Hen Sir Ddinbych EST |!) Old Denbighshire Transactions of the Denbighshire Historical Society Volume/Cyfrol 49 Bieter Qiao Cheeta Dery Celt yA)151 Llwyn Isaf Waterworks, Denbigh by RAYMOND HUGHES Background Information Denbigh's growth from a small fortified town in medieval times to a modern ‘commercial centre has been dependent, in no small measure, on the availability of an adequate supply of water: For hundreds of years, the town had to rely on a number of wells and springs formed by the fortuitous juxtaposition of sandstones and shales overlaid by permeable Carboniferous Limestone. As the town’s population increased rapiclly in the sixteenth century, the inconvenience of Denbigh’s original hilltop location coupled with the lack of water became apparent and a new town developed outside the town walls. Leland, who toured Wales in the 1530s had this to say about the town: 1 have not lernid the certiente how this walidtoune decayed in thyme, wither it were by fier oF for lak of water, whereofthere is ite or none ,.. But the toue of Denbigh now occupied and joining nere tothe old toune hath beene totally made of later tyme, and set much moze to the commodite af cariage and water by many welles in it! By the beginning of the nineteenth century, a population of over 2,000 still relied con wells found throughout the town in, for example, High Street, Bridge Street, Lenten Pool, Henllan Street, Factory Ward, Barker's Lane and the Graig, The public well and pump in High Street was particularly important because most ofthe other wells dried up in summer, R. M. Owen states that before the advent ofa piped water supply this pump was 'a regular meeting place for townsfolk who came perhaps three or four times daily t© pump and carry water.” In 1867, however, a survey carried out by the Highway Surveyors for the Borough showed that the quality of water from the town’s wells was unsatisfactory. Water from the High Street pump was said to be ‘polluted by a neighbouring sewer or cesspool’ and the Lenten Pool pump ‘should not be used for domestic purposes." Private Water Company It was the obvious inadequacy of Denbigh’s water supply which prompted the152 DeNDIGHSHRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY TRANSACTIONS Borouyh Council to hand over the responsibility of water provision to a private company, The Denbigh Waterworks Act of 1863° formed the Denbigh Water ‘Company which was to serve the town until it was taken over by the West eobighshire and West Flintshire Water Board in 1965, butit survived as a company until its liquidation in 197) Water Supply In the Nineteenth Century Construction started almost immediately on the TY Mawr storage reservoir to provide water primarily for the recently constructed Vale of Clwyd Railway" but a service reservoir in Love Lane, a conduit house near the Town Hall and a system of Pipes provided water to some parts of Denbigh. Later the Hafod reservoir was built ‘on land belonging to the Garn Fstate to provide water to the nearby village of Henllan. Throughout this petiod, however, there was a clash of interests between the local authorities who wanted all parts of the town such as the castle area to have a reliable supply of piped water, and the profit-secking private company which led that it had fulfilled its obligations. A supplementary supply of water was. eventually pumped from Pont Ystrad and efforts were made to come to some sywernent with the North Wales Mental Hospital Authority which had its own water supply from the Llyn Bran reservoir’. The fact of the matter was that Denbigh’s water supply had been provided in a very piecemeal fashion and the quality of water ftom Pont Ystrad was still unsatisfactory Liwyn Tsaf Waterworks: Phase One, Surveys of the area under the guidance of Mr. Storr, the Company Engineer, showed that there was a large reserve of underground water in the Vale of Clwyd. The aquifer is centred on sandstone but the rainwater passses through limestone found on the flanks ofthe Vale and the water is consequently ‘hard’ with a high lime content. The site chosen for development by the Water Company was about two miles from the town centre on the floor ofthe Vale of Clwyd roughly midway between Denbigh and Llanrhaeadr [0.S. 5H082651]. A flat tract of land about 100ft. above sea level and just over an acre in size was leased to the Company on 16 July 1901, and subsequently Purchased on 9 January, 1933, In 1905, the water engineers, E. Timmins & Sons of Runcom, sank a borehole through the topsoil, alluvium and boulder clay down to the underlying water- retentive sandstone. Water flowed to the surface by artesian pressure at the rate of ‘about 312,000 gallons per day which, it was estimated, was more than three times the amount needed by the town’s population of over 6,000? More important, however, ‘was the quality of the water. Professor Frankland of Birmingham University stated at the time that water from Liwyn Isaf was ‘an ideal water supply for a town and.Luwen Isa Warexworks, DENBIGH 153, Seether pesoneans nose ‘GAS PLANT ns ene GASENGNE! «DERAKE HORSE POWER a@enenaron sp sonvescn OAD ENOE® 75ERAKEHORGE POWER154 DENBIGHSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY TRANSACTIONS second to none in the United Kingdom’ Tubes lined the borehole to a depth of LOS in order to ptevent the possibility of surface water percolation. A 5-inch pipe situated 21k, below the top of the tubes discharged the water to a large underground tank. A Pumping Station consisting of an engine room, producer gas plant and a small cabin for the workmen was built on the site ofthe borehole by J. B. Woolley of Overton-on- Dee, Wrexhatn. It was a well-built Ruabon red brick building with ample light provided by seven large windows in the engine room which was spacious enough to accomodate a second engine when needed. ‘The Engine Room was the heart ofthe Waterworks and contained a Campbell gas- suction engine of 40b.hp. driven by producer gas.The engine was attached to a horizontal treble-ram pump capable of delivering 12,000 gallons of water per hour under a pressuze of 150 Ibs. per square inch.” An overhead travelling crane used uring periodic maintenance of the engine spanned the floor space:The adjoining, producer gas plant used anthracite coal as fuel and a large coke scrubber cleaned. and cooled the requisite volume of gas needed by the engine. There was therefore no need for a gas holder, the anthracite did not emit coal tar and the generating plant was always smokeless and free from noxious smells. There was always of course a lange supply of anthracite available which was stored in a nearby shed. It was said that the Waterworks had been designed so that one man alone could do the work for any given period to pump anything up to 12000 gallons of water per hour to Denbigh. It was pumped through a 7-inch pipe/main for a distance of over two miles to the Love Lane service reservoir which was about 350ft, above the level of Liwyn Isat. Water was periodically pumped to a higher storage tank near the castle 50 that the dwellings in the upper parts of the town could also obtain piped water. A house was provided for an on-site engineer who,together with another worker who cycled from Denbigh, worked a 12-hour shift (6a.m./ép.m. to 6p.m./6a.m) and 18 hours on weekends for 7 days a week. Although there was, ample space around the Waterworks for a large flower and vegetable garden, the close proximity of the house to the Pumping Station made it not anly 2 lonely place but also a dangerous one for a family with young children. ‘A celebratory dinner attended by members and employees of the Water Company, Borough councillors and other local dignitaries was held in Denbigh at the Bull Hotel in February 1906. The prevailing good humour and self congralulatory speeches were no doubt justfied in the eyes of both the Water Company and the Borough Council but Henllan, which was also part of the Borough, fated less well The full significance and importance ofthe contribution made by Liwyn lsat Waterworks fo Denbigh’s water supply can best be appreciated by comparing it with the Hafod Reservoir which had been constructed to supply the nearby village of Henllan.Luwrn ISAF WATERWORKS, DENBIGH 155 Liwyn Isaf Waterworks Hafod Reservoir Source: Underground source of artesian Springs and surface runott. water Calchmet Ares: Rainwater filtering through Grazing fields, marshland permeable limestone and ‘stored! and woodland, in the Triassic aquifer. Delivery: Deep borehole, the upper part Ostensibly by pipe but most of wich was lined to prevent surface ‘of the water came from a percolation ditch and mil race. Construction: High quality construction of Poorly constucted all parts of the Pumping Station. reservoir Maintenance: Permanent workforce Noglect of the reservoir and on-site engineer and filters Water Quality: High quality but ‘hard! water, Low quality water. Liwyn Isaf Waterworks: Phase two By 1945, the flow of water from the bore hole had fallen to just over 11,000 gallons per hour and, in 1948," the Denbigh Water Company considered sinking a second borehole which was notin fact implemented until 1965. When the project was finally completed in Septemberof that year the Waterworks belonged to the West Denbighshire and West Flintshire Water Board. They, in turn, became part ofthe Welsh Water Authority on the 1 April 1974 and since 1 October, 1989 Llwyn Tsaf Waterworks has been the responsibility of the present owners, Welsh Water (DWr Cymru). The new borehole was drilled by George Stow & Co. Ltd. of Henley-on- ‘Thames, Oxfordshire (now based at Wallingford), at a distance of about 100ft. from the first through a similar geological succession, The borehole had an increased diameter of 15 inches and depth of 402ft. and water flowed to the surface atthe rate of 14,000 gallons per hour. Both the site and role of the Llwyn Isaf Waterworks have been considerably modified during the course of the second half of 2h century, Although still used, the interior of the Engine Room, now referred to as the Pumping and Control Room, has been transformed by the replacement of the two former gas engines by three rather Inconspicuous-looking electric pumps." On the eastern side of the building and on. the opposite side, the wall is covered with hitech control panels.The overhead travelling crane, although not needed, has idiosyneratically survived. A large part of the westem side of the building which once contained the producer gas plant and cabin and the less substantial anthracite shed, have been demolished. "The former underground tank adjoining the Engine Room on its eastern side hasDenicisiixe Historica SOCIETY TRANSACTIONS Plate 8. The Engine Room, Lhoym Isag Waterworks Plate 9. The Engineer's House, Lhwyn Isaf Waterson,Luwan Isar WaTeRwonts, Densic 157 been filled in and replaced by valves, and where the chicken coop once stood in the far eastern corner of the site there is an augmentation meter and sodium thiosulphate dosing tank and, net far away, the second borehole. Automation of the Waterworks has eliminated the need for on-site workers and the house is disused. ‘At present, the Waterworks is controlled by Welsh Water and used on a temporary basis with a dual-purpose role, Water can be pumped directly to Denbigh using a 10- inch pipe if for any reason, such as adverse weather conditions causing burst mains, the normal supply from the Alwen Aqueduct via Ruthin is unavailable.” Also since 1987 water from the boreholes ean be discharged to the River Clwyd, using a nearby unnamed stream which runs into the Aberham, in order to maintain the level offlow in the river when the Glascoed Works has abstracted water from the Llannerch boreholes further downstream." The Pumping Station is tested regularly every fortnight and is thetefore on constant standby. Almost one hundred years after its construction, Liwyn Isaf Waterworks is still capable of supplying water to Denbigh land by controlling the discharge to the River Clwyd helps Glascoed to supply water to the coastal holiday resorts in summer when the demand for water increases." Notes 4. LeToulmin Smith (Ed), The Itinerary in Wales of John Leland, London 1906, 2, The population of Denbigh in 1801 was 2391 3.R.M. Owen,’The street Names of Denbigh’, these Transactions, vol. 29, 11-112, 44 Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin, BD/A/481. 5. An Act for Better Supplying the Town of Denbigh and Neighbourhood Thereof with ‘Water and for other purposes’, 11 May 1863, 6:"The Vale of Clwyd Railway was opened in 1858 and extended four years later from Denbigh to Ruthin. 7. North Wales Counties (Lunatic Water Supply) Act, 1896 ° {8 For a consideration of the politics af water supply to the Borough of Denbigh see J WePritchaed "Y Cyflenwad Dw yn Mivrdeistref Dinbyeh’, these Transactions, vol. 46, 70-50. 9, The population of Denbigh in 1901 was 6438. 10. The gas engine, section gas plant and water pump were manufactured by the Campbell Gas Engine Co, Ltd, Halifax and installed by F Storr, Wrexham. 11, Denbighshire Record Offic, Ruthin, QSD/DG/76, 12. Electric pumps were installed in 1951, 1967 and 1985. 13. A 10-inch spur main was constructed from the Alwen Aqueduct near Ruthin to Denbigh ‘in the 1970s to replace the purnped water supply from Livyn Isaf. This new source of soft water irom the Hiraethog Moors became available in 1975. 14, The Welsh Water Authority (Llwyn Isaf Bore holes) Discharge Order, 1987, 15,1 am geateful to the staff of Welsh Water, Dir Cymru at Bangor, Lianwnda and Glascoed for their co-operation and assistance.