| Chapter 1: | Water Supplies |
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natural water basins in the demesne for scenic and reservoir purposes will be examined, and it will be demonstrated that, in one case, a big house lake became of importance to a County Down town at a time of drought.
Hot water for bath and kitchen purposes led to further complexities of pipework and storage, and examples will be included to demonstrate a few early installations of such facilities. Changing fashions in bathing habits and the installation of improved flushing water closets in the late nineteenth century led to ever-increasing water consumption. These greater demands necessitated better water sources and improved pumping facilities, and several instances of these new installations with their costs are included. One final and important aspect of big house water supplies will be addressed in this chapter—that of the provision for firefighting. Fire was an ever-present danger to the big house, and the various factors that contributed to this situation will be assessed. A graphic description of such a fire—and what it involved—will underline the importance of having ample reservoirs of water for such an eventuality.
This chapter intends to show that having an adequate water supply was an important part of the independence and status of the big house in Ireland. The exploration of the different sources of water used for various purposes, and the sometimes impressive technology used to deliver it to where it was required, is to demonstrate this.
Table 1 lists a few of the more unusual water supply installations in big houses in Ireland and highlights the sometimes surprisingly early or late introduction of basic facilities. The flag number of the house gives its location on the reference map of big house technology sites in appendix A.
Rainwater
Except when there were periods of low rainfall, rainwater had several advantages as a source of water supply. It was clean, soft water, and the collection was carried out at a high level from the large area of the big