Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the hamlet of Hoddesdon and the parish of Broxbourne, in the county of Hertford / by William Ranger, Superintending Inspector.

  • Ranger, William, 1800-1863.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the hamlet of Hoddesdon and the parish of Broxbourne, in the county of Hertford / by William Ranger, Superintending Inspector. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Existing Water Supply. The length of frontage appears to be about 2640 yards j that only about one-third of it has public sewers available f taking the house refuse. The sewers put down in the tur pike, by the road trustees, are not used by the inhabitants, w are prohibited from connecting their house drains with them Present Water Supply.—The sources of the water supp are fourfold :—the conduit,—the brook,—the surface drainag. —and the wells. All of these are, however, more or less 1 mote from the habitations of the poorer class, and upon tl whole, even in the midst of an abundance, they are not pr perly supplied. Mr. Warner observes :—There are 18 dwellings near Spitf Brook without any supply of water, except what is procur from the brook ; and the water in this channel is often so foi i particularly after rain, that the people residing in these hous- are unable to drink it. In other parts of the hamlet, the poor are obliged to p i the sum of %d. and Id. per week for permission to abstract supply of water from distant pumps, independent of the labo of fetching. Experience in my inquiries has uniformly shown, that t: dwellings of the poorer class are remarkable for their uncoi fortable appearance, in proportion as they are deficient in supply of water, and the means of fetching it; and how cam be otherwise ? Supplies obtained from wells by the labour of carrying it buckets, do not answer the purpose of regular supplies broug. into the dwelling without such labour. The interposition of the labour in going for, and bringi: home water from a distance, acts as an obstacle to the formi tion of better habits. In relation to this subject, it has been justly remarked in tt General Report, by Edwin Chadwick, Esq., on the Sanita Condition of the Labouring Population :— That it is in vain to expect that the disposition, much less the habii will precede or anticipate and create the conveniences. Privation a inconvenience is too frequently undergone to avoid the labour of fetchi water; with the poor it almost amounts to an absolute barrier, as i privation is felt by them so little as that of cleanliness ; and nothing sh of the utmost facilities for water will be found to counteract the tender and it may be said, the habit of uncleanliness. From a return procured for me by Mr. Marchant, it a; peared that the following was the expenditure from the poc rates for the half-year ending Michaelmas, 1847 :—