THE MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
109 
THE MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
BY BEEBY THOMPSON, F.G.S., F.C.S. 
The Remedy. 
( Continued from page 100j. 
There is no doubt whatever that the natural distribution 
of water in England has been considerably disturbed of late 
years by artificial means. Not being content with the 
quantity or purity of the water obtained from the hillside 
springs, or shallow wells, the deep-seated reservoirs have 
been tapped and pumped as though there could be no limit 
to the amount of water in them. Again, not being satisfied 
with the dryness of our fields we have artificially drained 
them, and so cut off some of the water which otherwise 
would have got into the porous beds below, and consequently 
at the same time helped to produce extensive and destructive 
floods. The particular object of the following pages is to 
endeavour to show how the equilibrium may be largely 
restored by putting into the porous beds of a district much 
of the water which is now naturally and artificially kept out 
of them, together with any additional surplus water that may 
be available. The details of the method proposed for the 
application of this in Northamptonshire are as follows :—In 
most of the valleys around Northampton there are times 
of the year when they are visited with considerable 
floods; many fields seem almost constantly under water 
in winter time, owing to the fact that they are lower 
than the water in the river when the river is high, and 
so they have nowhere to drain into. An artificial well or 
swallow-hole, about 100ft. in depth on the average, more to 
the east and less to the west, would enable this water to run 
away into the porous beds of the Middle Lias, where it is so 
much needed. 
Description of Plates II. and III. 
Plate II. 
Section across the Nen Valley between Northampton and Harding- 
stone, showing the supposed arrangement of alluvium, river gravel, &c. 
Plate III. 
Diagramatic section, showing the general relation of proposed 
dumb wells to the surrounding strata. 
