40 
THE MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 
From about 1400 to 1848 the town was supplied with this 
water; and from 1887, the date when the Water Company 
was formed, to 1848, this was the only source of supply the 
Water Company had, and it was obtained from a well near 
the Billing Road, where the present deep well is, and 
conveyed to a reservoir on The Mounts, near to the Borough 
Jail. The source of the Ise and one of the sources of the 
Nen are supplied from these Inferior Oolite springs. 
There is a fairly abundant supply of water from the iron¬ 
stone springs of this neighbourhood—altogether, probably, 
sufficient for the use of Northampton if it could be collected 
and utilised; but this, I think, is impossible for several 
reasons; and, as so many people in the town still have a very 
high opinion of the quality of the water from these sources, 
I may as well point out the objections to it. 
In the first case, there would be considerable difficulty in 
getting the supply from these beds, because the beds 
themselves are most frequently found in this neighbourhood 
only capping the hills, in which situation no considerable 
accumulation of water could take place in any one hill, the 
water can so easily discharge itself on the sides; and to 
collect the water from a number of hills would be a very 
expensive undertaking. Of course, the water running from 
these hills finds its way into channels—brooks and streams— 
and ultimately into the river; but then it has all the 
drawbacks of a river supply. During the great scarcity of 
water a year or two back, the water from these beds on a hill 
to the north-east of Northampton was utilised, and formed a 
very valuable addition to the rapidly diminishing Marlstone 
supply. By going further away from Northampton, some of 
the drawbacks above alluded to, and those to be alluded to, 
would be obviated ; and at the present time, largely assisted 
by the Drift, the Northampton Band does furnish North¬ 
ampton with water. 
Secondly : These springs are rather superficial; the water 
has not to pass through much sand—the filtering medium— 
either to get down to the clay or to find an exit; consequently, 
although it is an excellent filtering medium, water from this 
bed near to towns or villages must be regarded with suspicion. 
Asa matter of fact, water from this bed in the town and some 
of the adjacent villages is not good. Most of the public 
springs and pumps in the town have been condemned and 
closed. 
Thirdly : Since by far the greater part of Northampton is 
built upon the Inferior Oolite, nearly all the culverts are laid 
in it, also the cemetery and all the graveyards are in it, so 
