There were then three water wheels, each operating upon 16 pumps. The wheels and machinery were fixed in a strong frame of oak, that rose and fell with the tide, which, whether ebbing or flowing, imparted motion to the wheels. The whole yield of all the pumps was 1954 hogsheads per hour.* The lease and management of these works, continued in Morice's family till 1701, when, finding the profits diminished by the competition of the New River Company the r

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proprietor sold out for 38,000, to one Soames, citizen and goldsmith of London, who made a joint stock of the concern, and obtained from the corporation the lease of another arch. Subsequently the use of two more arches was granted to the company, and thus enlarged, the works were vigorously carried on a considerable portion of the inhabitants of the city, both experiencing and acknowledging their utility. The revenue, however, was not large, as the distribution had originally been made through wooden pipes, which were found incapable of sustaining the pressure necessary for conveying water to the upper stories of lofty houses. The disadvantage under which this company labored, in competition with the New River Company whose distribution was through iron pipes still The company, therefore, dragged feebly on, till the further diminished the returns.

building of the New London Bridge, in 1822, entirely annihilated their works. The region they supplied is now furnished by the New River and the East London Water Works. By a return made to Parliament in 1821, the London Bridge Company, just previous to the final destruction of their works, supplied 10,417 houses with 26,322,705 hogsheads per annum, at a rental of 12,266 about $61,000.