Good Water's Worth

I've had a shower, done the washing up and now sit here with a welcome cup of tea. There's always plenty of good water in the tap. No need to pump it or carry it home. But once clean drinking water was not so plentiful. Although medieval towns were built beside rivers, the water soon became polluted and unpalatable....

...though you could always buy beer from the pub!

I was reminded of this when I stopped to take a photo of something which I, along with most of the population of Cambridge, have also come take for granted. This rather ornate feature stands on the corner of Lensfield Road and Trumpington Street; it has a little plaque to remind you of its former importance.

In 1614, it says, the University and the Town worked together to have a supply of running water brought into the centre of town. A watercourse was constructed from springs near Great Shelford. The monument above now marks the end of the watercourse (the water travels in culverts for the remainder of its journey), but it once stood in the market square where it served as a public fountain from which townspeople could carry their water.

One of the chief benefactors was Thomas Hobson, the carrier, and the stream became known as Hobson's Conduit or Brook. You may well have heard of Hobson before in the phrase "Hobson's choice", for he also hired out horses, but insisted on a strict rotation system to keep the horses fresh; you had to have the horse that was next in line, so "Hobson's choice" meant no choice at all!

Although the Conduit is no longer needed to supply water it brings a little taste of nature right next to one of the main roads into the modern city.

Some of the water makes its way into runnels beside Trumpington Street, a source of great wonder to me when I was four years old!

But there was an even older conduit, dating from 1325 which supplied water to the town and colleges. You can still see a tap just outside the Great Gate of Trinity College. A sign says that the water's not fit for drinking but that's just what it was used for for centuries. The water is still used for the fountain in Trinity College (below).

But it was the gift of another fountain, to King's College, that caused the greatest improvement in water quality. The college authorities were put in a difficult position by this gift because there was not an adequate supply of water to power the fountain; it was for this reason that Provost Okes and Dr Whewell set about founding a water company. The supply of water for the town to drink was a useful but unintentional bi-product of their scheme.

As for the water in the river - even the local Moorhens prefer to drink coffee!

Take care.