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XXIY. 
ON THE SHRINKAGE OF THE UPPER SOURCES OF THE 
RIVER LEA. 
By James Saunders, A.L.S. 
Bead at Watford, 1 6 th December, 1902. 
Until about the year 1885 the highest source of the River Lea 
was situated at Houghton Regis, Beds. There was then a fine 
body of water, which flowed easterly from that village, and 
was augmented by copious springs at Icknield Hole in Leagrave 
parish. Passing thence under the Midland Railway at Leagrave 
Marsh, the stream was again increased by numerous springs at this 
place. Flowing easterly it was fed by a tributary called Cats 
Brook, and again by a fine head of water which originated in Biscot 
Meadows, situated two miles and a half north of Luton. 
By the early part of the year 1902 all these sources had become 
dry, with the exception of the springs at the north-east corner of 
Leagrave Marsh. Until the Summer of 1901 the highest source 
was at the north-west end of Leagrave Marsh, but this has been 
dry from that period, so that the present highest source of the Lea 
is about a quarter of a mile to the east of that point, and is 
situated at the north-east corner of the Marsh, closely adjoining 
the ancient camp named Wauluds Bank. 
There are at this place about a dozen springs which originate in 
the Lower Chalk. These springs have become very much reduced 
in volume during the last ten years. Formerly their united 
outflow produced a rapid stream at least three yards wide and nine 
or ten inches deep. Now the flow is diminished to about three feet 
in width and two or three inches in depth. 
This is sufficient to form a shallow brook, which flows easterly 
through Limbury and Biscot, but as it does not receive any 
additional supply from springs which were formerly very numerous 
in this part of its course, it gradually diminishes in volume, so that 
when it reaches the New Bedford Road, a mile and a half north of 
Luton, its current is very feeble. 
Turning thence in a south-easterly course, it continues for nearly 
a quarter of a mile, when, having reached a point about one 
hundred yards from Stocking Stone bridge, the stream disappears 
and the river-bed is quite dry. The shrinkage of water over the 
last fifty yards is very marked, though there is no suggestion of an 
aperture through which the water may pass to a lower level. It 
is as though percolation and evaporation were in excess of the 
•supply received from the higher portions of the river-bed. 
At Brammingham Shott, about 200 yards south-east of this 
point, there is a deep well, the presence of which may partly 
account for the rapid disappearance of the stream. From this 
point, which is a few yards north of the boundary of Luton 
township, the river-bed is dry through the whole of Luton and 
