In the 16th century the supply of water at Bo’ness was obtained from wells, many fed from springs, and the quantity was not problematic because the population could be counted in the hundreds and the wells were numerous. With the great increase in trade that occurred over the following centuries the population grew considerably and water shortages occurred. The matter was made much worse by the coal mining in the hill to the south which disrupted the flow to many of the springs. As this activity increased, more and more of the springs were affected and by the middle of the 18th century the problem of water shortages was becoming acute.
The wells of this late period were artificial in that the water was piped in from elsewhere for distribution at the well-heads. The Town Well, also known as St John’s Well, was created in 1669. The well-head sat in the old Market Place on South Street at the junction with Schoolyard Brae and was placed over a stone tank or reservoir. The water had to be pumped out using a hand-operated mechanism. The original source of the water may have been at the Braehead where a large fountain head or storage tank is shown on the 1855 Ordnance Survey map on the south-east corner of the junction of what are now Braehead Road and Cadzow Lane.
An Act of 1769 gave the Harbour Trustees of Bo’ness power to contract for springs and build reservoirs, but there were no funds. The only sums that the Trustees could raise were by voluntary subscription using an assessment and from the liberality of the Dukes of Hamilton. Petitions and complaints were frequently lodged, and in June 1778, it is minuted that “Almost the whole town is in great distress for want of fresh water, which has of late become exceedingly scarce” (Salmon 1913, 255). It was therefore resolved to get estimates from properly qualified surveyors to bring water to the town through lead, earthen, or wooden pipes. Although not clear, this was probably an attempt to augment the supply to the Town Well which as well as serving the town centre was also used to supply ships in the harbour. A few years were spent in getting the estimates and in September, 1781 it was decided to tap a site at the Western Engine to the south of the town near Graham’s Dyke (the Antonine Wall) and to lead it down to the meeting-house by means of an open ditch. In the end wooden pipes were used and the work was contracted out to Charles Sinclair for £187.
Bo’ness expanded northwards using land reclaimed from the Forth and so it was not possible to sink wells in the northern quarter of the town as salt water would inevitably seep in. In 1818 it was decided to establish another pipe-fed supplementary well in the new market square on the south side of North Street. It was necessary to augment the original source and so additional hard water was obtained from the vicinity of the hamlet of Borrowstoun, 1.2km to the south, where a small reservoir was constructed. Here there was an ancient well known as St John’s Well.
Trials were made using wooden pipes but the pressure of the water due to the difference in height was too much and so they had to resort to cast iron supplied by the Shotts Iron Company on the lower ground.
The new well in North Street was welcomed but the pipes to it bypassed those living up the hill to the south of South Street. In 1825 a memorial was submitted to the Harbour Trustees representing the grievances of some of the population.
The main problem was the want of a sufficient supply of soft water, and the deficiency of the number of wells. It was stated that the diameter of the water pipes was completely inadequate to the consumption of 630 families. Their request therefore was that the trustees should devote the assessment made on the town solely to the supplying of all parts of the town with water, that they should cause pipes of a sufficient size to be laid from St. John’s Well to the reservoir, that they should leave a branch pipe at the corner of the school area for the accommodation of the scholars and of nearly thirty families residing in that quarter (a great proportion of whom were old people, and very unable to carry water up the hill), and that they would cause two additional wells to be erected for the benefit of the east and west ends of the town, and adopt such regulations as would prevent any of the water from being carried out of the parish. They concluded by stating that if the Trustees refused their requests, they would feel it a duty incumbent on them to resist payment of the assessment, and to seek redress in a higher quarter (Salmon 1913, 262). In fact, the assessment was not there for the sole provision of water and over the previous two year £433 had been spent upon it which was more than the sum raised in a single year.
The water must have been pumped out of the pit by its operator in order that he could work the coal. New distribution pipes were laid in the main street and additional wells added.
In 1868 the Trustees for the Town and Harbour of Bo’ness used the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1867, to form a Special Water Supply District from Thirlstane on the east, to the western boundary of the grass glebe of the Minister of the Parish of Borrowstounness on the west; and from Graham’s Dyke on the South, to the sea at low water of Spring tides on the north. This gave them powers to obtain land and borrow money. That year the Temple Pit closed and a new supply had to be found. It turned up at a neighbouring pit to the east – the Causey Pit at Northbank. Mr Barrowman, the town’s engineer, arranged for a mine to connect the sources underground and in June 1869 it was completed by Alexander Lumsden for £66 12s 3d. Mr Begg, the pit owner, agreed to get the water pumped on Sundays in order to supply the town, and also during the Bo’ness fair holidays. At this time it was raised from the Causey by a gin driven by two horses and allowed to gravitate into the reservoir. In August 1869 it was reported that the pump, which
“had been going for two days this week, as it now stood showed 22 feet of water” (Falkirk Herald 7 August 1869, 3).
It was agreed to get a practical person to inspect the workings, and ascertain where the best point would be from which to obtain a continual supply. It was also agreed to advertise for contracts to undertake the erection of the necessary machinery for pumping the supply and Grangepans was added to the grid. However, it was discovered that the water in the Causey Pit was too low to be of use and Mr Barrowman provided what water he could spare from the Mingle Pit. During the summer drought in 1870 the town had to rely upon the Bo’ness Distillery of Vannan & Begg for water. The time that the public were allowed to draw water from the system was limited. For the time being Bo’ness had to rely upon water pumped out of the mines and this was not sustainable.
Augmentation of the water from No. 25 Pit near Bonhard was considered to be too expensive and so the Trustees looked at a possible source at Avonbank, but William Forbes would not agree to its use. John Paul, the town’s master of works, and Mr Barrowman, then investigated the Cauldwell Spring and the Langland Springs near Inveravon. They were considered to have insufficient water. Provost Dawson offered water from his Bonnytoun estate, but again it was too small. And so in 1875 they returned to No. 25 Pit for a temporary supply. Polmont Hill and Myrehead were looked at.
In August 1876 the master of works summed up the situation:
“Nearly the whole of the country for the distance of seven miles southward of Bo’ness is highly cultivated and thickly populated, and the various systems flowing through it have been more or less utilised for mills and manufactories, and their waters so polluted as to render them very unsuitable for domestic use. I have therefore directed my visitations chiefly to those portions of the district where the springs have not yet been appropriated, and where tolerably clear surface water can be obtained…
Polmont Hill Scheme – the burn to the westward of Polmont Hill rises in Gardrum Moss about four miles further west, and flows into the Avon a little below Polmont Neuk. This burn, from which an ample supply could be obtained for the lowest part of the town becomes so contaminated in its course as to be quite unfit for domestic use when it reaches Gilston Farm, and apparently, on this account, the Grangemouth authorities, who are taking a supply a little below this point, have sunk a series of bores near to the portion from which they are to draw a limited supply, instead of from the burn, which they are taking every precaution to exclude from their supply pipes. Immediately above the spot of their operations, and upon the property of the Duke of Hamilton, there are a few unappropriated springs rising on the east side of the burn. These springs drain a basin of about 200 acres, and if they were all collected at the lowest point, they would yield a minimum supply of about 45,000 gallons per day. There would, however, be great difficulty in collecting and separating the particular springs from the surface water, which, unless carefully filtered, would not be of good quality.
The available spring water supply from this district cannot therefore be safely assumed at more than 25,000 gallons per day. It is not improbable, however, that it might be increased by putting down two or three bores. In addition to the spring water, about 150,000 gallons of surface water per day might be obtained by the construction of two reservoirs. The height at which the water could be drawn off would be about 100 feet above high water. It would therefore be available only for that portion of the town lying below the 80 feet contour.
I have intimated the cost in two ways – 1st, for a supply of 25,000 gallons of spring water, the supply pipe to extend to the harbour, if taken by tunnel direct, the cost would be £4,500; if taken by the deviation round the hill, £2,500; 2d, for 100,000 gallons direct by tunnel, including reservoirs, filters, & c. £7,000; do, by detour, £5,200.
Myrehead Scheme – this is a large flat district, having a drainage area of 500 acres, and the minimum of water in the burn at the lowest point would seldom be less than 100,000 gallons per day, but there are no well-defined springs. It would therefore be necessary in dealing with the district to construct reservoirs in it, from which would be excluded all flood water. There are no good natural sites for such reservoirs, and they would require to be mostly excavated, which would materially increase the cost. The level at which the water can be drawn off would be about 110 feet” (Falkirk Herald 19 August 1876, 4).
The matter could not be laid to rest and so the Trustees employed Stewart and Menzies, engineers, Edinburgh, to report upon various sources which had been suggested. After surveying the country within ten miles of the town they reported in favour of a supply being drawn from springs issuing from the limestone rocks at Bowden Hill, near Easter Carribber, about two miles south-west of Linlithgow. In September 1876 the Trustees unanimously approved of and adopted their recommendation. The Scheme included the formation of a collecting reservoir at East Carribber, upon the property of Mr Blair of Avontoun, capable of containing about 15 million gallons of water. An iron pipe, 7 inches in diameter, would take the water by way of Linlithgow Bridge, Little Mill, and Bo’mains, to a screening tank (Borrowsoun 2)), situated on the high ground at Borrowstoun village, and distant about five miles from Carribber and one mile from Bo’ness. Filters were not considered necessary at this stage. The scheme was devised for an ultimate delivery of 350,000 gallons per day. The pipeline had to cross the Avon valley and ascend the hill at Flints, considerably reducing the water pressure to the Borrowstoun reservoir. At the same time, a complete system of new service pipes was laid throughout the town and suburbs and also to the docks.
Owing to the great scarcity of water in Bo’ness. the pipeline was laid and water delivered directly from one of the springs called the Pappa Hole in September 1878 before the reservoir at Carribber was constructed. McFarlane & Co, Glasgow, provided the cast iron pipes. In July 1878 the contract for that reservoir was awarded to Masterton for about £1,400 and completed on 5 June 1879 with a capacity of sixteen million gallons at a cost of £1,175
A series of summer droughts persuaded the Bo’ness Commissioners of the need for a large reservoir above the town to even out the seasonal supplies of water and so they entered into negotiations with a view to obtaining ground at Bo’mains for the construction of a service reservoir. The work was under way by John Gallacher, the contractor, when the drought of 1883 struck and in June it was announced by tuck of drum that the water supply would be cut off from 4pm until 8am each day. Arrangements were made to repair the equipment at the Causey Pit and recommence pumping there to tide the town over. Bo’mains reservoir was completed on 10 June 1884 at a cost of £2,000, having an area of six acres and a capacity of 16,112,719 gallons.
Shortly after the opening of this reservoir it was discovered that the 7-inch pipe between Carribber and Bo’mains was not discharging a sufficient amount of water and the reservoir was taking too long to fill. It was initially thought that there was a blockage and then that the calibre of the pipe was too small. Eventually it was realised that the severe gradients were largely responsible. Tunnelling through Flint Hill was considered but in 1889 the pipe track was diverted round the hip of the hill through the lands of Muirhouse, and thence in a northerly direction to Bo’mains reservoir at an estimated cost of £174 12s 9d. Despite the problems, the town had weathered the summer shortage at this time without the need for restrictions.
A good deal of excitement had been caused the year before by the appearance in a local paper of an article which attributed the prevalence of sore throats and a number of cases of diphtheria to the quality of the water. The medical officer and the master of works had the water examined under the microscope and showed that the water was not to blame – the newspaper publicly withdrew its allegation.
There had been some discolouration of the water due to the cleaning of the Pappa Hole and Carribber reservoir. The Pappa Hole was shortly afterwards deepened and protected and the water led by piping into Carribber Reservoir. Three years later, on the advice of Leslie & Reid, C.E., Edinburgh, the reservoirs at Carribber were deepened, in order to impound all the water available from the catchment area. The capacity was thereby increased from 16,000,000 to 25,441,419 gallons, thus giving a combined storage in all the reservoirs of 42,000,000 gallons, or 56 times more than that contained in the Borrowstoun Reservoir 42 years previous. A new 10-inch pipe was also laid along the same route between Carribber and Bo’mains.
The area to be supplied, however, had also increased, with Grangepans and the parish of Carriden being fed from the burgh through a meter at the rate of 6d per 1000 gallons.
The majority of the inhabitants within the burgh at this time did not have water fed into their houses but obtained their supply from pillar wells, 40 or 50 of which at one time existed. The source depended almost entirely upon the winter rains and so had to be augmented in some summers by water from the Schoolyard Pit. Occasionally the supply to the public works had to be cut off. Clearly a new source of water was needed. Riccarton Burn, Lily Loch, and Lochcote, were all visited and the latter was chosen. Its advantages were that it had (1) a heavy rainfall; (2) a large catchment area of grass land free from moss; (3) a natural basin of large holding capacity, which only required an embankment across the narrow neck at one end; and (4) it was only two miles from the existing main pipes at Carribber. A Provisional Order was applied for during the Session of 1897, and after a stiff fight the Commissioners made good their case, and became the possessors of 50 acres of land, with water rights and wayleaves. To give immediate relief to the inhabitants, No. 1 contract, which included the laying of two miles of 12in pipes from Brunton Burn to Carribber, was begun and completed in the short period of two months by the contractors. The construction of the embankment was begun in the spring of 1898. It was considered that a year would see this section of the work completed, but owing to unforeseen circumstances, such as the deepening of the puddle trench, the scarcity of men, and the unfavourable weather conditions, it was not completed until the autumn of 1900. The valves were closed on the 5 June 1900, and in five and a half months, 30 December, owing to the exceptionally heavy rainfall, the reservoir was full and overflowing. The total capacity of the reservoir was 200,500,000 gallons, or nearly five times more than all the others combined, with a catchment area of 600 acres. The cost, inclusive of the purchase of the land, was £30,000. The construction of the reservoir alone cost £14,000.
Falkirk Local History Society 