The company was established by
Act of Parliament in 1904. The supply of fresh water had been
a particular interest of Henry Charles Stephens. When he originally
purchased the village of Shipton Bellinger in Hampshire, there
was a rudimentary mains water system in place, with water being
moved by a wind pump from a well on the outskirts of the village
to a small reservoir on a nearby hill. At that time Cholderton
and its outlying houses relied entirely on domestic wells with
hand pumps.
Henry C Stephens determined to improve the
system and promoted his Water Act through Parliament. This gave
the company powers to lay mains and construct reservoirs, and
to supply and sell water in the Parishes of Cholderton and Bulford
in Wiltshire and Shipton Bellinger, Thruxton, Amport and Quarley
in Hampshire. A detailed schedule of pumping stations and reservoirs
together with water mains was incorporated within the Act. These
works were subsequently undertaken and a large proportion of them
are still in use.
A soft water plant was constructed, to treat
the very highly calcified water and supply the Estate laundry
via a bespoke reservoir and water main. A large reservoir was
constructed with a view to supplying Andover, though this did
not take place.
The Water Company today has approximately
60 kilometres of water supply pipe. All repairs and replacements
of these pipes are undertaken by an in house engineer and maintenance
men. The water is tested weekly and has to meet the rigorous standards
of the 1989 Water Act. The testing is carried out by Wessex Water
and the whole process is inspected by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
The company achieves very high levels of purity. The water is
very alkaline and has high levels of dissolved carbonates, quantities
that are apparently highly beneficial for the human heart. The
taste is excellent and clarity perfect.
The company supplies around 2,500 people
in an area of around 21 square kilometres through some 1400 service
connections. The Cholderton and District Water Company is the
last survivor of what was once a fairly common phenomenon –
the Statutory Estate Water Supply. There are many farms and other
holdings that still supply a few houses, but Cholderton is the
only one left that was set up by Act of Parliament. All the others
have been absorbed into the former water authorities or by larger
regional water companies.
At a time when water quality is
under increasing threat from industrial and agricultural run-off,
and from falling water tables, sources of pure water are likely
to become more and more valuable. Because of Henry Edmunds’
policy of minimum use of chemicals in the past, and the conversion
to organic systems now, the chalk underlying the Cholderton Estate
has been subject to very little pollution; indeed the only measurable
pollutant ever recorded was from an external source.
For the Cholderton Estate, the
Water Company is another money-earning business that contributes
to overall income, but it also integrates the Estate with local
life and culture.
The Cholderton and District
Drought Plan is available in a word document here.
