Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club

of organising a special field meeting to view the grand spectacle at any hour of the day or night, for its duration can only be expected to be transitory, and of rare

Occurrence.

For the best detailed account of the Birmingham Water Supply, illustrated with maps, from the pen of the designer and engineer, Mr. Mansergh, the reader is referred to an excellent folio work, price 25s., published by Virtue & Co., 1894, entitled "The Vale of Nantgwyllt," by R. Eustace Tickell, embellished by twelve charmingly bold copperplate etchings. In the same work is given an account of the poet Shelley's connection with Cwm Elan; and his residence in 1812, "embosomed in the solitude of mountains, woods and rivers, silent, solitary, and old," at Nantgwyllt, living his short-lived love with his first wife, Harriet Westbrook, aged sixteen, with whom he eloped at the age of nineteen. In 1814 Shelley had "devoted his burning soul" to Mary Godwin. Alas! in 1816, poor Harriet Shelley drowned herself in the Serpentine. In 1822, Shelley, leaving to posterity his poems, was drowned in the Mediterranean. The opening of the next century will find the site of Nantgwyllt, the wild brook, submerged by 60 feet of water; the site of Cwm Elan, (the Roe Valley), the residence of the poet's first love, his cousin Harriet Grove, submerged by 40 feet of water; and the site of the little Nantgwyllt Church submerged by 90 feet of water.

Mr. Tickell's work concludes with an historical account of the Grange of Cwmdeuddwr, by Stephen W. Williams, author of "History of the Cistercian Abbey of Strata Florida," of "The Abbey of Cwm-hir," and numerous other works. Mr. Williams traces the history of this property from its grant in 1184 by Rhys ap Gruffydd, Prince of North Wales, to the Abbot and Convent of Cistercian Monks of Strata Florida, its lease from the Crown, after its suppression in 1539-40, to the Devereux family, its acquisition by Sir James Croft, of Croft Castle, and Thomas Wigmore, of Shobdon, its tenure in 1578 by the Powells, by Thomas Johnes, by Mr. Thomas Grove, uncle of the poet Shelley, in 1792, by Robert Peel in 1815, by the fourth Duke of Newcastle in 1835, by General Sir William Loftus Otway in 1844, by Mr. Richard Dansey Green Price, and by Mr. Robert Lewis Lloyd, until it has finally become the property of the Corporation of Birmingham.

In concluding this report, I take the opportunity of expressing my thanks to the numerous officials connected with the works; to Mr. Mansergh for an illustration of the watershed, reservoirs, and dams, &c.; to the Chairman, Mr. Lawley Parker, for sanction of reproduction of the said drawings; to Mr. Anthony Lees, the Secretary, for helping me in every way whenever it fell to my lot to conduct a party over the works; to Mr. Stephen Williams, of Rhayader, for the first introduction to the works, and to the officials:-to Mr. G. N. Yourdi, for much assistance, always courteously rendered, whenever visiting the works; and to the following local resident engineers for varied information upon every subject in which I was making enquiries:-Mr. Cooke, in charge of the masons' yard; Mr. Lewis, engineer at Caban Côch Dam; Mr. Maddocks, at Careg-Ddu; Messrs. Tickel and Stillingfleet, at Pen-y-Gareg Dam; Messrs. Lloyd and Friedberger at Craig Gôch.

H. CECIL MOORE,

ON THE REMARKABLE DEFICIENCY OF RAINFALL IN HEREFORDSHIRE FOR NEARLY TEN YEARS

ENDING MIDSUMMER, 1896.

Together with some particulars of the extreme dryness and general mildness of the Winter and Spring of 1895-6, and other meteorological phenomena including the very severe frost of February, 1895.

BY H. SOUTHALL.

THE subject of my paper is a somewhat wide one, embracing at least three questions of sufficient interest to be treated separately; but as no account has yet been given to the Club of the winter of last year, it was thought better that some notice should be taken of it at the present time, even if the sources of our water supply including rainfall and storage may seem more important or appropriate in connection with our visit to the site of the new Birmingham Water Supply from the Elan Valley in Wales.

Let us then in the first place inquire how we stand in this part of England and Wales as regards Rainfall. Observations have been regularly recorded in Herefordshire since the beginning of 1818, or for a period of more than 78 years. With the exception of the nine years (1843-1851 inclusive) when the observations were taken at Titley these have all been made in the southern parts of the county, and are fairly comparable. The fall at Titley as well as at The Rocklands, near Ross, being slightly in excess of that at the more central stations.

The following table is a summary of the results as well as other details respecting the observers and their stations, height above sea level, &c.

Date of No. of Height above, Average fall Observations. Years. 1 sea level.

per year.

Observer.

Locality.

485 feet 30 66 inches Capt. Pendergrass Poole Cottage,

(the late)
R.B. Boddington
Esq., (the late)

J. M. Herbert,
Esq., (the late)
H. Southall
Ditto
Ditto

Much Dewchurch
Burcher Court,
Titley
Rocklands, nr. Ross

Friends Place, Ross
The Graig, Ross
Ditto

do.

Taking the 20 years (1867-1886) just preceding the setting in of the present dry cycle, as a basis of comparison for the Ross district we shall be able to judge the deficiency of rainfall which commenced in January 1887, and which has continued (with some breaks) to September 2nd, 1896, even thus having lasted up to now for nearly ten years.

The following shews the fall of rain in inches per year since 1887 at Ross, with difference from average each year :

1887. 22:57 9-29 Every month deficient except May and Nov., slightly above. 1888. 30-01 + 1:15 Wet March, July and Dec., very wet November. 1889. 27.91 3.95 Very wet spring (March, April and May) slight excess Oct. 1890. 22:53 9:33 Every month dry except Jan. and July, when slight excess. 1891. 33 57 + 1.71 Oct. very wet, May, Aug. and Dec. above average. - 9.05 Dry throughout, except July an average.

1892. 22.81 1893. 20.13

1894.

1173 Exceedingly dry till Dec., when slight excess. 32.63 +0.77 October wet (May, Aug. and Nov. slightly so). 1895. 25.96 5'90 (Jan. and Nov. wet), Feb. May and June very dry.

Or a deficiency in nine years of 45'62 inches. If to this we add deficiency January 1st to July 15th, 1896, of 9.54 inches, we have a total deficiency of 55.16 inches from January 1st, 1887, to July 15th inclusive 1896.

This is in round numbers equivalent to 5,571 tons per acre. Now the catchment basin of the river Wye is put down at 1,609 square miles, equal to 1,029, 760 The County of Hereford contains 860 square miles, equal to 550,400 acres,

acres.

or a trifle more than one half the extent of the former.

By a simple calculation therefore we have the deficiency of water deposited in the shape of rain and snow for the period above named (omitting minor figures.)

County of Hereford

Catchment Basin Wye

3066 million tons of water.
5737

This means for the larger area a quantity no less than 1,285,088 million gallons, or more than 14 billions. A cubic mile of water weighs 4095 million tons, so that it would occupy in bulk nearly one and half cubic miles of space. A prodigious volume truly.

We will now see whether this large decrease has been distributed regularly over the different months or whether it has affected one season of the year more than another. The annexed tables show some rather singular facts. Table A shows the amount of deficiency or excess of each individual month compared with average (1867 to 1886), and Table B the average of the total during the same time for each month in the year.

It will be seen at once that March, July, August, and October scarcely differ from the average, and that November shows even a slight excess caused by the heavy fall in 1888 of 8.17 in. The diminution in April and May likewise would be greater but for the exceptionally wet spring of 1889.

The greatest deficit is in February, September, and January, when instead of the average of 9.23 only 5'06 appears to have been registered, or little more than half the usual amount.

The deficiency is much more marked in the winter and autumn months, and during the time when evaporation is least active, and when also there would be the greatest retention of moisture in the soil from percolation.

The question may now be asked, Have we any similar or parallel instance on record of so prolonged a drought. To answer this I have examined the records and find that the following fluctuations appear to have occurred.

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The 12 years 1854 to 1865 were so dry that it was thought that the rainfall was diminishing. The 21 years immediately following had however nearly the same fall as the 26 years preceding. Whether we are now at the end of the series remains to be seen, but there is little doubt that before long the balance will be on the other side. One thing is certain that while continued drought produces great inconvenience, on the other hand wet seasons are not favourable to agriculture or conducive to comfort.

Perhaps before concluding it may be well to say something of the spell of exceedingly dry weather we are now experiencing.

The first five months of 1896 were quite the driest on record.

Rainfall January to May inclusive-Jan. 37, Feb. 24, March 2:24, April 81, May '18=3.84 inches. For the same five months the

Thus 1896 is little more than half the next driest year, and little more than one-fifth of 1886. I propose to treat in a separate paper of the frost of 1895.

TABLE A.

DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE RAINFALL IN EACH MONTH, 1887-1896.