Water boreholes

PURE WATER was an essential ingredient for the economy of Bourne in past times and the operation involved in bringing it to the surface is one of engineering ingenuity and the drilling of frequent boreholes at various points around the locality.

The product from the town's underground springs had been famous for centuries and was even being exported 300 years ago, a list of goods from August 1724 showing that 129 bottles of Bourne water had been shipped to Holland. But it was enterprising businessmen during Victorian times who realised that this water was an asset to be exploited and were soon marketing the abundant natural supplies on a very large scale. In 1845, Mr. Robert Mason Mills took over a chemist’s shop in West Street and in 1864 began the bottling of aerated mineral water in a factory behind the premises under the name of R M Mills & Company.

Water for the bottling and aeration process was drawn from a borehole that had been sunk in North Road by the newly-formed Bourne Waterworks Company in 1856 by natural artesian pressure and the company, Bourne Waters, was given a seal of approval when it was granted a Royal Warrant by Queen Victoria's son, HRH the Duke of Connaught. The industry spawned several other firms, notably Lea and Green Limited, but all needed boreholes to extract their supplies and they were drilled at various places around the town to meet both commercial and public demand, on the site of the new market place in front of the Corn Exchange and in Manning Road on land now occupied by Browning Court. The Pinfold bore was sunk by the water company behind the Marquis of Granby public house in Abbey Road but its water had a high contamination of iron and rotting vegetation, causing problems for householders and breweries who used it.

Boreholes were also sunk in those areas where users were having difficulties with water supplies and some of these were financed by private individuals. In August 1887, following complaints about the inadequacy of the supply, a boring was made in the yard at the rear of the Bull Hotel (now the Burghley Arms), reaching a depth of 93ft 2in and subsequently producing water at the rate of 170 gallons a minute. The operation was carried out by Messrs Thomas Nowell of Bourne at a cost of £30. In September that year, a borehole was also drilled on Mr Henry Goodyear's property in the Austerby where it reached a depth of 104ft despite some technical difficulties with the equipment caused when it reached a layer of solid rock.

The borehole sunk by the waterworks company in West Street, near Manor Lane, in March 1888 was among the most important in the history of the town because, as a local newspaper reported on Friday 2nd March: "The inhabitants of Bourne have now the benefit of a plentiful supply of good water, the bore producing 280,000 gallons of water of excellent quality daily. 150 yards of new piping for the purpose of connecting with the main drain have been laid down and the water is now in full supply."

Two important boreholes were sunk in Bourne during 1891. The first, in March, was completed by Messrs Eldred to supply the new brick works that had been opened near Stamford Hill for construction work by the Midland Railway Company and the contractors found a plentiful supply at 81 ft 9 in, the average depth of borings in Bourne at that time being 95 ft.

In the same year, Nowell were instructed by the railway company to sink a borehole to supply the new railway station, a short distance from the Red Hall. The work was completed in April with a bore of 2½ in. in diameter and a depth of 85 feet. A report on the project said: "The quality of the water is excellent and although the bore is small, the quantity is amply sufficient to supply the whole of Bourne."

But the deepest and most productive of all of Bourne's boreholes was in the Austerby that was drilled during the spring of 1893 and for an artesian well of its size, was acclaimed by the experts as being one of the most powerful springs in Britain. The drilling was carried out on the property of Mr John T Swift by a well-known artesian well borer called Mr Gribble. Five separate springs were reached by the drilling, each yielding a copious supply of water, although the main spring had not been tapped before in Bourne. Despite difficulties during the drilling operations the borehole was successfully sunk with a 2½ inch pipe that was sealed once supplies had been achieved and engineers reported that the new spring was of exceptional power and quality.

Drilling operations continued well into the next century and by 1969, there were an estimated 130 artesian bores within the urban district of Bourne, supplying farms, factories and housing developments. However, all water in the Bourne area is now drawn out through boreholes administered by Anglian Water which supplies a much larger catchment area, often to the disadvantage of the town because both St Peter's Pool and the Bourne Eau have been known to dry up during spells of drought in recent years.

Boring for new wells needed an expert and there were several of them in the Bourne area. John Elwes Noble of Thurlby was one of the better known and he carried out drillings for many local authorities and industrial firms. His son also worked in the business which was later known as John Elwes Noble & Son, and they sent details of the strata and location of every bore they drilled to the Geological Society in London which assisted them in their compilation of the geological survey of England and Wales which survives to this day.