INDUSTRIES 



Aylesbury was in working order in 1892. Two 

 of the stations on this line, Rickmansworth 

 (opened in 1887) and Chorley Wood, lie in 

 Hertfordshire. 



The chief mediaeval waterways in Hertford- 

 shire were those of the Lea, the Stort and the 

 Colne. By an Act of 1571,^* ' An Acte for the 

 brynging of the Ryver of Lee to the north side 

 of the Cite of London,' the Corporation of 

 London were empowered to make a new cut or 

 river within the space of ten years. Nothing, 

 however, was then done, and on the lapse of 

 the Act a Statute"* was passed authorizing 

 ' the bringing in of a freshe stream of running 

 water ' from the springs of Chadwell and Am- 

 well and their vicinity. An amending Act^^ 

 empowered the grantees to convey the New 

 River through a trunk or vault of brick or stone 

 where requisite. William Inglebert, Captain 

 Edmund Colthurst and Edward Wright sub- 

 mitted schemes, but nothing practical seems to 

 have been done until Hugh Myddelton under- 

 took the task. On 28 March 1609 the Corpo- 

 ration agreed to his proposal and transferred 

 their rights to him. His chief difficulties arose 

 from the selfish opposition of the local land- 

 owners, which lengthened the task and increased 

 its cost. The king, however, came to his aid in 

 return for a share in the undertaking, and on 

 Michaelmas Day" 161 3 the citizens of London 

 celebrated by a public pageant the arrival of 

 the New River water at IsHngton. A few years 

 after, in the winter of 1621-2, James I narrowly 

 escaped death by drowning in ' Myddelton's 

 Water ' when it was thinly coated with ice. 



The reign of Charles I saw extensive building 

 in the neighbourhood of Lincoln's Inn Fields, 

 Holborn, Covent Garden and the parishes of 

 St. Martin, St. James and St. Giles. In con- 

 sequence an increased water supply was 

 desirable, and Edward Forde of Harting in 

 Sussex pubhshed a ' Designe for bringing a 

 navigable river from Rickmansworth in Hert- 

 fordshire to St. Giles in the Fields.' The 

 water was to be derived from the Colne, and 

 greater employment, cheaper carriage, relief 

 to the highways and other benefits were con- 

 fidently promised. London would enjoy more 

 abundant suppHes of food and water, and 

 would send back manure in return. The 

 water, too, would be fit for all uses, ' all land 

 floods and foule waters which frequently 

 occasion the muddinesse of Sir William Middle- 

 ton's water being by artificiall conveyances 

 diverted and kept wholly out of the stream.' 



Sir William Roberts, however, had a rival 

 scheme for an aqueduct from Hoddesdon to a 



" Stat. 13 Eliz. cap. 18. 



1*^ Ibid. 3 Jas. I, cap. 1 8. 



" Ibid. 4 Jas. I, cap. 1 2. 



1^ Smiles, Lives of Enpneers (ed. 1904), i, 92. 



' Conserve ' at IsHngton. When his proposals 

 were brought before the Court of Aldermen 

 they agreed, after some debate, ' that the close 

 aqueduct would be far more usefuU and bene- 

 ficiall to them than an open river (as Myddel- 

 ton's was) could be, since they wanted not 

 water, so much as good water.' Roberts was 

 particularly sarcastic in regard to Forde's 

 assurance that the water of his navigable 

 river would be always clear. His rival could 

 not imagine that any understanding man 

 could ' beleeve it, that is not a Catholique and 

 led by an implicite faith.' But a larger quarrel 

 was to hush minor wrangles. In the turmoil 

 of the Great Rebellion both schemes were lost 

 and Edward Forde rode forth to fight for the 

 king. Later schemes for improving the London 

 water supply from Hertfordshire were watched 

 with jealous eyes^' by mill-owners and farmers 

 and successfully opposed on more than one 

 occasion. 



The Grand Junction Canal connecting London 

 with the Midland waterways was authorized ^* 

 in 1793. It enters Hertfordshire near Tring 

 and is generally in good condition, though 

 there are reasonable complaints of its shght 

 width and occasional sharp bends. Barges 

 use the main waterway between Brentford, 

 Uxbridge and Rickmansworth and occasionally 

 reach Boxmoor and Berkhampstead.^' Narrow 

 boats only can be employed on the Wendover 

 branch, which to the length of 6| miles was con- 

 structed mainly as a feeder under the Act of 

 1794. Early in the present century, however, the 

 Canal Company closed ^ this branch for navi- 

 gation from Tring Stop Lock, and only a mile 

 and a half are still open for boats of shallow 

 draught. Besides the coal brought down from 

 the Midlands, the Grand Junction Canal still 

 carries much of the raw material and finished 

 products of the Hertfordshire paper-mills. 



The navigable portion of the River Stort, 

 some 13 miles in length, begins at Bishop's 

 Stortford and passing Sawbridgeworth, Harlow, 



!'■ B.M. Single Sheet, 816, m. 8 (36), of the date 

 ? 1700. 



1^ The principal Statutes respecting the canal are 

 the public Acts, 33 Geo. Ill, cap. 80 ; 34 Geo. Ill, 

 cap. 24 ; 35 Geo. Ill, caps. 8, 43, 85 ; 36600. Ill, 

 cap. 25 ; Local and Personal Acts, 41 Geo. Ill, 

 cap. 71 ; 43 Geo. Ill, cap. 8 ; 45 Geo. Ill, 

 cap. 68. 



1' H. R. De Salis, Bradshaza's Canals and Navigable 

 Rivers (1904), 132 et seq. Esparto, wood pulp and 

 other material brought up in Thames lighters to 

 Brentford must be transhipped there into boats of 

 smaller size. cf. Canal Com. Third Rep. v (2), 

 Minutes of Evidence, 235 et seq. 



^^ A law-suit followed, initiated by local landowners, 

 to test the right of the Grand Junction Canal Co. to 

 effect this closure. The action of the Company was, 

 however, allowed. 



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