ARTESIAN WELLS. i)03 
Artesian Weils are most available, and of the 
greatest use, in low and level districts where 
water cannot be obtained from superficial springs, 
or by ordinary wells of moderate depth. Foun- 
tains of this kind are known by the name of Bloiv 
wells, on the Eastern coast of Lincolnshire, in the 
low district covered by clay between the Wolds 
of Chalk near Louth, and the Sea shore. These 
districts were v/ithout any springs, until it was 
discovered that by boring through this clay to the 
subjacent Chalk, a fountain might be obtained, 
which would flow incessantly to the height of 
several feet above the surface. 
In the King's well at Sheerness sunk in 1781 
through the London clay, into sandy strata of the 
Plastic clay formation, to the depth of 330 feet, 
the water rushed up violently from the bottom, 
and rose within eight feet of the surface. {See 
Phil Trans. 1784.) In the years 1828 and 1829 
two more perfect Artesian wells were sunk nearly 
to the same depth in the Dock yards at Ports- 
mouth and Gosport. 
Wells of this kind have now become frequent 
in the neighbourhood of London, where perpetual 
Fountains are in some places obtained by deep 
perforations through the London clay, into porous 
beds of the Plastic clay formation, or into the 
Chalk.* 
* One of the first Artesian wells near London was that of 
Norland House on the N. W. of Holland House, made in 1794, 
