ADDITIONAL NOTES ON TREE-TRUNK WATER-PIPES. 239
APPENDIX.
The foregoing remarks were in type early in October, 190
The following notes are the result of information received since
that date.
In the first place, Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S., etc.,
kindly tells me (Oct. 20) that he saw tree-trunk water-pipes in use
in Germany in the year 1839.
I am indebted to my cousin, Miss E. Graham, for the
following remarks from the Daily Mail, of Oct. 26, 1903.
" Trees as Water Mains.— While some workmen in Newcastle (Stafford-
shire) were making some excavations at Penkhull Street for the purpose of
laying an electric light cable they made a most interesting find.
Two or three feet below the footpath they came across a number of trunks of
trees, with a 5m. bore in the middle, and banded with iron.
It is asserted that between two and three hundred years ago these were used
as water-mains. The wood was in a good state of preservation, and in some
cases the bark was still attached."
It is evident from the above account that the former use of
tree-trunk pipes for the conveyance of water is by no means a
matter of common knowledge in Staffordshire.
Our Secretary, Mr. W. Cole, has been good enough to
forward to me the following extract from the Daily Mirror, of
Nov. 2, 1903 :—
A Desirable Possession.—Mr. Myddelton, of Chirk, whose marriage to Mrs.
Reginald Bingham took place on Saturday, is the owner of the oldest inhabited
castle in England except Berkeley Castle, It possesses everything which an
ancient castle should possess—dungeons, drawbridge, peacocks, sundials, and a
ladies' garden, with grassy walks. The castle itself is built on a hill, and from
its windows it is averred that fourteen counties can be seen. One of Mr.
Myddelton's ancestors was Sir Hugh Myddelton, the founder of the New River
Company, and one of the original wooden conduits is still preserved in the hall at
Chirk.
Chirk is in Denbighshire, on the border of Shropshire, and
about six miles north of Oswestry. The preservation of this
"original wooden conduit" (even in a house inhabited by
descendants of Sir Hugh Myddelton) suggests that such
appliances were almost or wholly unknown on the Welsh Border
in the time of James I.
I am indebted to Mr. J. L. Myres, M.A., F.S.A., for the
information that he has learned from his uncle, a resident in
Lancashire, that wooden water pipes were formerly common in