Catalogue description Hampstead Water Company

See also Acc 2558/NR5/22 and Acc 1953 (for papers dated 1775).

An Act of Parliament of 1543 granted the Corporation of London the right to construct conduits, vaults or pipes to bring water to the City from springs at Hampstead or other places in the suburbs. In 1692 the City leased its powers to William Paterson and others who established the Hampstead Aqueducts to bring water from the Hampstead and Highgate Ponds to the City. In 1859 the surviving lessee, William Lambert, conveyed the waterworks and the lease from the City to the New River Company. The Hampstead and Highgate Ponds continued to provide a supply of unfiltered water until 1936. The papers listed below had been brought together by Mr Berry to answer an enquiry. They were found in a box file GB6 in Trunk 84.