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The Development of British Hydrogeology in the Nineteenth Century

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The Development of British Hydrogeology in the Nineteenth Century Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 30, 2021 From William Smith to William Whitaker: the development of British hydrogeology in the nineteenth century JOHN MATHER Lyell Professor, Department of Geology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX, UK Abstract: Some of the earliest applications of the principles of geology to the solution of hydrologic problems were made by William Smith, who used his knowledge of strata succession to locate groundwater resources to feed the summit levels of canals and supply individual houses and towns. The industrial revolution led to a huge demand for water resources to supply new towns and cities. Nottingham, Liverpool, Sunderland and parts of London all relied on groundwater. By the middle of the nineteenth century James Clutterbuck had already recognized that groundwater was a finite resource and that if abstraction was more rapid than replenishment by rain, water levels would decline and quality would be affected by saline intrusion. In 1851 Prestwich produced the first British geological map that included groundwater information. Before 1870 the Geological Survey had shown little concern for groundwater, perhaps because its Director, Murchison, had little interest in the economic applications of geology. After his retirement in 1871 there was an explosion of activity. Lucas introduced the term 'hydrogeology' in 1874 and produced the first real hydrogeological map in 1877 after leaving the Survey to work as a consultant water engineer. De Rance was for 20 years the secretary of a British Association Committee set up in 1874 to inquire into the underground circulation of water and in 1882 produced a 600 page volume on the water supply of England and Wales. William Whitaker, sometimes described as the 'father of English hydrogeology', was a collecter of well records and his work led to the inclusion of page after page of well records in survey publications in the southeast of England and in 1899 to the first water supply memoir- The Water Supply of Sussex from Underground Sources. From Smith to Whitaker, knowledge of groundwater grew throughout the nineteenth century, providing the basis for the sophisticated models of today. The part that groundwater has played in the to break out higher up valleys as the water table historical development of the United Kingdom is rises. Because of the low specific yield of the obvious from any survey of place names. The Chalk, after very wet winters it is possible for rivers incorporation of such words as 'well', 'spring', to break out some distance up the valley from their 'bourne' and 'spa' into the names of farms, villages normal source and, for example, the source of the and larger settlements is ample evidence of the River Ver in Hertfordshire has varied by at least 5 importance of groundwater. However, until rela- miles (Tomkins 1969). In medieval times all bourne tively recent times our forebears had rather flows were viewed with suspicion and were primitive ideas about its origin and groundwater regarded as a token of death or pestilence or as an phenomena were often surrounded by mystique. omen of disaster. The earliest reference goes back Thus many early wells were associated with saintly to 1473 (Latham 1904) and refers to the bourne patrons and Robins (1946) suggests that the wise flow in the upper Ver valley as the Womere or Woe- men of early Christianity found the aura of sanctity water (Fig. 1). Flows of this woe-water (or brook of the best means of ensuring that a perfectly good woe) were thought to presage a calamity of some water supply was treated with the care and respect sort. As the Revd J. Childrey pointed out in 1661 necessary to preserve it from pollution and abuse. (Latham 1904), The intermittent streams peculiar to the Chalk aquifer in England were long the subject of fear and That the sudden eruption of springs in places superstition, Known as 'bournes' (Hertfordshire where they use not always to run should be a sign and Surrey), 'nailbournes' (Kent), 'levants' of death is no wonder. For these unusual (Sussex), 'winterbournes' (Dorset and Hampshire), eruptions are caused by extreme gluts of rain, or or 'gypsies' (Yorkshire), they are the result of the lasting wet weather, and never happen but in wet infiltration of winter rainfall causing source springs years in which years wheat and most other grain MATHER, J. 1998. From William Smith to William Whitaker: the development of British hydrogeology in 183 the nineteenth century. In: BLUNDELL,D. J. & SCOTT, A. C. (eds) Lvell: the Past is the Key to the Present. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 143, 183-196. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 30, 2021 184 J. MATHER Fig. 1. The now dry bed of the River Ver at Markyate where the bourne flow was described as the Womere or Woe- water in chronicles of 1473 (Latham 1904). thrive not well and therefore death succeeds the (Tybourne) where water was conveyed to the first following year. or Great Conduit where water was supplied 'for the poor to drink and the rich to dress their meat' (Stow It is interesting to note that Childrey recognized 1603). This was followed by a number of other that the spring flows were the result of heavy rain conduits, one in Aldgate receiving its water from some 13 years before Perrault first demonstrated springs at the base of the Bagshot Sands in experimentally that rainfall was more than adequate Hampstead, and by the end of the sixteenth century to account for the flow of rivers and springs London had at least 16 conduits (Robins 1946). (Perrault 1674). The sixteenth century marked the beginning of a The significance of groundwater in the develop- new era in water supply with the commencement of ment of settlements and towns is well illustrated by large-scale schemes. London was no exception and the growth of London to the beginning of the nine- in 1582, Peter Morice (Morrys or Morris), a teenth century. The first building took place along Dutchman, established a pump, worked by water the water-bearing alluvial gravels of the Thames wheels, to bring water from the Thames to the city. flood plain, following the outcrop of the gravels However, from the viewpoint of the hydrogeologist and terminating when the London Clay came to the the pioneer undertaking was the construction of the surface (Prestwich 1872). Water was obtained both New River to bring water in an open trench from from shallow wells and from springs which issued springs near Ware in Hertfordshire. The springs where the gravels had been cut down by shallow were the Chalk springs of Chadwell and Amwell in valleys to the London Clay. A good deal of water the valley of the River Lea and in its original was also drawn from the Thames and from winding course the New River was more than 40 tributaries which flowed through the settlement to miles long (Fig. 2). The fiver was an open channel, the river. Pollution of the tributary streams and the l0 feet wide with an average depth of 4 feet and the shallow wells gradually spread and many of these elevation of the springs allowed water to flow by sources were abandoned. gravity, following the contour line, to a circular In the early part of the thirteenth century water pond, known as the New River Head at Islington to started to be supplied to conduits or public the north of the city. The excavation of the channel fountains from springs outside the populated area. was completed in April 1613 and the New River The first springs to be used were those at Tyburn Company remained in existence until the formation Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 30, 2021 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH HYDROGEOLOGY 185 marks the beginning of significant new develop- ments in British hydrogeology. The historical research owes much to the bibliographies appended to each of the 28 water supply memoirs published between I899 and 1938 and to chronological lists of references compiled by Whitaker in 1888 and 1895. William Smith and the period to 1839 According to Biswas (1970) one of the earliest applications of the principles of geology to the solution of hydrological problems was made by the Fig. 2. The source of the New River at Chadwell (from Englishman William Smith. His early work was as an old print dated 1810). a surveyor undertaking surveys for both canals and colliery workings. During his work he noted, in excavations, the various soils and the character of the rocks from which they were derived. By 1793 of the Metropolitan Water Board in 1904 (Robins he had grasped the principle of rock succession, as 1946). his notes of this period show (Robson 1986). In Over the next two centuries further waterworks 1799 Smith had a disagreement with his employers were developed mostly taking their supplies from and became an independent consulting engineer. the Thames. The establishment of these works The subsequent failure of a stone quarry on his land made it possible to distribute water at any point near Bath compelled him to concentrate on within the metropolis and thus removed the restric- consulting work to pay off his debts and he applied tion in the growth of London to the area underlain his geological knowledge to many different by gravel. Development at once spread over the problems, including the location of groundwater area underlain by London Clay (De Rance 1882). resources. Smith's interest in applying geology to According to Woodward (1922) the earliest known water supply is clear from his original table of deep well near London was sunk in 1725 and strata in the vicinity of Bath produced in 1799.
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