Gauge House At The River Lee At Ngr Tl 3399 1381

This is a gauge house with a former dwelling for the gauge keeper above, constructed in 1856 by the New River Company. The design is attributed to William Chadwell Mylne, the architect and engineer. The building is constructed of yellow-brown brick in English bond, with a Welsh slate hipped roof and brick chimneys featuring projecting bands.

The exterior features a two-story structure above a brick-arched bridge undercroft. The first floor has three recessed sash windows with rubbed brick flat arches above. The ground floor has recessed sash windows on the left and right, with pilasters at the corners and a deep plat band at first-floor level, except on the south elevation. The south elevation displays a recessed storey-height central panel, incorporating an inner arched recess with triple semicircular header arches and a central pierced, moulded patterned cast-iron grille. Projecting brick segmental header arches form a bridge over the central water inlet from the River Lee to the New River. The north elevation, facing the River Lee, has three first-floor sash windows and a blank ground floor below the plat band. Canted intakes project into the river at ground level.

The ground floor houses the gauge, which measures the intake of water from the River Lee. This gauge comprises two iron boats, each 5 meters long and floating at Lee level, connected by a 9-meter-long chordal segmental iron beam. The rise and fall of this beam with the level of the Lee controls the flow of water over a sluice, which can be further adjusted using weights hung from the gate. The daily intake from the Lee is 22.5 million gallons. The New River flows between stone and concrete abutments.

Historically, pumping stations were built in the mid-19th century to assist the flow, with the nearest located at Broadmead, near Chadwell Spring, the original water source 1.5 miles east of Ware. The New River itself was constructed between 1608 and 1613 by Sir Hugh Myddelton to supply water to London, running 38 miles from Chadwell Spring between Ware and Hertford. By the early 18th century, the water supply was inadequate. An Act of 1739 permitted the drawing of water from the River Lea near Hertford, initially measured by gauges designed by Robert Mylne. The River Lee Act of 1855 granted the New River Company and the East London Waterworks Company the right to take all water from the Lea, apart from that needed for navigation. Following improvements to the cut across King's Meads, the present gauge house was built in 1856, designed by William Chadwell Mylne.