells, Islington, 98-100 Noel, Honourable Susannah, 96, 139, 150 Norman, Philip, 30, 95, 105, 290, 291, 292 Northampton, Earl of, 104 Northaw or Northall, 155 Norton Folgate, Well in, 326 Old Bourne, supposed stream, 43 " Old Dog " Tavern, Holywell Street, 62 Old Kent Road, discovery of chalybeate water here in 1906, 210 Pagents recorded in the fifteenth century, 259 Palewell Common, East Sheen, Well at, 244 Palmer, Samuel, 46, 67, 80 Pancras Wells, 79- 82 Park, J. J., 139, 164 Payne, Mr., proprietor of St. Agnes le Clair Baths, no Peerless Pool, 112-114 Pennant, T., 43, 61, 113 Pepys, Samuel, 79, 96, 153, 166 Peter, John, physician, 215 Phelps, Samuel, at Sadler's Wells, 87 Pig's Well, or Pvke Well, Hackney, 123 Pinks, W. J., historian of Clerkenwell, 67, 83, 86, 89, 98 Pond, or Pound Street, Hampstead, 144 Population of London, 251, 252 Postern Waters on Tower Hill, 122 Potter, G. W., 45, 145, 151 Powis Wells, 168-169 Prestwich, Sir Joseph, 251 Price, F. G. Hilton, 30 Price, J. E., 28, 34 Pugh, David, LL.D. ("David Hughson"), see Hughson, David Purging Wells, at Shooter's Hill, 204 Pyke Well or Pig's Well, Hackney, 123 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, ancient conduit-head, 290 Quill, small water-pipe, 274 Radwell, synonyms, Rode WelLJRede Well, etc., 107 Ray Street, Clerkenwell, 105 Reader, Francis W., 27, 30, 296 Rhone, Jonathan, attendant at St. Chad's Well, 77 Richmond Wells, 238-244 Rippin, Dorothy, Hampstead, 139 349 Index River of Wells, 29 Roberts, Alexander, Sydenham Wells, 218 Robins, W., on the names Tybourne and Westbourne, 51 Robinson, Dr. William, historian of Hackney, 123 historian of Tottenham, 127 Rocque, J., plan of London, 49, 50, 51, 67, 133, 144, 158, 170, 183, 222 Rode Well or Rede Well, 107 Roman Wall of London, 30 Rookery, The, Streatham (Old) Wells, 231 Rosebery Avenue, 96 Rosoman, acting at the New Wells, Islington, 99 rebuilt Sadler's Music House, 86 Roundhead or Bayswater Conduit, 282-287 Royal Exchange, Drinking fountain, 334 Russia Row, Well and pump in, 335 Rutton, W. L., on the Serpentine, 50 Rutty, Dr. John, 155, 230, 232 Ryan, Mr., at St. Chad's Well, 77 Sadler, Mr., music-house, 82 Sadler's Wells, 82-89 St. Agnes le Clair, 108-112 St. Agnes' Well at Kensington, 171 St. Anne, Hermitage and Chapel of, at Tottenham, 126 St. Antholin's Church (Watling Street), Pump near, 325 St. Bride's Well, 58-60 St. Chad's Well, 74-79 St. Clement Danes, Public wells in the parish of, 338 St. Clement's Well, 60-65 St. Dunstan's-in-the-East, Pump in churchyard, 330 St. Dunstan's Well, Tottenham, 128 St. Eloy, or St. Loy, Tottenham, 125-127 St. George's Spa (" Dog and Duck "), 195-199 St. George the Martyr, Southwark, Wells in the parish of, 339 St. Govor's Well, 171 St. John of Jerusalem, Priory of, 100, 124, 133 St. John the Baptist upon Wallbrook, 33 St. Margaret's, Lothbury, 32 St. Martin's Outwich, Pump at, 325, 331 St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, Pump and drinking fountain in church- yard, 335-336 St. Mary's Nunnery, Clerkenwell, 104 St. Michael ad Bladum, 256 St. Mildred's Poultry, 33, 34 St. Olave, Jewry, Pump against the church of, 335 St. Pancras Well, 79-82 St. Paul's Cathedral, Pump in churchyard, 325 St. Saviour's Dock, 186 St. Stephen's, Walbrook, 33 Saint Thomas's Street, Well in, 339 Sala, G. A., on a well in Holy Well Street, Strand, 63 Salter, Mr., Proprietor of St. Chad's Well, 78 Sanford, Gilbert de, 252 Savoy, Well and pump in precinct of, 338 350 Index Schmeisser, Godfrey, analysis of Kilburn water, 162 Serpentine, The, 49 Shacklewell, 123 Shadwell, 120-122 Share-borne Lane (Sherborne Lane), 38 Share-bourne Stream, 38 Sheen, East, Well at, 244 Shepherd's Well, Hampstead, 151 Shepherd's or Conduit Fields, Hampstead, 47, 151 Shooter's Hill, mineral spring, 203-206 Shoreditch, Holy well at, 115-119 Shoreditch, Pump in High Street, 326 Siddons, William, Proprietor of Sadler's Wells, 87 Sinclair, Dr. A. D., on waters of St. Chad's Well, 77 Sion Chapel, Hampstead, 142 Skinners' Company, 33 Skinners' Well, 106-107 Smith, Charles Roach, on a subterranean aqueduct at Moorhelds, 31 Smith, J. D.. projector of the Beulah Spa, 222, 226 Smith, J. T.,' 192 Soame, Dr. John, 143, 149 Spa Fields, 96 Spotton's Wood, Tottenham, Well in, 128 Stage or Landing Place of the Wallbrook, 35, 36 Standard in Cornhill, 258 Standard in Fleet Street, 266 Stevenson, W. H., Charter to St. Martin's-le-Grand, from William I., 28, 43 Stocks Market, 34 Stocks, Mr., Manager of Bagnigge Wells, 73 Stow, John, 29, 32, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 53, 59, 61, 65, 100, 102, 103, 105, 106, 108, 109, 117, 251, 252, 253, 255, 256,262, 266, 267, 270, 281, 299, 3°°>3°5. 3"i 330I33 1 . 337 Strand, Holy well in the, 62-64 Stratford Place, Oxford Street, 47, 270 Streatham Wells, 229-237 Strype, John, the historian, 104, 106, 123, 258, 259, 289, 325, 326, 329, Subterranean Aqueducts in Greenwich Park, 294 " Sun " Tavern Fields, Mineral waters at, 121 Sweetland, W., on Langbourne Ward, 37 Sydenham Wells, 214-221 Tallow Chandlers' Hall, 33 Tankard, term explained, 273 Thermal Waters, their temperature, 173-175 Thorne, J., 154 Thorney Island, Westminster, 47 Timbs, John, 62 Tite, Sir William, on the Wallbrook, 27, 38 Todwell (= Godewell), 106 Tokenhouse Yard, remains of tan-pits on banks of Wallbrook, 28 Tomlins, T. E., historian of Islington, 65, 74, 265 Tottenham, Springs at, 125-130 351 Index Tower Gardens, Well and pump in, 329 Tower Royal (Street), Channel of Wallbrook, 31 Tun (or Tonne) upon Cornhill, 262 Turnmill Brook, 42 Turnmill Street, 42 Ty-bourne Brook, course described, 47 Tyburn Conduit, 252 Tyne, term explained, 273 "Upper Flask" Tavern, Hampstead, 146 Vincent, W. T., on Shooter's Hill mineral Spring, 204 "Vine" Tavern Fields, 121 Wakefield, Miss Priscilla, 210, 234 Walebroc, 27 Walford, Edward, 50, 80, 99, 131, 160, 161, 163, 205, 209, 262, 284, 285, 294 Wallbrook Stream, 25-37 Waller, J. G., 40, 45, 46, 48 Ward, Edward (Ned), 85, 92 Waterbearers, Company of, 275 Waterbearers' Hall, 277 " Waterman's Arms" Tavern, Bermondsey, 190 Watts, Joseph, lessee of Peerless Pool Baths, 113 Weatherhead, Dr. G. H., 222 Wellclose Square, Pump in, 325 Well House, Streatham Common, 231 Wells Charity Estate, Hampstead, 140 Wells, Flower-dressing of, 56 " Wells " Tavern, Hampstead, 142 Well Walk Chapel, Hampstead, 145 Well Walk, Hampstead, 141, 148, 149, 150 Well Worship, 55 Westbourne Stream, 48 Whitechapel district, public wells in, 325 White Conduit, 264, 265, 292 White Conduit House, 73, 263 White Horse Estate, 225 Wilkinson, R., 88, 89, 104, 257, 258, 278 William the Conqueror, charter of, to St. Martin's-le-Grand, 28 Wooden water-pipes, 295-299 Wooden water-pipes at Clerkenwell, 296 Woodford Wells, 130-131 Wren, Sir C, 295, 312 Wroth, W., 78, 80, 95, 98, 113, 139, 160, 198, 226 Yeates or Yates, Mr., proprietor of the New Wells, 100 " Ye Olde Bagnigge Wells," public house, 74 Young, William, 217 UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.