History

Alnwick's water was originally supplied by streams and a couple of wells. A number of roads in the town follow the course of the original streams (Clayport, Hotspur Street, Wagonway Road, Canongate, Greenwell Lane and Bow Alley). The streams were not completely covered over until 1827. As they were, the water was routed through public water fountains called pants.

The earliest record of a pant in Alnwick dates from 1611. This probably refers to one at the bottom of Pottergate. It was the only one at that time, and was referred to as "the pant". A second pant (which no longer exists) was then constructed near the market place in 1712. The one at the foot of Pottergate then became known s the "low pant", and the one near the marketplace became known as the "high pant".

Alnwick flourished in the middle of the 18th century. The first Duke of Northumberland made Alnwick Castle his home, and began a major restoration of the Castle and parks. The town became an important staging point on the Great North Road, and on the turnpike road between Hexham and Alnmouth. More pants were constructed during this period, to serve an increasingly prosperous population (Tower Well Pant:1752, Green Batt Pant:1753, clayport Pant: 1755, St Michael's Pant: 1759, Church Pant, 1778)

By the middle of the 19th century the pants were unable to provide sufficient clean water for a rapidly growing population. After a serious outbreak of Cholera in 1849 piped water was introduced. By the end of the 1850's this was supply most of the town's needs. In the last 150 years some of the old pants have been replaced, some removed, and some destroyed by vehicles, but most are still maintained. They can still be appreciated as important features of the townscape.

In 1822, Davison, in "A descriptive and historical view of Alnwick", recorded that:

"The town is well provided with water from the different pants and pumps which are ten in number eight of which belong to the borough and two in Bondgate to his grace the Duke of Northumberland There are also two pumps in Canongate belonging to the township. The high and the low pants are the principal. St Michael's or the high pant stands near the west end of the shambles and is well supplied with water It is a beautiful structure and the top of it is ornamented with a representation of St Michael and the Dragon elegantly cut in stone It was erected by the borough in 1765. The low pant stands at the foot of Pottergate. It is an octagon building with a very large cistern and was erected by the borough in 1790.

Until the 1850's all domestic water had to be transported from these pants and wells. It was normally carried on the head, in a wooden pail called a "skeel" which held about six gallons.

In 1866, Tate listed the pants and wells as:

• • the High or St. Michael's Pant

  • the Low or Pottergate Pant

  • the Clayport High Pant, formerly Kidland's Well

  • the Clayport Low Pant

  • the two Bondgate Pants

  • the Greenbat Pant

  • the Church Pant

  • the Town or Stone Well

  • Green's or Moffat's Well.

Tate records that:

On the corporation devolved the duty of supplying the town with water; and they fully exercised the power of building pants, and of laying pipes in the streets to convey the water from springs in the neighbourhood, as the wants of the town required. The expense was defrayed chiefly out of the corporate funds, aided in early periods by water rates imposed on the inhabitants. The pants belonged to the corporation or town; and the young freemen who rode the boundary of the moor, on St. Mark's Day, also rode round the pants of the town, as well as the Market Place and Cross, as part of their property. From an early period the corporation paid a salary to a pantkeeper; beginning in 1611 with 2s. yearly, and ending with £7 7s. John Graye, in 1611, was paid 2s. for keeping the pant, and 6d. for "dales to the pant;" in 1645, George Jefferson for keeping the pant was paid 6s.

A pant and the Stone Well are the earliest noticed. In 1623, it was ordered by the four-and-twenty, "that whosoever he be (or she) that abuseth the pant or our Stone Well shall pay for each fait toties quoties, to the Comon hutch of the town."

At that time, the pants and wells provided 61,920 gallons a day in the winter, but only 16,380 in the summer. That was equivalent to 2.4 - 9 gallons per person per day. At the time, this was considered sufficient in winter, but not in summer (it compares to normal water consumption now of about 30 gallons / 150 litres per person per day).

Apart from providing insufficient water in summer, the open pants were "not as clean as they might be kept". The water was impure, and contained a mixture of organic and inorganic matter.

In 1849 there was a serious outbreak of cholera. There were deaths across the town, but most were in the Clayport area. In 40% of cases the nearest pant to the death was the one that no longer exists at the end of Tower Lane.

The Board of Health carried out extensive work to improve the water and sewage systems of the town between 1852 and 1855. By 1858 around 90% of properties in Alnwick had been connected to the water mains, and by the mid-1860's all but a couple of houses were connected.

However, the pants continued to be used. Some were even rebuilt in more decorative form in the late nineteenth century. Although others were closed because the water was deemed unsafe, and several were damaged when hit by vehicles, most of the pants were left in place, and maintained - and so remain to this day.