98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



The construction of storage reservoirs in the upper 

 reaches of the Valley of the Thames would in addition to 

 the present flow of the rivers secure or allow of the 

 abstraction of probably twice the maximum quantity being 

 now drawn from the river for the supply of the metropolis 

 without reducing the dry weather flow past Teddington 

 Weir below the desired 200,000,000 gallons per day. 



It has been proposed by Messrs Martin & Rofe to con- 

 struct eight reservoirs north of the Thames, and above 

 Oxford. Two on the Windrush (one of them on the sub- 

 basin of the Dickler), three on the Cherwell, one north- 

 east of the Cherwell at Moreton Pinckney, near the extreme 

 north-east side of the watershed, and an extended one above 

 Woodstock, embracing the lower part of the sub-basins of 

 the Darne near to, and the Glyme above, Woodstock ; 

 these last between the Evenlode and the Cherwell. No 

 other scheme for reservoirs above Oxford was submitted 

 to the Royal Commissioners on the ^^'ater Supply of the 

 Metropolis. The proposed acreage of the first reservoir 

 on the Windrush above Burford, in the Valley of the 

 Dickler is 43,776 square acres. The second, west of 

 Sherborne, or stream above junction with the Windrush, 

 11,668 square acres. The third, west of the Cherwell, or 

 stream near Deddington, 8,480 square acres. The fourth, 

 or River Swere, near Adderbury, I3>I96 square acres. 

 The fifth, the Sor Brook, Broughton, near Banbury, 

 22,176 square acres. The sixth, near Moreton Pinckney, 

 north-east of the Cherwell, 14,000. The united acreage 

 of these 8 proposed reservoirs amounts to 140,796 square 

 acres, capable of holding some 20,302,000,000 gallons of 

 water. These are the only localities in the Upper Thames 

 area, above Oxford, where sites have been definitely pro- 

 posed for reservoirs, hence I give them — most of them 

 are believed to be watertight.* No such reliable sites can 



* The geological sections across the Valleys where it has been proposed to construct 

 the^e reservoirs were prepared by Mr H. B. Woodward, F.G.S. 



