Dr Morgan Rees's report to the Local Government Board on conditions of housing and other sanitary circumstances in the St Dogmells Rural District.
- Rees, Morgan J.
- Date:
- 1913
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Dr Morgan Rees's report to the Local Government Board on conditions of housing and other sanitary circumstances in the St Dogmells Rural District. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![sometimes back-to- bedroom my visit bedroom sleeping' rooms. Extra sleeping accommodatioji is provided by means of cupboard beds in the living room. The doors of the lower rooms sometimes consist of beaten earth, but as a rule are fairly good, being made of tiles, stone dags, or mortar. Many cases of broken doors were, liowever, seen. The window space of these rooms docs not come up to modern require- ments and they are almost always witliout back doors or back windows and are thus deprived of means of through ventilation. The following examples of cottages may be given; some are in the villages, others in more isolated situations or attached to farms : — 1. Cottage occupied by a man and wife: The husband is a farm labourer earning 9^. a week. The cottage is built back-to-earth. On the ground lloor there are two rooms, one of which is a living room, the other a bed- room measuring 100 square feet (6 feet 8 inches by 14 feet 6 inches) in floor space and 7 feet 2 inches in height. The floors of these rooms are in good repair, but the walls are very damp. A ladder leads to a loft which contains a bed. The dimensions of the loft are 268 square feet (18 feet 6 inches by 14 feet 6 inches) and 6 feet 6 inches high in the centre. The roof slopes directly to the floor, allowing a mean height of about 3 feet. The loft has no windows, and is ventilated solely by the ladderway. The roof is out of repair and requires eaves-troughing. The yard areas are unpaved and undrained. No closet accommodation. 2. Cottage occupied by a man, his wife, and daughter. Partly earth. Two rooms on ground floor, viz., a living room, and a containing two beds. The daughter was ill in bed at the time of and her parents were recovering from recent illnesses. The measures 90 square feet in floor space (6 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 10 inches), and 7 feet in height. The walls are damp. The window is fixed and ineasures approximately 3 square feet. A fireplace and flue form the only communication with the open air. Upstairs, the loft (18 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 10 inches, or approximately 250 square feet in floor space) is 5 feet 6 inches high in the centre and 1 foot 6 inches at the side, giving a mean height of about 3 feet 6 inches. The skylight measures less than one square foot. The roof is not troughed at the eaves, and the yard is not drained. 3. A cottage rented at £2 lOs. Od. occupied by a woman, three daughters, and a grandchild. Two rooms on the ground floor; one a living room and the other a bedroom for a daughter and the child. The bedroom is 90 square feet in area (7 feet 2 inches by 12 feet 2 inches) and 7 feet in height. The window is about 4^ square feet. The walls are very damp. A ladder leads up to a loft which contains two beds for the mother and two daughters. The loft has a floor space of 270 square feet (19 feet 9 inches by 13 feet 10 inches) and a height of 7 feet 6 inches in the centre and 1 foot 6 inches at the side, the mean height being about 4 feet 6 inches. The window is a little over one square foot (10 inches by 16 inches). The roof leaks at one end. The loft is dark, damp, and dilapidated. 4. A cottage occupied by a farm labourer, his wife and three young children. The man earns ll.s. a Aveek^ Two rooms on the ground floor, one a living room, the other a bedroom. A ladder leads to a loft contain- ing a bed and a cot for the three children, Avhose ages are 4 years, 3 years, and 9 months respectively. The loft measures about 340 square feet (24 feet ])y 14 feet 2 inches) in area, 9 feet in height at the centre, and 3 feet 3 inches at the side, the mean height being 6 feet 1^ inches. The windoAV jneasui-es 3f square feet. The room is dark, and the Avails are damp and dilapidated. At the time of my visit a girl, aged 16, Avas ill in bed Avith measles. The house has one side built against the earth, and this Avail is damp intei-nally. The roof is Avithout troughing, and the yard is unpaved and undrained. No closet accommodation. 5. A cottage occupied by a man and his Avife. The man earns 7.<?. 6d. a Aveek and pays £3 O5. Od. rent. The cottage contains four rooms, tAvo on the ground floor and tAVo on the u])i)er. The latter are Ioav in headroom, and are Avithout fireplaces or means for through ventilation. The house is](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28143449_0008.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
