Natural gas has fuelled homes and industry for over two centuries. From William Murdoch’s first coal-gas lamps in Cornwall in 1792 to today’s methane and hydrogen blends. The convenience and relative cleanliness have reshaped daily life.

Today, we take clean, pressurised water for granted. Turn on a tap and there it is, ready to drink, to fight fires, or to fill the kettle. But go back a few hundred years, and it’s quite different. Finding reliable water sources wasn’t so straightforward.