WATER SUPPLY : GREAT OOLITE SERIES. 509 
J. H. Taunton.* The Bitnell spring at Ewen, near Kemble, yields about 
one million gallons daily. 
The Thames Head, near Trewsbury Castle, south-west of Cirencester, 
is a spring that issues from the Great Oolite : it is a bourne that varies 
in its outlet according to the level of saturation in the rocks. In the 
same neighbourhood there is a spring called the " Winter well," described 
by John Bravender as intermittent, as " it only discharges at certain 
seasons when there is a large body of water descending the plane of the 
stratification of the Fuller's Earth, when it rises higher in the bed of the 
Oolite than the surface it discharges, but whenever the water falls below 
that point the spring ceases to flow." Bravender also states that at the 
pumping-station south of Thames Head bridge, there is a well " 64 feet 
deep, and for months together the engine throws up more than 3,000,000 
gallons into the summit level of the Thames and Severn canal every day.''f 
He mentioned that in March 1864, when pumping had been going on for 
two years, with cessations of only a few hours at a time, there were 26 feet 
of water in the wells, and the engine was making no impression on it. 
Subsequently in a very dry season, he found there were 9 feet of water in 
the well, and the engine was producing no effect on the level, although 
the country was dry and there was scarcely any water in any of the 
rivers or brooks. He considered that the water held up by the Fuller's 
Earth in the neighbourhood of Thames Head would not reach 
the surface in summer time. Prof. Allen Harker haa stated that the 
Thames rose in Trewsbury Mead before the Canal Company put in their 
pumping-machine ; now it rises half a mile or more lower down its course. 
A well-boring at Tarlton, to the north-west, was carried to a depth of 
100 feet (in 1893) without finding water. 
At the Trewsbury new well, 54 feet deep, the water (as stated by Prof. 
Harker) varies with the seasons. 
In the area between Cirencester, Fairford, and Northleach, there are 
several important springs, which issue from the Great Oolite, and these 
were gauged by Bravender. The Seven Springs, west of Northleach, 
yield about half-a-million gallons daily. Other springs occur at Rend- 
comb, Winson Q million gallons daily), Ablington (2 million gallons), 
Bibnry (12 million gallons), and Ampney Crucis (12 million gallons). J 
Shallow wells at Cirencester carried into the Great Oolite have yielded 
water at depths of 20 to 65 feet: that at the market-place (about 20 feet 
deep) has, according to Bravender, never been known to be entirely dry. 
A well at the Bacon Factory, 89 feet deep, yields about 20,000 gallons a 
day from the Great Oolite, as stated by Prof. Harker. 
The strata at Cirencester are however faulted in places, and conse- 
quently some wells have been sunk from 80 to nearly 180 feet before 
reaching a sufficient supply of water in the Great Oolite. A boring for 
Earl Bathurst, at the Barton, was carried to a depth of 148 feet : the 
water rose above the surface at the rate of 18 gallons per minute. A 
boring for the Cirencester Water Works Company, at Lewis Lane, 
described by Prof. Harker, showed the following section : 
FT. IN-. 
Made ground - 7 
Valley gravel - - - - 12 
Kellaways sand and clay ... - 26 4 
Cornbrash - - - - - - - 13 8 
Forest Marble - - - - - - 65 9 
Great Oolite - - - - - - 52 9 
177 6 
At a depth of 130 feet water was obtained at the rate of about 40,000 
gallons per day of 10 hours ; the boring was continued for the purpose of 
getting an increased supply, 
* Proc. Cotteswold Club, vol. ix. p. 70. 
t Report, Domestic Water Supply, p. 468. 
j Report, Domestic Water Supply, pp. 298, 467. 
