Journal entry – John Grey – 4 Jun 1834

Wednesday 4th June 1834



Rode through the Estates of Thornbrough & Newtonhall & thence to Whittle, my chief object in going there being to ascertain the success of an attempt to procure Water by boring in an old Grass Pasture the value of which has hitherto been much diminished by the want of it.  It has been proposed to cut a road through the Wood to give the Cattle access to the stream in Whittle Dean, but this would  have been expensive to make & steep & inconvenient to use.  I therefore determined to try the experiment of boring, & having borrowed rods from a neighbouring Colliery set two men to work, & was glad to find today, that after cutting through five yards of Clay & five of rock, they found this morning their borehole full of Water within four feet of the Surface.  This operation has cost 25/-   I have shut the hole up for the present, to see how the water stands, & if it does not waste, a very little expense will convey it to its level on the hillside, there to terminate in a Watering Trough for the Cattle.  I called on the Miller at Dilston in the morning without seeing him, & repeated my call on returning from Whittle, when as usual he was intoxicated.  He told me he would pay me rent, but I might seize what he had & pay myself, for he would be quit.   I told him he could not now be quit till May next, & that he must be made to pay his rents or go to Jail.  He said I might do as I liked, he would be as well in Jail as here, but ‘he would be quit.’   This conduct leaves me no alternative but to seize immediately, as it is to be feared that they may convey away their Goods clandestinely.