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— 6 —
New River." In bringing the pure waters of the Chadwell and
Amwell springs to London over 300 years ago, Sir Hugh
Myddelton performed an act of almost unparalleled importance.
Indomitable fighter as he was, he could never have succeeded
without the moral support of the Corporation of London and the
never-to-be-forgotten financial aid of King James I., who
guaranteed half the expenses and was entitled to half the profits.
There were thirty-six adventurers who shared the other half of
the profits or losses, each adventurer having practically a l/72nd
stake in the undertaking. The original adventurers had no issued
shares, they simply stood to gain or lose on a proportionate
l/72nd basis. The so-called shares were in reality undivided
parts of a freehold estate, descending to the heir-in-law in case
of death or intestacy and conveyed in the same manner as landed
property. It has been computed that about 1611 the capital
value of each adventurer's share was £336, with, as it turned out,
a waiting period of twenty years before receipts exceeded expenditure.
In time, increasing dividends were paid (£2,924 a share
in 1900), and the value of the shares materially increased with
the dividend, the record price being for part of a share sold in
1896 at the rate of £128,500 for the entire share. The Arbitration
Court awarded the New River Company the sum of £5,967,123
for their undertaking.
The New River, which is now twenty-seven miles long, commenced
originally at Chadwell Springs (named after St. Chad)
above Ware. Practically the New River may now be said to start
from the intake on the upper River Lea at King's Mead, Hertford.
A little below the junction of the upper Lea and the Chadwell
channels is the first of fourteen wells, the water of which is
pumped into the New River along its course. These wells and
Chadwell Springs raise the volume of New River water from a
minimum of 22.5 million gallons, taken from the Lpper Lea at
King's Mead, to an average of about 35 million gallons per day
at Homsey, although the maximum yield must be at least 55
million gallons.
Sir Alexander Houston gives a delightful description of the
passage of the New River through Hertfordshire and Middlesex,
and illustrates his narrative with numbers of beautiful photographs.