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Chap. 6.]
the right of the soil was vested, granted “ to Robert Large the mayor andcitizens of London , and their successors, one head [reservoir] of water,eontaining twenty-six perches in length and one in breadth, together withall its springs in the rnanor of Paddington : in consideration of whichgrant, the city is for ever to pay to the said abbot or his successors, at thefeast of St. Peter, two pepper corns.” This grant was confirmed by Henry VI , who at the sarae time authorized the mayor and citizens, by a writ ofthe privy seal, to purchase two hundred fothers of lead “ for the intendedworks of pipes and conduits, and to impress plumbers and labourers.”Maitland’s Hist, of London , pp. 48, 107.
In the 33d year of Henry VIII , the mayor of the city of Glocester, withthe dean of the church there, were authorized to “ convey water in pipesof lead, gutters and trenches” from a neighbouring liill, “ satisfying theowners of the ground there for the digging thereof.” 3 In the followingyear, the mayor and burgesses of Pools were authorized to erect a windmill on the king’s waste ground, and a conduit head sixteen feet square,“ and to dig and draw [water] in, by, through and upon all places meetand convenient, into and from the same, &c.—yielding yearly to the kmgand his heirs one pepper corn.” b It would appear that the reservoir was intoo low a Situation for its contents to flow through pipes to the town, andhence the wind mill to raise it sufficiently for that purpose. The machineused was probably the chain of pots, which, as remarked page 125, was atthat time often employed in such cases. In the 35th of Henry VIII , theCorporation of London was authorized to draw water through pipes fromvarious villages and other places within five miles of the city, and for thispurpose to enter any grounds not enclosed with “ stone, brick or mudwalls, and there to dig pits, trenches and ditches ; to erect heads, laypipes, and make vaults and suspirals,” &c. Two years afterwards, (A. D.1546,) a law was passed by which those who destroyed conduit heads andpipes, were put to death. c In 1547, William Lamb conveyed water in aleaden pipe from a conduit or spring, which still bears his name. d
In 1582, the first pump machines were used in London . In that yearPeter Maurice, a German engineer, proposed to erect a machine on theThames for the more effectual supply of the city, “ which being approvedof, he erected the same in the river near London bridge, which by suctionand pressure, through pumps and valves, raised water to such a height asto supply the uppermost rooms of the loftiest buildings, in the highestpart of the city therewith, to the great admiration of all. This curiousmachine, the first of the kind that ever was seen in England, was so highlyapproved of, that the lord mayor and common council, as an encourage-ment for the ingenious engineer to proceed in so useful an undertaking,granted him the use of one of the arches of London bridge to place hisengine in, for the better working thereof.” e Maurice’s engine consistedof a series of forcing pumps (similar to Nos. 118 and 121) seven inches indiameter, and the pistons had a stroke of thirty inches; they were workedby an undershot wheel that was placed under one of the arches andtumed by the current, during the rise and fall of the tide ; the waterwas raised to an elevation of 120 feet. The number of pumps and wheelswas subsequently increased ; but in 1822, when the old bridge was takendown, the whole were removedd
Two years before Maurice undertook to raise water from the Thames ,Stow says—“ One Rüssel proposed to bring water from Isleworth, viz :
a Statutes at large. Lon. 1681. b Ibid. c Ibid. d Mailland, 158. e Ibid. 160.
f A description of the London Bridge Water-works, by Beighton, may be seen in thePhilos. Trans, vol. vi, 358, and in Desaguliers ’ Philos. ii, 436.