The series of water level measurements for the Chilgrove House well, which penetrates the fissured Chalk and Upper Greensand aquifer of southern England, began in 1836 and is thought to be the longest continuous record of groundwater level variations in the world. It provides a unique historical perspective against which to assess contemporary changes in groundwater levels. Responsibility for monitoring the level at Chilgrove now rests with the Environment Agency and the full historical record is held on the National Groundwater Level Archive maintained by the British Geological Survey.
Chilgrove House is located on the Upper Chalk outcrops of the South Downs in a typically ‘dry valley” in the headwaters of the River Lavant which drains through Chichester to the English Channel. The original well was a shaft about 1 m in diameter excavated to a depth of 41.15 m. During the notable drought of 1854–1855 the well was found to be silted and was cleaned out and deepened by 2.6 m. Further...
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Bibliography
Thomson, D.H., 1938. A 100 year's record of rainfall and water levels in the Chalk at Chilgrove, West Sussex. J. Inst. Water. Eng., 10(3), 193–201.
Monkhouse, R.A. et al., 1990. Long-term hydrograph of groundwater levels in the Chilgrove House well in the Chalk of southern England. Wallchart series, British Geological Survey, NERC.
Marsh, T.J. et al., 1994. The 1988–92 Drought. Hydrological data UK series, Institute of Hydrology, Wallingford, UK, 80 pp.
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Marsh, T.J. (1998). Chilgrove house well, UK . In: Hydrology and Lakes. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4513-1_37
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