Page - 221 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

13 Medieval andPost-MedievalUrbanWaterSupply andSanitation 221 Fig. 7:Göttingen, RoteStraße, large stoneboxas substructureof a publicwell in the street, fedbyanun- dergroundwooden water pipe. Fig. 8Einbeck, woodenwater pipe nearBenser Tor. The twosegments are connectedbya metal sleeve. Straße want to brew beer.35 Provision with water from outside the towns could generally be vulnerable in belligerent times (because of the necessary urban autarchy) and thuswas often only additional to theprivatewells. Thepipes found inGöttingenwereallpost-medieval, butwereall of thesametype.Abeam of oakwas sawn so as to create an octagonal section.With a longmetal drill, a spoon auger, the inner openingwas produced. The separate parts were linked togetherwith an iron sleeve thatwaspunched in thewood.36Similar typesofwoodenwaterpipeshavealsobeenexcavated in Einbeck, the oldest dating to 1440 dendrochronologically. The connecting pieceswere here madeofcopperorcopperalloy (Fig.8). InLübeck,apart fromroundpipes, longwoodenboxes, rectangular insectionwitha flat cover,werealso inuse.37Here, thesleevescouldalsobemade of lead. Lüneburg had to save surpluswater in a pond before it could be led inside the town throughwoodenpipes,38 a systemknownof since the late 14th century. Wasserkünste In addition to sampling points,wells, and anopen canal, theNeustadt of Einbeckhad aWas- serkunst since the 15th century.39 Itwasnecessary to lift thewater into thepipes, as the flowof the surrounding streams seems not to have been strong enough. The charming Germanword Wasserkunst (literally: ‘art of water’, meaningwaterworks) describes a technical device to lift waterwhich is then fed into pipes.Wasserkünste existed in several latemedieval towns, apart 35 vonderRopp 1907, 320no.225. 36 Arndt 2018, 295. 37 Grabowski 1994, 33f. 38 Ring 2004, 237. 39 Heege 2002, 128.