ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THEE-TRUNK WATER-PIPES. 239 



APPENDIX, 



The foregoing remarks were in type early in October, 190 

 The following notes are the result of information received since 

 that date. 



In the first place, Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S., etc., 

 kindly tells me (Oct. 20) that he saw tree-tnmk water-pipes in use 

 in Germany in the year 1839. 



I am indebted to my cousin. Miss E. Graham, for the 

 following remarks from the Daily Mail, of Oct. 26, 1903. 



"Trees <is Water Mains.— V^hWe some workmen in Newcastle (Stafford- 

 shire) were makin_<^ some excavations at Penkbull Street for tlie purpose of 

 laving an electric light cable they made a most interesting tind. 



Two oi- three feet below the footpath they came across a number of trunks of 

 trees, with a 5in. bore in the middle, and banded with iron. 



It is asserted that between two and three hundred \ ears ago these were used 

 iis water-mains. The wood was in a good state of j^reservation, and in some 

 •cases the bark was still attached." 



It is evident from the above account that the former use of 

 tree-trunk pipes for the conveyance of water is by no means a 

 matter of common knowledge in Staffordshire. 



Our Secretary, Mr. W. Cole, has been good enough to 

 forward to me the following extract from the Daily Miiroy, of 

 Nov. 2, 1903 : — 



A Desirable Possession. — Mr. iSIyddelton, of Chirk, whose marriage to Mrs. 

 Reginald Bingham took plnce on Saturday, is the owner of the oldest inhabited 



■castle in England except Berkeley Castle. It ])ossesses everything which an 

 ancient castle sliould possess — dungeons, drawbridge, peacocks, sundials, and a 

 ladies' garden, with grassy walks. The castle itself is built on a hill, and from 

 its windows it is averred that fourteen counties can be seen. One of Mr. 

 Myddelton's ancestors was Sir Hugh Myddelton, the founder of the New River 



■ Company, and one of the original wooden conduits is still preserved in the hall at 

 ■Chirk. 



Chirk is in Denbighshire, on the border of Shropshire, and 

 about six miles north of Oswestry. The preservation of this 

 " original wooden conduit " (even in a house inhabited by 

 ■descendants of Sir Hugh Myddelton) suggests that such 

 appliances were almost or wholly unknown on the Welsh Border 

 in the time of James I. 



I am indebted to Mr. J. L. Myres, M.A., F.S.A., for the 

 information that he has learned from his uncle, a resident in 

 Lancashire, that wooden water pipes were formerly common in 



