Eye on Millig: How clean water came to Helensburgh

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"WATER, water everywhere and not a drop to drink." That could have been the cry in Helensburgh two centuries ago – yet for the past month it has just been everywhere!

Heavy rain and floods have dominated both the weather forecast and the news, so it seems a very appropriate time for Eye on Millig to feature the history of the burgh’s water supply.

It is yet another subject researched by local historian and Helensburgh Heritage Trust director Alistair McIntyre, and I am grateful to him for much of the detail which follows.

In the early days of Helensburgh, water for public use was obtained mostly through wells, formed by digging into the underlying soil and bedrock until water was struck.

Wells were distributed throughout the town, and were generally operated by hand-operated pump, the spout and handle being made of iron.

Fetching, pumping, drawing by bucket and carrying water just for the needs of daily life must have been an arduous and never-ending chore.

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Responsibility for the upkeep of wells could be a contentious issue. In 1851 Helensburgh Town Council refused to maintain wells, and management was for some time in the hands of the local police.

It was the inventive genius Henry Bell, the first Provost of Helensburgh, who first suggested the idea of bringing a piped water supply to the town.

A Town Council minute of 1810, when Bell was Provost, refers to the concept of forming a reservoir, with water being led into the town via two branches — one down Sinclair Street, and the other down James Street.

It is hard to see beyond Bell as the driving force behind this plan, especially as there are accounts of how Bell and his assistants surveyed, measured and pegged out a suitable site in Glen Fruin, the intention being to form a reservoir in the vicinity of Kilbride Farm.

Although farmland would have been inundated, the concept was sound in principle. The glen is constricted at that location, and it would have been a logical spot at which to build a dam.

This was not the first time Bell had been involved with water supply. In 1806, the great engineer Thomas Telford had been tasked by the City of Glasgow to draw up plans for a water supply, based on drawing water from the River Clyde at Dalmarnock.

In response, Bell came up with a counter plan, complete with costings. His big idea centred on abstracting water from the River Clyde near Lanark and feeding it by canal to a reservoir above the city, prior to onward distribution.

The elegance of Bell’s plan is that it would have been gravity-fed, while that of Telford required pumps. In addition, Bell claimed that abstraction of water at Dalmarnock would risk heavy contamination, while his water would be relatively pure.

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In the event, it was Telford’s plan that was taken up, while Bell’s proposal was set aside. As in the case of Glasgow, so too at Helensburgh, the plan of 1810 being left to lie on the table.

In Bell’s day the powers of the Town Council were very limited.

In that respect, the book 'The Story of Helensburgh' — c.1895, anonymous, but commonly believed to be the work of long-serving Town Clerk George MacLachlan — states: “The Town Council had no powers of taxation for any purpose, or any source of revenue, except what arose from the dues of fairs and markets.”

The trouble with Henry Bell seems to have been that he was decades ahead of his time. He was not a wealthy man, and he was not in a position to finance his vision.

In 1810 he mortgaged his Baths Hotel for £2,000, and what money he possessed would have been earmarked for the pioneering steamboat project for which he is today best known.

Over the years the Town Council did discuss the idea of a better water supply from time to time, but no serious attempt was made to progress the matter.

A proposal was made in 1859 at a public meeting by Dr Robert Hendry, then a Bailie, for the construction of a reservoir in the upper reaches of the Glennan Burn, but it was concluded that the supply obtained would be inadequate.

The town was by then connected to the railway, and the population was now more than 5,000, so it became clear that fundamental change was needed. One writer commented that the pace of growth in the town was being slowed by the lack of a proper water supply.

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Several events around this time may have helped to bring about decisive change.

In 1862, the passage into law of the General Police and Improvement (Scotland) Act held out the prospect of increased powers for town councils.

The Act enabled such bodies to cherry-pick any or all clauses in matters like water supply, drainage, cleansing, and so on, along with the necessary powers to implement them.

In fact, the clauses in the 1862 Act pertaining to water were adopted in 1866, and the virtue of this Act is underlined by the fact that by 1875, Helensburgh had adopted all of its clauses.

Another factor which may have helped progress plans for a water supply stemmed from events at Milligs Mill in what is now Hermitage Park. The Mill was water-powered from Milligs Burn.

There was a small reservoir a little above the Mill, but this was augmented by two good-sized reservoirs on Blackhill, located at the same site as the later town reservoirs. These are clearly shown on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps of the town, surveyed in 1860.

The Ordnance Survey’s own records state that the function of these reservoirs was to supply water for a ‘flour mill’.

There was a similar set-up at Rosneath, where the mill dam for the corn mill at Millbrae and sawmill at Camsail was augmented by supplies from the large Lindowan Reservoir.

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In 1862, Milligs Mill introduced a steam engine. Photographs show a factory-style chimney at the site, doubtless to lessen smoke pollution from the engine, which would have been coal-fired.

With the Industrial Revolution in full swing, big city mills were making it increasingly difficult for small provincial mills to compete, and the introduction of the steam engine may well have been an attempt to help keep Milligs Mill afloat.

Another factor which may have influenced thinking on the need for a piped water supply is that of public health.

In 1832, Helensburgh had been hit by Asiatic cholera, in the first devastating outbreak of that disease to hit Great Britain. It came to be greatly feared, being no respecter of age, sex or station in life.

For example, the 24 year-old son of a building contractor was taken ill in Helensburgh, and was reportedly dead within seven hours of the onset of symptoms.

In the next big outbreak, in 1849-49, the Oddfellows Hall was turned into a cholera hospital. Similarly, in 1866 a room above the Town Hall was used for that purpose. The authorities were taking the threat posed by cholera very seriously.

By the 1850s, John Snow, a medical man, in a fine piece of investigative work, demonstrated a clear link between occurrence of the disease and usage of particular public wells.

The authorities in Helensburgh would have been well aware of his findings, and there is evidence of their vigilance, with wells from time to time being condemned as unwholesome, including those at Alma Place and Havelock Place in the 1860s and 1870s respectively.

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Not only would a controlled supply of wholesome piped water help address the menace of cholera, it could also pave the way for the introduction of a comprehensive drainage system, as shortcomings in sewage disposal could easily contaminate groundwater and wells.

So what was named the Mains Hill water supply was progressed and formally opened on September 26, 1868, particular credit being given to Donald Murray, convener of the Water Committee, and Provost Alexander Breingan, whose wife declared the facility open.

The official opening was a colourful affair, with a large procession, music, speeches and toasts, the town being described as “en fete”.

The mill dams above the town appear to have been incorporated as the basis of the town reservoirs, although a good deal of work would still have been required, including installation of valves, filters and pipes, together with work on dams and embankments.

The lower reservoir, next to the Luss road, was designated No.1, while the other to the north, was designated No.2.

A vociferous minority were fiercely opposed to the scheme. The history of local public water supply throughout the district is one of opposition at every twist and turn.

One commentator summarised opposition to the Mains Hill scheme as coming from three sources: those who were content with pre-existing arrangements, those who felt that the location of the reservoirs was wrong, and those who felt that the scheme should not be brought in under the 1862 Police Act.

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In 1866, a plebiscite had been held on whether or not to adopt the water clauses of the Act, when the proposed measures were approved by only a small majority.

Of course, those entitled to vote at that time represented only a small proportion of the town’s population — male householders with property worth at least £10 a year.

More than likely, the single biggest cause of dissent stemmed from the effect on town rates, because of course the new supply came at a financial cost.

A memorable aspect of the water supply of days gone by was the annual inspection of the waterworks.

Town councillors, along with senior officials and invited guests, would set off from the Municipal Buildings on the appointed day for an enjoyable trip.

Email: milligeye@btinternet.com

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