96 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
works Bridge, we come to Tumbling Bay and Lea Bridge, and the depot of the
East London Waterworks Company.
Thus far Mr. Crouch, and here at Lea Bridge a landing was made, and
Colonel Bryan conducted the party over the works, fully explaining the astonish-
ing array of powerful pumping engines, eight in number, and distributing a
printed memorandum giving details of the construction and capabilities of work
of each of these. There are also several turbines for pumping water, and which
are actuated by the fall of the River Lea.
The East London Water Company commenced in 1807 and 1808, when the
proprietors became possessors of the Shadwell Water Works, established in 1669,
and the West Ham Water Works, which originated in 1747. In 1829 the Com-
pany purchased the Hackney Water Works and the Lea Bridge Mills, and
obtained an Act in the same year, under which they removed their intake from
Old Ford to Lea Bridge, the works at Old Ford being finally abandoned early
in 1892.
In 1852-1853 they obtained an Act enabling them to construct large settling
reservoirs at Walthamstow. These are eight in number, with an area of 236 acres,
and filter beds at Lea Bridge, of which there are twenty-five, with a joint area of
twenty-four acres ; also to make the intercepting drain west of the Lea from
Ponder's End to Tottenham Lock, to intercept all sewage likely to pollute the
water above their intake. In 1867 an Act was obtained for increasing the number
of reservoirs at Walthamstow and filters at Lea Bridge. In 1886 the Company ob-
tained an Act for diverting certain portions of the River Lea and also the Ching
Brook, a small tributary which joined the old Lea above the intake, but the
diversion of the Ching prevents any pollution reaching it. In 1883 Chingford
Mill was acquired by this Company, and a well and borehole sunk into the chalk
450 feet below the surface.
This Company is also extending its operations by sinking wells and driving
galleries in the chalk in various directions. Exceptional difficulties, Colonel
Bryan said, were encountered in sinking the cylinders. From the surface of the
ground to the chalk was entirely quicksand. The water is raised by a differential
engine. The supply of pure deep well water thus derived will be a valuable
addition to the Company's resources.
Major Flower, from whose interesting pamphlet, "The River Lee Up-to-
date,"4 these particulars are taken, says : "I have no detail of the amount which
this Company has expended in works to improve their water, but it has been
something considerable. The last half-yearly Report of the Directors gives the
capital expenditure from 1807 to 1893, as, in round figures, two and a-half
millions."
As in the case of the New River Company, the early returns were small—the
average dividend from the establishment of the Company was 21/2 per cent. per
annum, and for four years there was no dividend at all.
Quoting from the Report for 1891-92, of the Water Examiner—Major-Genl.
Scott—to the Local Government Board, in 1891 the East London supplied daily,
on an average, 41,580,135 gallons to 1,158,500 persons in 170,967 houses. A
portion of the water so distributed was drawn from the Thames at Sunbury.
The total quantity of water for the year from all sources was 15,176,749,253
gallons.
4 Copies of this little book were given to those on board by Major Flower, and it formed
a memento of the occasion well worthy of preservation.