The greatest depth of the bank from ground level to crest was
95 ft., the top width 12 ft., and the slopes, both on the up stream and
down stream sides, 21/2 to 1, and the area of the reservoir 78 acres.
Mr.--now Sir Robert--Rawlinson, together with Mr. Beadmore, were called
in to make a report, to lay before Parliament, upon this disaster; and
having made a careful examination of the ruins, and taken evidence, they
were of opinion that the mode of laying the pipes, and in such an
unprotected way, was faulty, and that subsidence of the pipes probably
occurred at the crossing of the puddle trench. A fissure in the puddle
was created, affording a creep for the water, which, once set up, would
rapidly increase the breach by scour; and this event was favored by the
manner in which the bank had been constructed and the unsuitability of
the material used, which, in the words of one engineer, had more the
appearance of a quarry tip than of a bank intended to store water. This
opinion of the cause of failure was, however, not adopted universally by
engineers, the line of pipes when examined being found to be, although
disjointed, fairly in line; and there having occurred a land slip in the
immediate neighborhood, it was suggested that the rupture might be caused
by a slip also having taken place here, especially as the substratum was
of flagstone rock tilted at a considerable angle.
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