The Economic Council of the CDU is tightening its pressure on the federal government and has issued a call for an "Agenda for employees". The business associati... https://news.osna.fm/?p=32545 | #news #agenda #benefit #cdu #council

Council juice: Glasgow’s public water. Part I: Wells

[An updated version of this post is available on my new site.]

This shaft in the lower church of Glasgow Cathedral may be the city’s oldest surviving infrastructure. Known as St Mungo’s (or St Kentigern’s) Well, it is plausibly at least as old as the current cathedral and perhaps much older: it’s not impossible that there was a well here in the time of Kentigern himself.

Since 1859, Glasgow has been proud of its drinking water, piped from Loch Katrine in one of the heroic engineering projects of Victorian Scotland. But between St Kentigern’s Well and the Loch Katrine scheme lie centuries in which the supply of water was irregular and contested. In this and (hopefully) two more posts, we’ll follow the city’s public water supply across those centuries.

Until the early nineteenth century there were two ways to get water in Glasgow. If you lived close enough to the Clyde or one of its tributaries such as the Molendinar, St Enoch’s Burn or the Camlachie Burn, you could dip a bucket in it — and, increasingly as the centuries went by, take your chances with whatever had happened upstream. Everywhere else, you relied on the nearest well.

It’s likely, given this, that the wells are at least as old as Glasgow. Despite that, their history until the late mediaeval period is obscure. St Kentigern’s Well, as we’ve seen, probably goes back at least to the twelfth century. Other ancient wells may include Little St Mungo’s Well, which from 1500 served St Mungo’s Chapel on the Gallowgate and later the Saracen’s Head Inn; the Lady Well which now sits in the shadow of the Necropolis; the Arns Well in its copse of alder trees on Glasgow Green; the Deanside Well on what is now George Street; and St Thenew’s Well somewhere south of Trongate.

Only the Lady Well, closed in 1833, is still marked by a dry fountain. The Arns Well appeared on maps as late as the 1850s but vanished in the landscaping of the Green. Little St Mungo’s survived long into the twentieth century and still, presumably, lurks beneath the tarmac. The Deanside Well, which from 1304 supplied the Franciscan friary on Grey Friars’ Wynd, is commemorated by a small garden just east of its original site — which may soon disappear under flats.

St Thenew’s Well is the most elusive. It was prominent enough in the late sixteenth century to feature as a reference point in Burgh records: there are references in 1573-4 to “the erd besyde St. Tenewis Woll, quhilk is commown” and in 1595 to “the brig at St. Tinewis well besyde the Greyn”. Not long after that it fades from sight, though it may have survived anonymously much later; a well on Howard Street catalogued by James Cleland in 1816 is rather close to its inferred position.

It becomes a little easier to trace the wells after the Reformation, when the Town Council emerged from episcopal control. By this stage there were already several public wells, and it was the Council’s job to maintain them. In 1576, for example, a payment of 14 shillings was made

for Irne work to þe quhelis of þe commone well, to ſtope þe cordis to cum further of þe quhelis.

In 1630 there was an instruction for the “new woll in the Trongait to be sklaittit in the best forme” and in 1632 for “vphalding of the pumpes of the well at the croce” and other maintenance.

The Council also had responsibility for forming new wells in response to the demands of a growing, and thirsty, population. A new common well had been dug in the Gallowgate around 1575. In 1610 the council granted a supplication by residents “outwith the Stabill Grene port” that a well might “be maid and bigit vpone the —syde of Hiegate”, and that

the same be bigit five quarter hicht above the ground with asler werk for saiftie of barnis and vthir personis quhatsumevir.

(Safety, or lack of it, remained an issue: in 1664 the Barrasyet well at the bottom of Saltmarket was ordered “to be heightit twa stones heigher rowind about for preservatioune of childerin falling therin”.)

Wells could also be relocated. In 1638 the “sowme of fyftie pundis money” was disbursed for “translating of the Stockwall”. This well, which gives its name to Stockwell Street, had been established under various spellings for decades; it features in the Records as early as 1609.

The standard arrangement seems to have been for each well to have a keeper, who for a salary — typically “two dollouris yeirlie” — kept it in good order and locked or unlocked it as required. Although the official plea was for “ony honest man quho will tak the charge of the keiping of the kie” (1655), this was misleading. In 1663, the decision was made that

Jonet Wilsoune, who dwelles neir the Barresyet and narrest to the commoune well there, to get the keyes of the said well delyvered to her, and shoe to be payit for attending the opening and closing therof as wtheris was of before.

Jonet Wilsoune’s appointment, on equal terms to her male predecessors, is a reminder that the public wells were substantially a women’s world. Like the steamies centuries later, they would have functioned as a social space where women, especially servants, could meet outwith the household. (This may help explain why in 1690 bringing water from wells was among a long list of activities specifically prohibited on the Sabbath, “under the paine of twentie shilling Scots… for ilk failyie”.) The wells are strangely elusive compared to other civic amenities marked on early maps: a map of Glasgow drawn by a woman would, one suspects, have featured them much more prominently.

From the mid-seventeenth century, the demand for more water was a constant theme. New wells were dug at the Grey Friar port in 1650; near the entry of the Stinkand Vennell in 1655-56; outwith the West Port in 1662; and in Saltmarket in 1688.

In 1661 lead pipes were laid to convey the water from “Bogilis Well” to the High Street. This well, which lay close to the point at which the Gallowgate crossed the Molendinar, had been sold to the Council in 1636 by Elizabeth Bogle, the widow of Andrew Galloway, in exchange for half an acre of land in the Gallowmuir. As a widow she had reverted to her unmarried name, and she granted the bond in that name in addition to giving it to the well.

1689 saw the first involvement of private enterprise. A maltman, John Wilson, had “set doune ane well without the West port on the tounes ground, near the head of the Shitwynd, on his oune expenses”; the Council voted to buy the access to this well from him for a hundred merks and make it “open and patent to the toune of Glasgow and haill inhabitants therin”. In fact, the negotiations lasted until 1693, when Wilson finally signed the rights over for two hundred merks.

A different kind of public-private conflict appeared in 1691, when the spring that supplied the Old Vennel well caused the partial collapse of a house; the Council paid the owner £160 Scots to rebuild it. In the same year, works to widen the entrance to the Spout Well required the Council to purchase a house for £15 sterling and demolish it.

Another glimpse of these conflicts is given by William Struthers’ petition in 1713 to take in a piece of public land at the back side of the Candleriggs well and build on it. Struthers argued that this land was

for no use to the town, the same being turned common where people ease themselves and doe cast filth and other excrements, which is very noysom.

Struthers’ petition was rejected on the grounds that, noisome or not, this land served “a great common well and no other common wells in that street or in Bells Wynd”; the Council also cited access to water required for firefighting, and were concerned that the weight of newbuild might cause the well to close. (They did in 1714 let him extend his stair onto the town’s land, but not to go getting the idea that he owned it.) On the whole the episode shows the Council handling a property developer with confidence of which a modern planner might be proud.

By 1700 the task of maintaining the wells and managing their assorted keepers was becoming onerous, and the Council subcontracted it. Andrew Whyte, hammerman, was appointed on a five-year contract, at five hundred merks per year, to

keep the ten water wells belonging to this burgh, within and without the ports of the same, in a sufficient caise and conditione in the chaines, buckets, shaves, and all other goeing grath and necessaries belonging thereto, requisite and usewall, for the service of the inhabitants, and to lock and open the wells evenings and mornings in due tyme, and to furnish the Four Sisters and the Ladie Well with irone ladles, and to cleang, muck and keep clean the saids haill wells… [and] to furnish the wells with locks and bands during the space forsaid.

Whyte’s contract was renewed in 1705, though at a reduced rate of 400 merks, with a penalty clause of a hundred pounds Scots if he didn’t deliver. He held the contract until at least 1714. In 1715 John Black, younger, hammerman, was appointed on the same terms; he was reappointed in 1721 as “keeper and overseer” of the now eleven city wells, with no increase in salary.

The digging of new wells continued. In 1720, “heritors and inhabitants in the north quarter” petitioned for a well to be made at the entry to Greyfriars Wynd. They cited the lack of wells between the Old Vennel and the Bishop’s Castle, mentioning fire risk and complaining that “in summer and harvest… the privat wells in the neighbourhead are for the most part dry”. This well seems to have been set down at Buns Wynd in 1721; it was evidently insufficient because further work was needed five years later, involving “gun powder to the blowing of the hard stone”.

The work was endless. The well outside the West Port was rebuilt in 1723; “Corses well” in King Street enlarged and deepened in 1730; a new well dug in the Bridgegate in 1731 at the cost of £177 13s Scots. 1732 saw the Deanside well deepened, a new well dug in the Gallowgate, the Lady Well deepened and a new well built beside it, and a new well at the Northwest Kirk. 1733 saw various repairs and four places bored for water. 1735 saw new wells at the Spoutmouth and in the Trongate. By 1736, according to John McUre, there were sixteen public wells plus various private ones.

Alternative schemes were also explored. In 1734 the Council discussed laying pipes from the Deanside well, and from newly dug wells at the back of the Trades Hospital in Townhead to the street. The latter project cost the Council fifty shillings sterling to the tenant of the land for “dammages he sustained in the towns digging for wells therein and his loss of the ground and fruits thereof”. It seems that these pipes didn’t last, because in 1756 there was a petition about “a very great scarcity of water at the Tounhead”, again asking for water from the “yeard belonging to the trades house” to be brought to the public street; this work was completed by 1757.

Private enterprise was sometimes involved, with mixed results. In 1740 the hammerman William Dounie led a group of heritors and inhabitants near the Gallowgate port who were granted permission to replace the old well there. The project went ahead, but Dounie’s neighbours failed to stump up their share of the costs and in 1747 he put a lock on the well and withdrew it from public use.

The other big project was replacing the old draw wells with pump wells. These wells, enclosed in wooden cases rather like sentry boxes, can be seen in several old images.

The first draw wells to be converted, in 1729, were the Saltmarket well, the Spouts, and the West Port well. The Trongate well followed in 1730; it in turn was followed in 1731 by the wells at the Old Vennel, the Barras port, King Street and Stockwellgate; in 1732 by the Gallowgate well; in 1733 by the well at Shitt Wynd; in 1735 by the well on the Green; in 1736 by that on Candleriggs.

This was partly a cost-saving exercise. When John Black’s contract came up for renewal in 1730 the Council ordered his salary to be reduced because it covered “upholding the bucketts and chains”, and three wells no longer needed them. Unsurprisingly, this went down badly. Before long negotiations had stalled because

there is three quarters of bygone sallary owing him and the payment stopped upon account he had fewer wells to uphold than what was in his agreement.

By 1732 they’d reached a deal and Black was to be paid £42 2s Scots, “as half a year’s sallary… for upholding of five of the towns wells, which have not pumps, in buckets and chains”.

The Spouts, or Spoutmouth wells, just north of Gallowgate, were a perennial headache. They were located close to the Molendinar — so close, in fact, that work on the burn in 1731 exposed them. On the Molendinar stood a tannery, which from 1728 had the use of a defunct well near to the Spout. This was not good news for water quality, and in 1734 the heritors in Gallowgate submitted a petition

setting furth that the Spout or four cisterns are damnified by the old tannarie pitts, and the committee to commun with the proprietors of the old tannarie and to see that they build a new cistern or well in such a place as shall be directed.

New wells were set down in 1735, but this didn’t fully solve the problem, and in 1750 there was a further petition that “the spring commonly called the spoutt or four sisters” was now rendered unusable due to the tan pits behind. Presumably action was taken, because references to the Spoutmouth well continued for a number of years.

In 1753 the Council put its trust for the first time in a tech whizzkid. The Records noted dotingly that

William Miller, junior, son to William Miller, merchant, is skilled in makeing clocks, musciall chymes and ordering pump wells and makeing of water machines, of which he has given a prooff of his genius, and has given a compliment to the toun a year agoe of a water machine, all of his composure, which gives satisfaction and as good as these got from London, and can be furnished cheaper by him and as good.

(A “water machine” was a fire engine: fire fighting was another public service dealt with semi-privately, by the Fire Insurance Society in conjunction with the Council.) On the strength of this expertise, the Council awarded young William £30 sterling for encouragement and went on to appoint him

to have the oversight, care and management of the wells, pumps and water machines belonging to the city, and to keep them all in good order from time to time for the service of the toun, and his sallary and fiall for the said service to be £15 sterling per annum.

However skilful William may have been at making clocks and musical chimes, he seems to have been no use at managing wells — unlike his predecessors, who were members of an official Trade with skills to match. In 1757 he was sacked for negligence and Charles Hunter, hammerman, appointed in his stead.

It’s harder to find detailed information about wells in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, though one seems to have been sunk on Jamaica Street in 1780. By this stage the capacity of wells to support the population was visibly strained, and the Council were starting to prospect elsewhere.

In 1813, the wells came into the purview of the newly appointed Superintendent of Public Works, James Cleland. Characteristically, he made it his business to catalogue and measure them: his list, published in Annals of Glasgow (1816) shows the system of public wells at its greatest extent. Cleland listed thirty, plus the Arns Well on the Green. They’re marked here on Fleming’s 1807 map.

Those thirty-one public wells served a population of around one hundred thousand people; eighty years before, McUre’s sixteen had served fewer than forty thousand. They ranged in depth from nine feet (Argyle Street) to forty-two feet (the Howgate), and the water stood anywhere from “brimful” to twenty-one feet below the causeway at the Cross Well. Lifting water there must have been no task for the feeble-limbed.

Some of these wells would stay in use for decades yet. Nevertheless, by the time Cleland made his catalogue, they were beginning their decline. New actors had entered in the form of the Glasgow and Cranstonhill Water Companies; we’ll pick up their story in the next instalment…

Main sources

The main source for this post was the series of Extracts from the Burgh Records, which can be found via the Trades House Library. Others include:

• George Eyre-Todd, History of Glasgow, particularly Volume 3. Jackson, Wylie & Co, 1934.
• James Marwick, ed., Charters and Other Documents Relating to the City of Glasgow. Scottish Burgh Records Society, 1897.
• James Cleland, Annals of Glasgow, 1816.

Full details of the quotations and other sources available on request.

Endnotes

Placenames in relation to the modern street plan:

• The Old Vennel ran eastward from the High Street, roughly along the south side of Parsonage Square, until it connected with what’s now Bell Street.
• The Stinkand Vennel, later the New Vennel, ran eastward from the High Street, bounding the University; it started just north of the entrance to High Street Station.
• Shit Wynd is probably another name for St Enoch’s Wynd, later St Enoch’s Lane; it ran south from Argyle Street, roughly opposite the entrance to the Argyle Arcade.
• The Stable Green Port / North Port was near the wall that surrounded the Castle gardens, roughly at the south end of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
• The Barrasyett / South Port was at the south end of Saltmarket, at the junction with Briggait.
• The West Port was originally on Trongate at the head of the Old Wynd; in 1588 it moved to the head of Stockwell Street.
• Bun’s Wynd corresponded to St Nicholas Street, linking Greyfriars Wynd (now Shuttle Street) to the High Street.

Currency. In the early modern period, one Scots shilling was worth one English (sterling) penny, so a Scots pound was worth a twelfth of an English pound. A merk had various precise values but was about 2/3 of a Scots pound. A dollar usually referred to a coin of James VI worth sixty Scots shillings (three pounds Scots). Sums of money could be officially recorded in any of these units, or in sterling. Nobody seems to have regarded all this as insane.

#burghRecords #council #water #wells

The cost of one of the Bundestag's biggest new construction projects has raised concerns for the commission of the Council of Elders. Consultations originally s... https://news.osna.fm/?p=32266 | #news #building #bundestag #costs #council

Council vows to keep fighting development of Kanata golf club
By a vote of 21-3 on Wednesday, Ottawa city council passed a motion indicating they'll keep fighting a developer's plans to build thousands of housing units on a Kanata golf course.
#development #council #fighting #Kanata #Ottawa
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/council-vows-to-keep-fighting-development-of-kanata-golf-club-9.7065767?cmp=rss

Saskatoon city council passes motion to monitor snow removal contractors
Snow removal continues to be a hot topic in Saskatoon, with one councilor especially concerned about the crews contracted to clear and remove snow.
#snowremoval #council #Saskatoon #News #CityofSaskatoon #RandyDonauer
https://globalnews.ca/news/11642297/motion-passed-monitor-snow-removal-contractors-in-saskatoon/

Saskatoon city council passes motion to monitor snow removal contractors
Snow removal continues to be a hot topic in Saskatoon, with one councilor especially concerned about the crews contracted to clear and remove snow.
#snowremoval #council #Saskatoon #News #CityofSaskatoon #RandyDonauer
https://globalnews.ca/news/11642297/motion-passed-monitor-snow-removal-contractors-in-saskatoon/

@gamingonlinux The #council of #cat have mewed

You are seen as human, but for the crime of not having a cat you are condemn to see an hours of propag... educational materiel in why cat are superior.

an elected European president.. "We must stop commenting on every tweet from Washington and finally lead from a European perspective" he told "Der Spiegel". Web... https://news.osna.fm/?p=32164 | #news #calls #commission #council #epp

I went to the #Suffolk #Council website myself to report a particularly cursed pair of #potholes I'd spent the last week dodging (you have to slow down and either move more to the left or even drive in the crown of the road, which is of course only best done when there is not busy traffic)

There were already about 10 reports of the potholes, of which half have been acknowledged by SCC (with a claim the work will be done in 10 days, although this is rarely the case), the rest are still red flagged.

So if this data is being fed straight to London in its raw form, its hardly surprising SCC get a "red" status on the report, even if they *are* fixing the actual pothole (as they are not responding to citizens nor clearing duplicate reports, so look worse than they actually are)

Achim Brötel, president of the German District Council and district administrator of the Neckar‑Odenwald District, voiced strong support for the Social State Co... https://news.osna.fm/?p=32029 | #news #aid #benefit #calls #council

#Derbyshire #council to #stop using #unsafe #socialmedia #site #X - #BBC #News https://share.google/TzK33Ncb2oeWkAhoi #Twitter #TwitterX

Foreign policy minister Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) sharply condemned the so‑called "Peace Council" proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. In an interview with... https://news.osna.fm/?p=31489 | #news #blames #cdu #council #eu

Can confirm Kingston Upon Thames council was similarly 'deeply uncaring' when John died, more interested in getting their council tax than sorting out their terrible mortuary services.

https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr57z0gydj8o.amp

#grief #council #bereavement #localgoverment

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will not attend the launch ceremony of President Donald Trump's proposed "Peace Council" at the World Economic Forum in Davos.... https://news.osna.fm/?p=31441 | #news #council #davos #germany #initiative

In this capacity, Trump is to have veto power and decide on the agenda and composition of the executive council. Initially, the executive council is slated to c... https://news.osna.fm/?p=31387 | #news #council #french #international #joins

Yellowknife city council weighs whether to extend tax break for new Nest building
The owner of a new residential apartment building in downtown Yellowknife is asking for a five-year extension on a tax abatement that started back in 2022. The City of Yellowknife says there's a way to do that, and it's up to city council to decide how to proceed.

#tax #council #building #Yellowknife
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yellowknife-city-council-weighs-tax-break-nest-building-9.7051965?cmp=rss

The continued lack of policy implementation underscores a broader pattern of government inertia regarding minority protections. While Germany has formally ackno... https://news.osna.fm/?p=31120 | #news #council #criticizes #demands #genocide

Truro community centre issues prompt questions about Bible Hill exhibition grounds
Colchester and Truro councils are in agreement on a path forward for their jointly owned community centre, but the decisions leave questions about the exhibition grounds in Bible Hill, N.S.
#community #council #decision #Truro #BibleHill #NS
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/recc-nspec-truro-9.7048362?cmp=rss

Plymouth food pantry set to reopen after council vote

PLYMOUTH, N.C. (WITN) – Plymouth’s food pantry is set to reopen after the town council voted to enter into a lease agreement with United Full Gospel, …
#dining #cooking #diet #food #Food #closed #Council #county #crystal #davis #donsenia #Lease #mayor #November #operation #operator #Pantry #plymouth #reopen #Reopening #teel #town #vote #Washington
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2469152/plymouth-food-pantry-set-to-reopen-after-council-vote/

A leading advisory body is warning that potential revisions to Germany's climate targets pose a significant threat to the nation's ambitious transition to renew... https://news.osna.fm/?p=30642 | #news #council #heating #policy #stable