The water supply of Kent : with records of sinkings and borings / by William Whitaker ... with contributions by H. Franklin Parsons ... Hugh Robert Mill ... and J.C. Thresh ... Pub. by order of the lords commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury.
- Whitaker, William, 1836-1925.
- Date:
- 1908
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The water supply of Kent : with records of sinkings and borings / by William Whitaker ... with contributions by H. Franklin Parsons ... Hugh Robert Mill ... and J.C. Thresh ... Pub. by order of the lords commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![out from tlie overlying Blacklieatk Beds. This is especially the case over the large tract of the latter from Lessness Heath on the north, by Bexley Heath, Chiselliurst and Bromley, to Keston, on the south. The springs between Frith and Woolwich have been described by Mr. Barlow and Prof. Ansted, who say: “At Abbey Wood station several springs are seen rising in the marshes,” and “ In the Plumstead Marshes, springs, yielding from 200 to 250 gallons per minute appear on the surface of the ground in the line of railway ” (pp. 56, 54).1 At a visit by Mr. Topley, Mr. E. Easton and myself (1892), however ive could see no strong spring. Moreover, springs eastward of Plumstead would not be from the Chalk, as was supposed by the authors quoted, for, at the time they wrote, little or nothing was known of the fault which throws the top of the Chalk to a level considerably below that of the marshes. The springs in question must be Tertiary springs, or at all events must rise through Tertiary beds, even if some of their water comes indirectly from the Chalk.. The springs found in the excavations for the piers at Green- wich^2) would not be from the Chalk, as here, again, the Tertiary beds are faulted down. THE CHALK. It is from this formation that come the most important springs of the county, and these are divisible into two great sets. Firstly are those from the Upper Chalk, which occur to a large extent at or near the oncoming of the Tertiary beds, and which are the overflow from the great dip-slope of the Chalk to the south. Though these chiefly come from the top of the Chalk yet they are at a low level, belonging to the second class of spring noticed above (p. 28). Secondly are those from the Lower Chalk along the base of the North Downs, belonging to the first class and mostly at a fairly high level, and being the overflow of the narrow tract of chalk from the top of the escarpment to its foot. The following description of the Chalk-springs and of some of those from the Eocene beds is taken from a statement pre- pared for the Royal Commission on Metropolitan Water Supply, (3) with many additions from later work, and some from older sources. The notes were written, or compiled, after an examination of the district made during the months of November and December, 1892, with Mr. W. Topley, and for the most part also with Mr. E. Easton, for the especial purpose of con- sidering the water in the Chalk. I was previously wo acquainted with the country in question, having made the Geological Survey of the greater part, of it. ' Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., 1855, vol. xiv., pp. 56, 54. 2 Ibid.,]) 55. _ „ , ,,,, a Report, 1893, Appendices, pp. 435-439, and 41o, 416.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28126737_0041.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
