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High Street Wellhead
Until
1820 these stone well heads (seen punctuated down the Royal Mile at the
Lawnmarket, High Street, Netherbow and Canongate) were the only means
by which the thousands of Old Town inhabitants could access water. They
were also places were locals would meet and gossip.
The source of this supply, Castlehill Resevoir (1681) was replaced by
a new system in 1851. The 1.7 million gallon capacity was fed by springs
from the Pentland Hills.
The
Resevoir was decommissioned in 1992 and converted into a unique working
tartan mill.
Narrow
necked buckets called ‘stoups’ were used to collect and contain
water and a ‘girr’ used as a means of providing stability
to the carrier. ‘Caddies’, who offered a delivery service
carried it in a purpose bulit barrel strapped to the back.
The council would ration the water when it was in short supply during,
for example, the summer months. Since this meant that local residents
could only use the wells between midnight and 3 a.m. queues and fighting
were commonplace.
Detail of
Netherbow Wellhead
