[Report 1856-1857].

  • Bermondsey (London, England). Parish. Vestry.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1856-1857]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/46 (page 13)
    Bevington's, become a very serious nuisance. I suggest that this ditch be cleansed, the contents carted away, and a covered drain substituted. On the inspection of Dodd's Cow Yard, in Page's Walk, on the 10th instant, I found that nine pigs were kept in a single stye, in an offensive and filthy place, with a very considerable accumulation of feculent matter. I consider this an instance of animals kept so as to be a nuisance and injurious to health. The same may be said of a cow yard, or shed rather, in Flora Terrace; I found five cows in a close confined place, two standing over a cesspool, and the whole in a most filthy condition. This is altogether highly objectionable, and is likely to be productive of disease in more ways than one. The condition of Suffolk Place, Snows Felds, is bad, it has been already noticed by your Inspector; I have the place in my recollection as a breeding spot of disease. Cholera was here rife. A description of the state of some of the houses will satisfy the Vestry of the necessity for prompt action, of the danger of further delay: No. 1—A man, wife, and seven children, complain of dreadful smell from the privy, no pan or water supply. No. 3.—Inhabitants complain of short supply of water, pan to privy in a most filthy condition, and no water supply, no dust bin, to any of the houses. No. 5.—Family of six; place in a filthy condition, no water supply, no dust bin, in fact the whole place is in a dangerous state. I found here for the first time, since the improved water supply, that it was abounding with insects. There is in the front of the houses an accumulation of filth of every description, the poor inhabitants having no dust bin. This refuse ought to be removed daily; I am informed that it is only done so weekly. The more I reflect on the subject, the more weighty I feel the necessity for urging in every instance a water supply to the pans of the privies, without it I am certain that much mischief will arise. In several instances tenants have complained that the place was far worse than before. There is an illustration of this at 40, Bermondsey Square, where the proprietor has placed a pan over the cesspool, without trapping and without water. The adjoining houses are also without water supply, but the landlord has ordered the work to be done. I would advise that notice be given to the owners 13