also allowed them to construct a sewerage network, which fed a sewage farm at Canwick, but the Bracebridge area was not connected to the sewers, and waste water polluted local watercourses.

Lincoln was fortunate in that the engineer George Giles came to the city in 1847, working on the construction of the Great Northern Railway, and he had experience in sewerage systems.

He produced a detailed report for the Corporation, which included maps of the whole city, but there was significant opposition to any scheme to install underground drainage.

[1] Archaeological excavation in the 1950s and 1970s led to speculation as to whether it ever functioned, because of the difference in levels between the stream and the water tower, but further investigation in 2007 as part of a housing development found clear signs that it was used for a considerable period.

[4] Under the act, the company was responsible for supplying the city of Lincoln and parts of Lindsey, Boultham, Bracebridge, Skellingthorpe and Kesteven, an area of 17.75 square miles (46.0 km2).

Despite receiving notices from the Medical Officer of Health in 1879, 1883 and 1885 calling attention to this situation, the Corporation stated that the sporadic cases of cholera and typhoid were not necessarily linked to polluted water supplies.

The Medical Officer of Health declared it to be a serious outbreak, but the corporation refused to issue a public safety notice, for fear of a panic.

The Great Northern Railway delivered tankers of clean water to the city throughout the epidemic, which began to wane by late April.

Automatic monitoring of the filtration rate was introduced, and the works were extended to include an aeration tank and clear water reservoir.

[17] A replacement for the Cross O'Cliff Hill reservoir was constructed a little further to the south on Grantham Road, where the underlying rock was close to the surface.

[18] The pump house, which was designed by Barron in the Baroque Revival style, is located on the south-east edge of the tank and is now grade II listed.

Barron submitted 13 reports, each detailing one possible solution, which were whittled down to two, one at Dorrington, where water would be extracted from the Lincolnshire limestone, and the other at Elkesley, where it would come from the Nottinghamshire red sandstone or bunter.

Bishop E King prayed for the success of the venture, the Mayor, Councillor J H Mills used a silver spade to cut the first sod, and the party retired to the Hop Pole pub at Ollerton when torrential rain began to fall.

Most of it was made of cast iron pipes, 21 inches (53 cm) in diameter, but where the route crossed rivers or railways, lapped steel was used.

[25] In Lincoln, many of the streets were dug up, to accommodate the laying of the trunk mains, which were between 18 and 21 inches (46 and 53 cm) in diameter, and the smaller distribution pipes, to connect the houses to the new system.

[27] Barron had explained at the opening ceremony that the main covered reservoir at Bracebridge Heath was not yet finished, as the rest of the scheme had been built in less time than expected.

[28] The reservoir held 6 million imperial gallons (27 Ml), and the pumphouse, which included a small tank to increase the pressure to houses in Bracebridge Health, Waddington, Branston, and Canwick, was completed in 1912.

[29] Several villages which were located close to the main pipeline from Elkesley were connected to it, including Saxilby, Hardwick, Thorney, Newton and Burton.

On the recommendation of the Medical Office of Health, a second chlorination plant was installed at Elkesley, so that water could be disinfected prior to entering the pipeline.

The old works at Boultham was upgraded, so that it could treat 1.25 million imperial gallons (5.7 Ml) of water per day from the River Witham, which was pumped into the supply.

A fifth borehole was drilled at Elkesley in 1943, with the water extracted by an electric pump capable of supplying 0.5 million imperial gallons (2.3 Ml) per day.

[37] Immediately after the Second World War, there were over 1,000 separate undertakings supplying fresh water in England and Wales, and over 1,400 dealing with sewerage and sewage treatment.

[45] In 1838 there had been a serious outbreak of typhus, and the reformer Edwin Chadwick had spent three years compiling his report on The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Classes in Britain in 1842, which had caught the public imagination, and became an unexpected best-seller for Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

Provision for keeping the sewers clear was made by including flushing heads at strategic points, which would be connected to the supply provided by Lincoln Water Company.

[66]It is difficult to know whether the committee were over-awed by the technical aspects of the report, but the discussion centred on whether there was a profit to be made from the manufacture of manure at the end of the process.

The works would be entirely controlled by the corporation, which would allow them, under the terms of the Health of Towns Act 1848, to borrow the capital cost and repay it over 30 years.

[69] A second meeting was held on 10 May, at which the subject was debated more reasonably, but there was significant opposition, with claims that open sewers were better, and that the sewerage schemes in Hull and Gainsborough had caused outbreaks of cholera.

It was permissive, rather than mandatory, and while discussion about it was taking place, adoption was thwarted by Charles Ward, who presented a petition containing 2,550 signatures opposing such action.

There was further debate in 1864, and the mayor, Alderman Harvey, offered a prize to whoever wrote the best essay on underground drainage in Lincoln, which was won by a land agent called David Middleton.

This led to the abolishion of the lighting and paving commission, and although the council appointed three consultants, progress was slow, although a number of new covered drains had been constructed by this time.