New River Project

Topic: New River Project

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• The old local wiki page is only a source trail. It identifies New River, a Legal History as the relevant source for Neville's New River connection, but it does not itself provide evidence beyond that link.
• Leslie Tomory's The History of the London Water Industry, 1580-1820 summarizes the earliest New River share evidence as the sale of two shares to Sir Henry Neville in 1612 for £100 each, with further sums due if company expenses exceeded £6,400.
• Tomory's note identifies the underlying agreement as 1612-05-08 and cites Bernard Rudden's The New River: A Legal History, appendix E, pp. 274-278.
• Rudden appendix E prints a Share Issue dated 8 May 1612.
• The printed share issue is between Hugh Middleton, citizen and goldsmith of London, and Sir Henry Nevill of Billingsbear in the countie of Berks Knight.
• Rudden's printed text says Sir Henry Nevill "is and hathe beene an adventurer in the said worke."
• The printed text says Sir Henry Nevill had paid two hundred pounds to Hugh Middleton before the sealing and delivery of the instrument.
• The printed text grants Sir Henry Nevill two full and intire six and thirtieth partes of the waterworks, river, new cut, and profits, after the King's half-share is excepted.
• The printed text requires Neville to bear a proportional charge if the work cost more than £3,200; this is expressed as a full sixteenth parte of the surplus charge.
• The printed witnesses on the share issue are Ni: Hyde, Will: Staverton, and Wm: Neast.
• BRO/Royal Berkshire D/EN/O24 now gives direct manuscript-transcription support for the payment lane. Doc_47d_D_EN_O_24.md preserves two receipts tied to the New River project:
• 18 May 1612: Hugh Myddelton receives £50 from Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbear toward bringing a river or water stream from the springs of Chadwell and Amwell toward London, according to an indenture dated 8 May last past.
• 2 December 1613: Henry Myddelton receives another £50 from Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbear toward a further supply for the same work, explicitly referring to an indenture dated 8 May in James's tenth regnal year.
• The two Doc_47d receipt images, IMG_8425 and IMG_8424, were visually spot-checked on 2026-05-29; the key names, dates, £50 sums, Chadwell/Amwell wording, and 8 May indenture references are visible in the images.
• Other D/EN/O24 documents belong in a related but distinct lane:
• Doc_47c_D_EN_O_24.md is a 26 November 1610 Henry Myddelton receipt to Sir Henry Neville for a Sarum/Salisbury water project, not direct New River evidence.
• Doc_47b_D_EN_O_24.md is a 29 July 1613 Henry Myddelton letter from Sarum about the Close watercourse, trench, fountain, cistern, and lead pipes. It is related Myddelton/waterworks evidence, not a New River receipt.
• Doc_47a_D_EN_O_24.md is an 28 April 1614 rent receipt for a house in Salisbury Close paid by John Aldworth; it is contextual for the Sarum property/waterworks cluster, not New River evidence.
• The 1612 Sir Henry Nevill in the share issue and receipts is most likely the elder Sir Henry Neville of Billingbear, not Henry Neville III. The younger Neville was knighted by this point, but the elder was alive until July 1615 and is the controlling identification unless a source says otherwise.
• Duncan's 1974 dissertation adds useful secondary context for the New River political-network lane. Citing Neville MSS, D/En/O24, ff. 1-3, Duncan says Neville purchased two shares on 8 May 1612 for £200, had additional liability for surplus charges, paid at least £300 into the company according to receipts, and sold £67 worth of elms for use as water pipes.
• Duncan also connects this business relationship to the 1614 Commons context through Robert Middleton, brother of Hugh Myddelton. This is a suggestive political-network interpretation; the direct evidence still proves investment/payment and timber sale, not parliamentary advocacy for the New River.
• Local BRO website verification update, 2026-06-10: the O24 New River and Sarum/Salisbury records are present in the local website data with images and no missing-image flags. The verified split is Doc_47d for direct New River receipts, and Doc_47a-Doc_47c for Salisbury/Sarum context. IMG_8425.jpeg was visually spot-checked for the Hugh Myddelton receipt.
• The estate-settlement lane adds two related controls outside O24. Doc_01_D_EN_F6_1_19.md, a 30 April 1615 feoffment/trust abstract, treats water-works shares as trust assets alongside Indico and family provision. Doc_20c_D_EN_F6_1_16_Neville_Lawrence_Waltham_draft.md treats the waterwork benefit as a potentially growing estate asset, but it remains P0/PARTIAL and should not be quoted before line collation.

2. Evidence Lanes

3. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• No Ken Feinstein Twitter/blog material is isolated in this packet at present.

4. Quoted Source Text

Rudden appendix E

• "E. Share Issue"
• "8 May 1612"
• "Sir Henry Nevill of Billingsbear in the countie of Berks Knight"
• "is and hathe beene an adventurer in the said worke"
• "two hundred pounds"
• "two full and intire six and thirtieth partes"
• "a full sixteenth parte"

Tomory

• "the sale of two shares to Sir Henry Neville in 1612 for £100 each"
• "Agreement with Sir Henry Neville to sell shares. (1612-05-08)"

BRO / Royal Berkshire D/EN/O24

• Doc_47d: "Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbere"
• Doc_47d: "ffyftie poundes"
• Doc_47d: "from the springes of Chadwell and Amwell towards the Cittie of London"
• Doc_47d: "according to a Covenant contayned in an Indenture dated the Eight day of May last past"
• Doc_47d: "according to A Covenant contayned in an Indentur[e] dated the Eight day of May"
• Doc_47b: "the water course runne through"
• Doc_47b: "The fountayne is also built"
• Doc_47c: "the North gate of the Cittie of Sarum"

BRO / Royal Berkshire estate-waterwork controls

• Doc_01: "Two full and cleare fiue and thirtie parts of y^e water-works"
• Doc_01: "the Indico and water-workes"
• Doc_20c: "the benefitt of the new act or waterworke is like to grow & increase"

Duncan dissertation

• "Neville purchased two shares"
• "29 adventurers who shared 36 shares"
• "£67 worth of elms"

5. Citations

• "New River Project." Henry Neville Research Wiki, 23 Oct. 2019, http://nevilleresearch.com/index.php?title=New_River_Project. Local preservation: wiki_new_river_project.md.
• Tomory, Leslie. The History of the London Water Industry, 1580-1820. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017, p. 75 and notes 37-38. Local PDF: TEXTO.06.TheHistLondonWater.pdf.
• Rudden, Bernard. The New River: A Legal History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985. Appendix E, Share Issue, 8 May 1612, pp. 274-278. Local PDF excerpt: Rudden_New_River_Appendix_E_Share_Issue_1612.pdf.
• Draft OCR and rendered page images for Rudden appendix E: Rudden_New_River_Appendix_E_Share_Issue_1612_OCR_DRAFT.md and page_images.
• Hugh and Henry Myddelton receipts to Sir Henry Neville, 18 May 1612 and 2 Dec. 1613, D/EN/O24: Doc_47d_D_EN_O_24.md. Key images spot-checked: IMG_8425.jpeg and IMG_8424.jpeg.
• Duncan, Owen Lowe, Jr. The Political Career of Sir Henry Neville: An Elizabethan Gentleman at the Court of James I. Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1974, esp. ch. 7, p. 276 / book p. 268 in the combined transcription. Original PDF: DUNCAN OL 1974 7424317.pdf. Full Antigravity transcription: DUNCAN_OL_1974_7424317_combined.md.
• Henry Myddelton receipt to Sir Henry Neville, 26 Nov. 1610, D/EN/O24: Doc_47c_D_EN_O_24.md. Image spot-check path: IMG_8423.jpeg.
• Henry Myddelton to Sir Henry Neville, Sarum, 29 July 1613, D/EN/O24: Doc_47b_D_EN_O_24.md.
• Henry Myddelton to John Aldworth, rent receipt, 28 Apr. 1614, D/EN/O24: Doc_47a_D_EN_O_24.md.
• Neville feoffment/trust abstract with water-works and Indico interests, 30 Apr. 1615, D/EN/F6/1/19: Doc_01_D_EN_F6_1_19.md.
• Neville Lawrence Waltham / waterwork draft instructions, D/EN/F6/1/16: Doc_20c_D_EN_F6_1_16_Neville_Lawrence_Waltham_draft.md.
• Local BRO/RBA verification dossier for Duncan leads: DUNCAN_BRO_LOCAL_WEBSITE_VERIFICATION_2026-06-10.md.
• business_interests.md, related business-lanes packet.
• play_coriolanus.md, related play packet for the New River / civic-provision analogy.
• sir_henry_neville_iii_1588_1629.md, related packet for the elder/younger Neville distinction.
• bro_transcriptions_source_dossier.md, source map for the BRO/Royal Berkshire transcription corpus.

6. Notes on Access

• This packet now separates direct New River evidence from the Sarum/Salisbury waterworks material in the same BRO D/EN/O24 group.
• Do not cite Doc_47b or Doc_47c as New River evidence. They show Neville dealing with Henry Myddelton on water infrastructure at Sarum/Salisbury.
• The strongest New River evidence is the convergence of Rudden appendix E, Tomory's summary, and the Doc_47d receipts.
• The 1615 Doc_01 trust abstract and Doc_20c draft show the waterwork interest as an estate asset. They strengthen the business/estate context but do not replace New River company/share evidence.
• The claim that Neville was a parliamentary advocate or debater of the New River project remains unverified here. Current checked evidence proves investment/payment, not parliamentary advocacy.
• Duncan supports using New River as a business-and-network context for Neville's 1612-1614 parliamentary world, but this remains secondary interpretation unless the Middleton/Phelips/Berkeley parliamentary links are independently sourced.
• The Rudden appendix is a copyrighted printed source. Use short snippets only unless a final citation apparatus obtains permission or substitutes a public-domain manuscript witness.
• The elder/younger distinction matters. The 1612 share issue and receipts should be assigned to the elder Sir Henry Neville unless contrary evidence appears. Henry Neville III's later New River Company membership remains a separate post-1615 claim.