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Waterworks improvements

In recent years summer droughts have focused all our attentions on water - where it comes from, the companies who supply it and the restrictions in usage we are all urged to make.

Nowadays Newark's drinking water is supplied by Severn Trent but for many years the town acquired its own water first from a private company based at Muskham, and later from the corporation's own works at Farnsfield.

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the official opening of the works at Farnsfield - an installation which supplied high quality water to Newark for well over half a century.

Water has always been abundant in the Newark area, originally from the Trent and Devon and later, as the town became more built up, from wells bored deep into water bearing strata beneath the town.

In the 19th Century, however, as the pace of industrialisation began to quicken, and towns such as Newark became ever more crowded, utilisation of the supply became increasingly problematic.

Increased pressure placed on communal facilities in the town's tightly knit court and yard housing schemes led to breakdowns in sanitary arrangements with water supplies becoming contaminated and a hazard to health.

Outbreaks of cholera are recorded in the town in 1832, 1849 and 1854, and typhoid, being almost continually present in the 1830s and 40s, broke out in particularly severe epidemics in 1861 and 1865-66.

The persistence of both cholera and typhoid was in large measure attributable to a combination of overcrowded living conditions and corrupted water supplies.

There were instances where raw sewage was found to be leaking into the wells or pumps which provided drinking water.

The first real steps to address the problem came in 1851 when the Newark upon Trent Improvement Act included provisions under which locally appointed commissioners could order the construction of additional sewers and cess-pools and prosecute those found polluting streams or other water courses.

Most importantly of all, however, the Act contained the resolution that "a waterworks company should be established to provide a sufficient quantity of water for surface cleaning and effective drainage in the town".

The Newark Upon Trent Waterworks Company was quickly established and within two years had constructed premises on a two acre site off the Great North Road beside the old Muskham Bridge.

The works commenced operations on February 2, 1854, and are described as consisting of a neat brick building (in which was located a 20hp steam pumping engine) and a comfortable residence for the engineer.

The whole development was surrounded by a 30ft culvert from which water from newly bored wells was passed through a gravel filter bed before being pumped to a 600,000 gallon service reservoir on the north side of Beacon Hill.

From here water gravitated to subscribers in the town by means of iron pipes laid beneath the streets.

By the 1860s the Newark waterworks company was providing about 1,300 private consumers and more than 2,000 businesses with piped water, the latter being found notably among the town's large brewing, ironfounding and malting concerns.

For those who could not afford water direct from the new supply and continued to rely on their own wells, the corporation attempted to ensure that health standards were raised.

In buying back water from the waterworks company, the corporation could ensure that the town sewers were flushed and the streets regularly watered - in the days before metalled roads and motor vehicles, dust and dirt (including horse droppings) were an everyday hazard of town life.

Such benefits were of enormous significance to the improvement of Newark but the cost of bringing water to the town was considerable.

The waterworks company began operation with liabilities in excess of £2,500 and for several years no dividend at all was paid to shareholders.

Demand, however, was high and in 1861 it is recorded that over the year the pumping engine ran on 304 days supplying 43,606,465 gallons to the town.

Expansion became necessary and by 1872 the works at Muskham had been almost doubled in capacity through the introduction of a second steam pumping engine, three new boilers and an additional well.

In 1881 the Newark Urban Sanitary Authority (successors to the Newark Improvement Commissioners) made the first of a number of approaches to the waterworks company with regard to buying the undertaking for the town.

The proposal was rejected by the waterworks shareholders, as was a similar approach made in 1887.

In 1889 the company deposited a Bill with parliament which sought permission to dissolve the existing waterworks company and reconstitute it with enlarged powers - extending piped water provision to Farndon, Balderton and other outlying places.

The town council, however, opposed the Bill stating that the company should not proceed with such plans at a time when negotiations were underway for its sale to the authority.

Because its shareholders had clearly rejected any invitation to sell, the waterworks company denied that any such negotiations were in hand.

The town council, however, furthered its petition by claiming that the company was not operating in the best interest of its customers: there was evidence, the council said, that the company had on occasion supplied water which was "thick and discoloured" with a noticeable sediment, almost as if it had been drawn directly from the Trent.

Whatever the truth of the matter, the town council's petition proved successful and the waterworks company bill was thrown out. Negotiations for the council's purchase of the works then immediately resumed, agreement being finally reached in February, 1891.

Next week I will look at the continuing history of Newark's water supply including the construction of the council's new pumping station at Farnsfield.

ABOVE: Bridge House - often referred to as the Old Pumping House - on the Great North Road beside Muskham Bridge, the site of Newark's first waterworks, opened in 1854.

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