Page - 220 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

220 BettyArndt Fig. 6:Göttingen, fragment of deco- ratedearthenware (Werrakeramik, late 16th/early 17th cen- tury):womanstand- ingat awell (water- colourwith graphical comple- tion). Since at least the 15th century, the council took more responsibility for the water supply, to whichendpublicwellswere installed in the streets, in addition to theprivatewells behind the houses. AGöttingen chronicle of 1734 lists 42 public groundwaterwells and 10wells supplied bywater pipes.33 Archaeological evidence for such a streetwellwas found in 1996 in theRote Straße during the renovation of the sewage system (Fig.7). A wooden water pipe entered a rectangular boxof large sandstone slabswith a stonepavement.On theopposite side, another pipe leads thewater out again.Wehave no remains of the upper construction, but it is likely this was the underground structure of a running fountain in the street, which is alsomarked on the 18th centuryplan.34 Waterpipeshavebeeninuse inGöttingenat leastsince1429.Theyweresuppliedbynatural streams,whichwaspossible throughthenatural inclineof thesurface.Thewatercomingdown- hill from east of the town first supplied the council fish pond inside the ramparts, before the waterwas fed into thewooden pipes running down to a central fountain at themarket place. Awrittensourcesays theGöttingen fishmaster shall letwater flowwhenthe inhabitantsofRote 33 Zeit- undGeschichtsbeschreibung 1734, book II, ChapterVII, 63–65. 34 Arndt 1998a, 83;Arndt 2004a, 124.