66
ON TREE-TRUNK WATER-PIPES.
some brief notes "On Ancient Water Pipes" by Mr. H. Syer
Cuming, in which the following passage occurs:—
"The Romans, like ourselves, employed three materials in the manufacture of
their ordinary piping for the conveyance of water, namely wood, earthenware, and
metal. Pliny (XVI.-42) records that the pine, fir, and alder were wrought into
water pipes, and that when bedded in the earth they lasted for many years", and
that their resistance to decay was greatly increased if the outside of the stem was left
in contact with the water. I have seen a few examples of hollowed trunks of trees
which have been exhumed in London from depths which would favour the idea that
they were of Roman or Roman-British origin, though there was no direct evidence
to fix the period. The Treenpipes found near the Mansion House, within a year or
two, were unquestionably of very ancient date."
Most of Mr. Syer Cuming's remarks are on bamboo, terra
cotta, lead and leather pipes. But he adds:—
" There are yet points in the history of these conduits which it would be well
to learn a little respecting, as for instance, when was the folded tube of lead
superseded by one cast as a cylinder, and when was the huge Treen pipe
abandoned for one of iron."
He also remarks in a note, p. 186 :—
" I have been told that iron water pipes began to be laid down in London
about forty years since. The old elm tree pipes were removed from Pall Mall
about the year 1860, and in part of Piccadilly they remained in use till 1864."
Of course the difficulty is to make sure that the pipes were in
use, and not merely in place, in 1864.
On searching Notes and Queries, I could find nothing about
wooden water pipes previous to 1899. But in the number for
June 10, 1899, there is the following paragraph from the Daily
Telegraph of May 8th, 1899 : —
" Ancient Water-Pipes.—During the progress of some excavations along
Oxford Street, east of Marble Arch, the workmen recently came upon quite a
number of the ancient wooden pipes formerly used to convey water through the
streets of London. They consist of small elm trees, usually about ten or twelve
inches in diameter, cut into six or seven feet lengths, and were laid down in the
early days of the New River Water Company.....Elm was used as it
was round to resist the pressure of the water better than any other cheap timber,
and was less liable to decay. The pipes were of the rudest construction, being
simply the trees denuded of their bark and bored with a hole six inches in
diameter. One end of each length was tapered to fit into the slightly widened
bore of the length laid before it, and a few blows of a wooden mallet served to fix
it into its place. The pipes were very troublesome. They were liable to burst
during frosts, they leaked considerably, and they had to be frequently renewed.
Nearly four hundred miles of them were laid in London, and as it was not worth
the trouble to take them up when they were gradually replaced by metal pipes,
there must be many scores of miles of them still underground.