SPRINGS. 319 
Banbury has been supplied with water from the river Cherwell 
at Grimsbury, about a mile above the town. The water contains 
25 grains per gallon of " solid impurity " ;* the total mineral 
salts, according to Mr. T. Beesley, being nearly 20 grains per 
gallon. In very dry seasons (as I am informed by Mr. E. A. 
Walford) there is hardly sufficient water to maintain the stream 
below the intake of the water-company. The town was formerly 
supplied by wells sunk, through the Marlstone, &c., to depths of 
from 10 to 150 feet. 
In this account we have omitted reference to water obtained 
from the Drift sands and gravels that in places overlie the Lias. 
In most cases such water is liable to pollution, but if obtained 
from sands and gravels under Boulder Clay, the water may be 
good. An abundant supply of hard water was thus obtained at 
Fleckney in Leicestershire, at a depth of 45 feet.t 
Some of the more prominent springs have, through their 
legendary virtues or associations, been designated Holy Wells, or 
named after some Saint ; others have a local reputation from 
their constancy. 
At Glastonbury Abbey there is a Holy Well, known as St. Mary's Well. 
(See p. 320.) There is also a spring on Edmund Hill, known as St. Edmund's 
or Elder Well. This has been used to supply the town of Glastonbury; but I 
am informed by Mr. T. C. Luff (1892), that since a shock of an earthquake, 
some 15 or 20 years ago, the yield has been much smaller than it formerly was. 
At Southam there is a Holy Well, north-west of the town ; it rises in the 
Lower Lias limestones, and has been utilized as a source of supply to the 
town. 
South-east of Priors Marston, in Warwickshire, there is the Shutwell Spring 
that issues from the Marlstone. 
Thackson's Well, south-west of Foston, in Lincolnshire, is a perennial 
spring that issues from the Lower Lias, near a line of fault. 
The underground waters in the Jurassic rocks all contain some 
mineral ingredients, and the surface-waters, the streams and 
rivers consequently convey similar materials in a much more 
diluted form. 
Springs which come to the surface through argillaceous strata, 
must be of an artesian character, and must find egress through 
cracks in these otherwise impervious beds. 
In dry seasons it is noticeable how deep the surface-cracks are, 
while at a considerable distance down, most clays are in an 
indurated condition, as shown by- cores from borings. Hence 
water from a considerable depth may rise through joints or faults 
in argillaceous strata. In this way only can we account for the 
rising of waters, as at Bath, Cheltenham, or Shearsby, through 
the Lias clays, or at Purton through the Oxford Clay. 
During the dry season of 1885, I noticed huge cracks in the 
fields and also in the roads, on the Oxford Clay near Witham 
Friary in Somerset ; and in some sections of the Lower Lias and 
other formations, where clays with bands of limestone occur, it 
* Keport of Rivers Pollution Commission, p. 50. 
f De Bailee, Keport, Brit. Assoe. for 1880, p. 106. 
