274 WOODEN WATER-PIPES AT CLERKENWELL, LONDON. 



knowledge of their existence rather than intending to convey 

 the impression that they were uncovered. 



It becomes necessary to consider whether any advantage 

 would be gained by leaving these pipes open, and on this point 

 the account given by Matthews in Hydvaulia^ is instructive. 



[The author then proceeds to give the extracts embodied in 

 Mr. Holmes' paper ante pp. 230-1, to which our readers are 

 referred. — Ed.] 



Such a state of things as there described makes it extremely 

 probable that the expense of time, labour, water, and inconveni- 

 ence in having to excavate covered pipes in order to discover 

 a leakage, would far have exceeded the greater liability to decay 

 and damage, when the pipes were exposed. 



The ease with which defects could be discovered when they 

 were uncovered is strikingly shown in the second view. 



Elm also, of which most of these pipes were made, is the 

 wood best adapted to stand changes of wet and dry conditions. 

 It must be remembered, also, that damage from frost would be 

 far less considerable than with metal pipes. At points such as 

 the bridge, from whence the gracefid fountains are issuing 

 (View 2), no covering sufficient to form much protection would 

 seem to be possible. 



The formation and renewal of these pipes appears to have 

 been a far less difficult matter than has been supposed by 

 modern engineers. In a footnote in Hydvaidia we are told that 

 the New River Company had a spacious wharf on the Thames at 

 the bottom of Dorset Street, Salisbury Square, for landing timber 

 and commodious shops for boring pipes, etc. 



All things considered it seems probable, therefore, that in the 

 open fields around London these wooden water-mains were 

 actually uncovered as shown in the drawings. 



3 Hydraulia, or Mode of Supplying London ivith Water. W. IMatthevvs, 1841, p. 66. 



