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The Horse Pond

To meet ever increasing demands for water in Cambridge & the surrounding villages parliamentary sanction was granted in 1866 for new waterworks in Fulbourn, under a scheme prepared & carried out by Mr. Charles Hawkesley a pilot shaft 70ft deep & a pumping well 50ft deep were sunk side by side & two steam driven pumps delivering a million gallons a day were installed.

Cambridge University & Town Waterworks Act 25th June 1886.

The Act then states in 6c:- The Company shall also before commencing to make use of the said well and pumping station construct and for ever after maintain in the south-eastern corner of the field numbered 1 in the parish of Fulbourn on the deposited plans a pool or pond twenty yards by ten yards in area of a maximum depth of three feet and shall at the expense of the Company keep the said pool or pond continually furnished with a supply of water to be regulated and controlled by the said surveyors but not to exceed five thousand gallons in any one day.

(d) The said pool or pond shall be of a character and at a level and shall be constructed of materials and in accordance with plans and specifications to be previously approved by the surveyors of highways for the said parish for the time being and shall be completed under the supervision and to the satisfaction in all respects of the said surveyors. The said plans and specifications shall include a suitable and sufficient arrangement for the admission of water into the said pool or pond for its discharge therefrom and if so desired by the surveyors for the maintenance through the same of a continuous current while convenient means of access for vehicles horses and cattle from the road numbered five on the deposited plans shall also be provided.

There was also a provision for a standpost "of the height to the jet or spout of not less than seven feet to be used for filling water carts such last mentioned standpost to be erected at or near the Poors Well or pond hereinafter mentioned."

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