Hi] HERTFORD: HOME OF MY BOYHOOD 37 



the lower edge, was pushed down on one side of it, and out- 

 side this again another wedge-shaped piece was inserted. 

 The top of this was now just under the iron cap of the heavy 

 pile or rammer, and on pulling a rope, this was freed and 

 dropped on the top of the wedge, which it forced halfway- 

 down. In a few seconds it was raised up again, and fell upon 

 the wedge, driving it in a good deal further, and the third 

 blow would send it down level with the top of the counter. 

 Then when the rammer rose up, another rope was pulled, and 

 it remained suspended ; a turn of a handle enabled the first 

 wedge to be drawn out and a much thicker one inserted, when, 

 after two or three blows, this became so hard to drive that the 

 rammer falling upon it made a dull sound and rebounded a 

 little ; and as the process went on the blows became sharper, 

 and the pile would rebound two or three times like a billiard 

 ball rebounding again and again from a stone floor, but in 

 more rapid succession. This went on for hours, and when 

 the process was finished, the meal in the sack had become so 

 highly compressed that when taken out it was found to be 

 converted into a compact oilcake. In this mill there were, 

 I think, three or four counters parallel to each other, and on 

 each, perhaps, six or eight stamps, and when all these were 

 at work together, but rebounding at different rates and with 

 different intensities of sound, the whole effect was very strange, 

 and the din and reverberation almost deafening, but still at 

 times somewhat musical. During this squeezing process the 

 oil ran off below through suitable apertures, but was never 

 seen by us. I believe these old stamping-mills are now all 

 replaced by hydraulic presses, which get more oil out and 

 leave the cake harder, but the process would be almost silent 

 and far less picturesque. 



A very interesting and beautiful object connected with 

 the water-supply of the neighbourhood was the New River 

 Head or Chadwell Spring, the source of the original New 

 River brought to London by Sir Hugh Myddleton. It is 

 about two-thirds of the distance from Hertford to Ware, and 

 is situated in a level meadow not far from the high-road, and 



