xliv 



below, that I am surprised they should have so long been over- 

 looked. There is no other district within reasonable limits, nor any 

 source from whence water may be obtained, which will bear compari- 

 son with it." 



The project as thus designed was on a small scale, suited to a 

 Company who could not contemplate a large expenditure ; but even this 

 was considered too bold, and the measure, after encountering violent 

 Parliamentary opposition, was abandoned. 



A year or two afterwards the Corporation of Manchester determined 

 to take the supply into their own hands, and Mr. Bateman was called 

 in again by them. This time, however, being encouraged by the 

 larger views that prevailed, he laid out a much bolder scheme, 

 going at once into the heart of the district known as the valley of 

 Longdendale, to which his views had already been directed. His 

 plan was adopted by the Corporation, and was sanctioned by Acts of 

 Parliament in 1847 and 1848. The municipality having arranged to 

 buy up the old Company, the new works were put in hand. At 

 first only such portions were executed as were absolutely necessary, 

 but they were enlarged from time to time, as the demand increased, 

 and it was not till 1877 that Mr. Bateman could report that they 

 were completed, and that the water-bearing capabilities of the district 

 were fully realised. 



The work thus created under Mr. Bateman' s hand was certainly a 

 magnificent specimen of engineering power and skill. It consisted 

 chiefly of a series of large artificial impounding lakes, extending 

 over seven miles of the valley. Their aggregate content was 

 735,000,000 cubic feet, and they furnished water for nearly a million 

 of people, as well as a very large and ample water compensation to 

 the millowners on the stream. The total expenditure was about 

 £3,000,000. 



In addition to the reservoirs, the works comprised a multitude of 

 subsidiary works for conveying and distributing the water, and for 

 the regulation of the streams. Among these were several novel 

 hydraulic contrivances of a high order ; one an arrangement for the 

 automatic separation of the clear from the peaty water (the former 

 being sent to the town, and the latter stored for compensation), and 

 another a mechanical gauge basin, by which the quantity of compen- 

 sation water could be actually measured at any moment with great 

 accuracy, for the satisfaction of the millowners. 



Mr. Bateman was always justly proud of this his first great work ; 

 and one of the latest of his life's occupations was to prepare a hand- 

 some volume,* putting fully on record its entire history, and giving an 



* "History and Description of the Manchester Waterworks." By John Frederic 

 La Trobe Bateman, F.B.SS. L. and E. London and Manchester, 1884. 



