Catalogue description NEW RIVER: RECORDS OF SIR HUGH MYDDELTON

Records relating to the New River, which was constructed to bring water to the City of London from springs in Amwell and Chadwell, Hertfordshire, from 1609 to 1613.

While the power to build such a river had been granted to the City of London under two acts of Parliament in 1605 and 1606 (3 Jas I, c 18 and 4 Jas I, c 12), work was only started when Hugh Myddelton, a goldsmith and citizen of London, agreed to undertake the project at his own expense from 1609. Myddelton, however, facing opposition from landowners whose land the river was to cross sought support from the king. This was forthcoming and an agreement in 1611 was embodied in an indenture of 2 May 1612 . The basis of the agreement was that in return for half the profits the king would contribute half the expenditure and to assure the king's interest the indenture lays out that accounts of expenditure and receipt were to be produced. These accounts are those in this sub-series.

Records of the same period as those in this sub-series, as well as those relating to the company's later history are held at the Greater London Record Office (GLRO ACC/1953 and ACC/2558).

These records have been used by a number of historians of the New River most notably G C Berry, 'Sir Hugh Myddelton and the New River' Transactions of the Cymmrodorion Society (1957), pp 7.-46; J W Gough, Sir Hugh Myddelton (Oxford, 1964); and B Rudden, The New River, a legal history (Oxford, 1985).