ABSTRACT
WATER SUPPLY OF LONDON : — T H E CITY CONDUITS : WATER-
WORKS AT LONDON BRIDGE I THE NEW RIVER.
Early sources BEFORE the year 1 2 3 5 - 6 London drew ample stores of of supply. .
water from streams flowing near to or withm the city bounds. Then, and till a much later period, the riverside population found in " silver" Thames a pure and abundant beverage. In more distant streets, sources more accessible were at hand. Such were the brooks and bournes, the names of which still survive in Walbrook,
Wells and Holborn (formerly Oldebourne), and Langbourne. Besides running streams, Fitz-Stephen,1 the earliest historian of London, in his often-quoted description of the city, written during the latter half of the twelfth century, mentions with enthusiasm the sweet, wholesome and clear springs rising in its northern suburbs : 4 4 Sunt etiam circa Londoniam ab Aquilone suburbani fontes prascipuae, aqua dulci, salubri, perspicua, et 4 per claros rivo trepidante lapillos.'" Among them he refers to Holy "Well, Clerken Well, and St. Clement's Well (" fons sacer, fons clericorum, fons sancti dementis"), then much visited by scholars and city youths in their walks on summer evenings. Stow says that in his time "every street and lane" had 44 divers fair wells" and springs, which served the city with 44 sweet and fresh water."2 He also speaks of Flete river, or river of the Wells, so named in a charter granted by William the Conqueror to the college of St. Martin-le-Grand, and once navigable to Oldbourne bridge.3
