Before the arrival of mains water, springs and
their attendant wells were the only source of
supply. Most of these were on private property
and many deeds contain elaborate details of the
rights of neighbours to cross the land and draw
water.
Where there was a concentration of houses, there
were public wells and taps, the responsiblity for
whose maintenance fell to the Parish Council. The
task was just as endless as was caring for the
footpaths. Taps were out with extraordinary
frequency, pipes blocked up, the area around the
well or tap became muddy and paving had to be
laid or replaced.
There were also occasional examples of what we
should nowadays call vandalism. In February 1914
Councillor Roskruge reported an obstruction in
the Rosenithon Well which was causing great
inconvenience to women going there for water.
Councillor Rogers agreed to clear it immediately
but in March had to report that, despite some
efforts, he had failed. There was considerable
discussion of the "dastardly act" and
the matter was passed to Councillors Retallack
and Nicholls who promised to deal with it
shortly. At the April meeting the latter reported
that it had been cleared; the obstruction had
been in the overflow pipe and consisted of a
2' 6" (two feet six inches) length of
"brush hill" (??) the same size as the
pipe. Councillor Nicholls produced the brush at
the meeting.
The Council still maintains Tregarne and Traboe
wells.
St. Keverne Reservoir
As might be expected, the two major settlements,
i.e. St. Keverne and Coverack, gave rise to most
problems. It helps to understand the position
in St. Keverne if we have some idea what the
Reservoir was, particularly as it has long since
disappeared and in any case was never what we
would normally think of as a reservoir. It stood
on the corner of St. Keverne Square where the bus
shelter is now; it was about 10 feet square, 8
feet deep and covered in slate. The overflow went
to a horse trough from which cattle used to
drink.
In March 1914 at the Annual Meeting held in
public the surroundings of the Reservoir were
said to be very dirty owing to the excrement left
by cattle; this was a great eyesore to the
immediate neighbours and to visitors coming into
the village so much so that the local press had
now "seriously taken the matter up".
One suggestion was that the area should be railed
off, another that the trough should be removed.
Members of the public pointed out that the loss
of the trough would be keenly felt by a large
number of residents. It was resolved that the
Parish Council were quite capable of dealing with
the question and it was left in their hands.
In June the Council considered a petition about
the filth from three parishioners, apparently
offering to do the cleaning. It was decided that
they should be required to carry out their
self-imposed task three times a week or the
Council would remove the trough. In July the
surroudings were reported to be much cleaner.
Apart from routine matters, the next mention is
in August 1917 when the dilapidated and dirty
condition of the surrounding shrubbery is
mentioned and it is reported that a
"party" still drove a Steam Tractor
through the village and each week put its hose in
the water to fill its tank, contrary to the
Council's notice.
Sometime before the next relevant minute in
August 1926 railings were erected. It was then
reported that water was being taken as the
Reservoir lock had disappeared. In October, in
spite of a new lock having been bought, water
continued to disappear. The Council resolved to
leave the matter in abeyance and try to find out
who the culprits were. As far as can be
discovered from the minutes, the problem was not
so much solved as bypassed for two months later
we find that the District Council intended to
erect a storage tank in place of the reservoir.
The Council resented this strongly on the grounds
that it was an uncalled for waste of
ratepayers's money.
Despite their protests, by August 1932 the tank
appears to have been in place for some time as a
Mr. W. Rogers was employed to clean the walls.
Problems did not by any means cease, however.
People left rubbish, manure returned, the owners
of the cows that drank at the Reservoir being
asked to clean it up, and there were occasional
leaks. In October 1940 it was reported to be
empty partly for this reason and partly because
they had had a very dry spell of weather (it was
the idyllic summer of the Battle of Britain).
Mains Water to St. Keverne
In February 1950 Councillor Brown informed the
Council that representatives of the Rural
District Council had been to Whitehall and the
Ministry of Health had given their approval of a
scheme that would take three years. Supply was to
be taken from"Me-Hall-Mill" to Roskruge
Beacon and then piped to points to be decided on.
In March it was reported that surveying was being
carried out as quickly as possible.
In June of the same year the minutes mention that
a boring had been carried out at the new estate
(Penmennor) which would produce 300 gallons of
water per hour, a fact which seems to have
relieved the minds of councillors whose faith in
the immediacy of the comprehensive scheme seems
not to have been unlimited. In October their
scepticism was justified as we then find that the
RDC had resolved to sink a borehole near the
reservoir. By January 1951 it appears that the
RDC was constantly reviewing the situation and it
looked as though the scheme would not be
undertaken for some years.
In December 1954 the RDC wrote to say that they
had cleaned the pipes to Porthoustock, though
they were not inclined to replace them in view of
the "impending" introduction of the new
water scheme. In September 1957 the Council wrote
a further letter of protest about the
unsatisfactory state of supply to the village.
People drew water from the Reservoir until 1958
when the mains at last arrived in the village,
the supply being pumped from Roskruge Reservoir
(later from Stithians) direct to both Porthallow
and St. Keverne; from the latter it continued to
Porthoustock. Thereafter the Council's
responsibility was limited to complaining
periodically first to the water company, then the
water board and finally, at the time of printing,
to a private water company again.
Coverack's Water Supply
Evidently Coverack's supply was particularly
deficient and in December 1921 the PC first
raised the matter; after somewhat acrimonious
discussion, the proposition was put: "That
this Annual Meeting of the Electors of St.
Keverne recognises that the present water supply
of Coverack is totally inadequate, and that it
approves of an additional supply being
provided".
It was lost by a large majority.
However, the District Council had its eyes on the
situation and in August 1922 they wrote to the PC
outlining a scheme. Councillor Collins moved that
it was expensive and costly and should be dropped
at once: passed by 6 votes to 5. The Sanitary and
Water Committee were deputed to see if the
present supply could not be improved at the cost
of a few pounds. Some detail of how this might be
achieved emerges at the next meeting where it is
suggested that a pipe be laid from the tap at
Sincock's (see below) to the corner of the
old public house (where the public phone kiosk
now is). In December 1923 the DC wrote to the PC
telling them an Inspector from the Ministry of
Health would hold an inquiry in connection with
the DC's plan to borrow £250 for an
additional water supply to Coverack. Councillor
Rogers returned to the plan for a pipe mentioned
above with the addition of a 1500 gallon tank
opposite Sincock's (this is the house at the
front of whose garden the tap was and is. Mr.
Sincock was, incidentally, the first headmaster
of Coverack School).
In January 1923 the meeting resolved to draw the
attention of the District Council to the fact
that cars were being washed on the high road in
front of the new garage in Coverack. It is not
clear if the offence was misuse of the highway or
profligate use of a limited water supply.
The matter was left in abeyance for almost four
years; it does not reappear until March 1927 at
the Annual Meeting with members of the public
present and free to speak. District Councillors
were also there. Is it a sign of the less than
brotherly relations between the two councils,
that they had to wait until the last item on a
long agenda? It is certainly unclear why they
were there for when they were asked to outline
the new £1,700 scheme for Coverack, they
gave no answer. Mr. R.G. Harvey, a parishioner,
pointed out that they had not supported the
£250 scheme and they did not support the
new one. He must have spoken rather more strongly
than appears as one of the District Councillors
told him that he did his cause more harm than
good by being impertinent.
In January 1928 the PC again affirmed its
opposition to such an expensive scheme. At the
Annual Meeting in March there was further
discussion involving contradictions and
considerable heat (Mr. Harvey again intervened).
It emerged that the DC's scheme would now
cost £3,000.
In August they resolved to write to the DC
opposing the present scheme but, since they
recognised the urgent need for water in Coverack,
supporting a smaller one.
And that is the last time the minutes mention the
new Coverack water supply. Frustration again! The
sequel is supplied from other sources.
In 1930 the District Council started work on its
new scheme, having by then received a grant from
central government. It appears to have cost
considerably more than £3,000 and was
contracted out to Dingles of Redruth. They piped
the three main springs in the lower part of the
village into a large tank behind the old mill.
From there it was pumped up into a reservoir
built in the field opposite Mr. Ben
Roskilly's farm. The whole village was dug up
and pipes were laid into all the houses.
Unfortunately this was not the end of water
supply problems for Coverack. In January 1950 the
Royal Cornwall Infirmary sent a report to the
District Council which was read out at the Parish
Council meeting. They had evidently analysed
water samples and they reported that that from
Coverack showed a large number of "coliform
organisms of excretal origin and is unsuitable fo
drinking purposes. The treatment appears to be
most inadequate". Nobody familiar with the
position would have been surprised. One of the
wells was unfenced and a heifer once drowned in
it; it was henceforth known as the "Oxo
Well".
An intermediate solution was the pumping in about
1960 of the water fror Roskruge, the reservoir
supplying St. Keverne. Later the whole area was
supplied direct from Stithians.
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