Fallacy of 
seven years 
recurrence of 
Bourne flow. 
Coldness of 
water of 
Bourne flows. 
Temperature 
of Bourne due 
to temperature 
of ground. 
Cold season 
influences 
temperature of 
Bourne. 
Bourne water 
not good for 
irrigation. 
24 
We constantly hear that the Croydon Bourne flows 
every seven years. This is, however, not so, as there 
is no stated interval for its appearance, and in fact 
between 1876 and 1883 it flowed every year for eight 
years in succession. 
There are some peculiarities concerning the Bourne 
flow which have been noted by old observers, one of 
these being the coldness of the Bourne water compared 
with ordinary spring water of the chalk. In the 
Bourne that flowed in 1860-61, of which there is a 
record in Warren’s “ Croydon Directory ” for the year 
1865-66, and in the late Mr. Cuthbert Johnson’s 
paper on the Croydon Bourne flow in Dr. Westall’s 
paper on the advantages to be derived from the adop- 
tion of the Local Government Act as exemplified in 
Croydon, published in 1865, the temperatures of this 
Bourne are given, showing that it possessed a low 
temperature when flowing in its natural channel, as 
compared with its temperature even when it escapes 
from the mouth of the Bourne culvert at Croydon. 
The Author has taken a large number of temperatures 
of the Bourne, which confirm the fact that the Bourne 
flow is a cold water, but this is due entirely to the cir- 
cumstance that the chalk water is brought up to or near 
the surface of the ground when the Bourne flows, and 
that the Bourne ordinarily flows in a cold season of the 
year when the temperature of the ground at or near 
the surface is cold, and thus the temperature of the 
Bourne conforms to the temperature of the ground at 
the depth at which it is flowing. 
In the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 
vol. 15, page 416, there is a statement as to the use 
of Winterburn waters for irrigation, the quality of 
