IV.—On the Waterworks at Goldstone Bottom, Brighton

Extract

These works were at first only supplementary to the Lewes Road Works, on the east; but now are the chief source of supply. They were begun in 1865, and are placed in a hollow in the Chalk, in open ground. at the north-western edge of Brighton. This hollow, the bottom of which, I am told, is 30 feet below the lowest part of its rim, is perhaps in itself an evidence of the existence of underground water, being due, most likely, as is usually the case in limestone-districts, to the dissolving away of the rock by underground water and to the consequent sinking-in of the surface. It is an analogous occurrence to the Meres of Norfolk, except that these are generally more or less filled with water, whilst Goldstone Bottom is quite dry at the surface. I may mention that at the time of my visit there was so thick a fog that it was impossible to see the hollow.