Its Sources and Distribution 77 



convey the water to each house. There are two 

 systems by which water is supplied to districts, viz. 

 the intermittent and the constant. The intermittent 

 is a system wherein the water is turned on to a district 

 for a certain number of hours each day that will be 

 sufficient to fill the cisterns or other receptacles with 

 which the houses are provided. On the constant system 

 the cistern may be dispensed with altogether, and the 

 water obtained direct from a tap on the service pipe. 



Now having considered" the general mode of 

 obtaining water for our large towns and cities, we are 

 able to appreciate the labour and expense in conveying 

 water to some of the particular districts we shall now 

 describe. If we begin with London, we find that the 

 ancient city and the many parishes now comprised in 

 the modern county arose on sites where a supply of 

 good drinking water could readily be obtained from 

 natural springs and brooks, or by means of wells. 

 The earlier settlements were made on tracts of gravel 

 and sand, and the growth of London was long regulated 

 by the distribution of these water-bearing areas. The 

 first conduit for the supply of water to London was 

 that of Tyburn, which was completed in 1239, when 

 water was conveyed in leaden pipes to the city. After 

 a while wooden conduits were used, and it is no uncom- 

 mon thing to find them, when some of the London 

 streets are opened. 



With the growth of London it was found necessary to 

 go farther afield for water for the citizens, and early in the 

 seventeenth century Sir Hugh Myddelton cut the New 

 River and supplied London with an abundant quantity 

 of excellent water from the river Lea, from springs in 

 the chalk, and from deep wells sunk into the chalk. 



