358 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1912 



" Mr Thomas Nicholls shall have liberty to build an engine and 

 waterworks below the Westgate Bridge in this City, and that the same 

 be soe expressed in his articles from the Mayor and Burgesses thereof," 



and on August 13, that Nicholls should 



" have liberty to build a cisterne for his Water works upon the King's 

 Board in this City," 



the proper repair and upkeep of the King's Board being 

 further provided for. Fosbroke states that the upper part 

 of the King's Board was taken down in 1691, but careful 

 search through the Corporation Minutes does not corroborate 

 this, and it is far more likely that it was taken down after the 

 permission given for placing the cistern. On January 7, 1695-6, 

 the grant of the water works to Nicholls and others, who were 

 afterwards called the proprietors, was read and duly sealed. 



Martin speaks of the King's Board as 



" a small market-house, over which was a cistern of Severn-water " 



and also states that 



" an Engine, by which the Severn-water was forced to the Western parts 

 of the Town, is destroyed, as unnecessary."' 



This was evidently the result of the improved supply obtained 

 from Robins Wood Hill under the Act of 1741, to which 

 reference is made below. That it was still in use in 1743 is 

 evident from a Minute of February 11, in that year, appointing 

 certain persons 



" to view the King's Board or Butter Market and give notice to the 

 Proprietors of the Water Works to repair." 



The King's Board stood at the upper end of Westgate 

 Street, and is considered by Mr Medland ^ to have been used 

 originally as a preaching cross or chapel. In later times it 

 was used for the sale of butter and cheese, and eventually 

 removed, with other buildings, under the Act of 23 George IL, 



1750. 



According to Sir Robert Atkyns, the population of Glou- 

 cester about 1710 was just under 5000, and though it cannot 

 have increased much during the next 30 years the water fur- 

 nished by the means of supply then existing was not sufficient 

 for the requirements of the inhabitants. On December 15, 

 1740, the following Minute is entered in the proceedings of the 

 Corporation : — 



1 " Natural History of England." 1759. vol. i., p. 354- 



2 Trans. Bristol and Gloucs. A. S., vol. xxvi., pp. 339-344- 



