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 town of Newton-Abbot / by George T. Clark, Superintending Inspector.

  • George Thomas Clark
Date:
1850
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 town of Newton-Abbot / by George T. Clark, Superintending Inspector. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    attached, which, it is said, it was in contemplation to employ as a general cemetery—a most objectionable spot for such a purpose. Mr. Gillard’s Court is very clean, but he complains bitterly of the want of drainage to the privies. In Hannaford Court is a foul, open cesspool, long a very serious nuisance, but now, it was stated, about to be removed. In the rear of Mr. Hicks’s premises is a foul open drain, one of the worst in the town, which receives the contents of several privies, and passes in an irregular course across gardens and under houses. It is partially choked up, and much complained of. The drainage of the houses in general about the angle of Wolborough and Bridge Streets is bad. This part of the town is low, and the houses are built in a very intricate fashion. Between Bridge Street and Back Lane are several crowded courts, close upon the river and in a very foul state. 29. The north-eastern quarter of the town is of later date and much less crowded. Here is the market, an open space, very ill paved, but not otherwise in bad condition: near and about it are, however, privies, cesspools, dungheaps, piggeries, a slaughterhouse, and a drain partially open, all in a bad state, though some appeared to have been recently cleaned out. Water is much wanted here. The courts about the angle formed by East Street and Wolborough Street are radically bad. Crewe's Court is narrow, and is crossed by a very offensive drain. Near, in another court, is a piggery, at the entrance of the court, opening upon a cesspool, and in a foul state. In White Hart Yard a court surface-drain, open, runs between two houses into the street. All these tenements are close to the centre and best part of the town. 30. The houses on the south side of East Street are on a steep hill-side, the soil of which gives out a good deal of water ; also, the cesspool being behind and above the houses, any percolation or overflow must descend upon them The state of things here is perhaps worse, and certainly the dwellings are more damp, than in Wolborough Street. Chudleigh Court has two open cesspools at its upper end. The Baptist Chapel, though neat and tidy, has a burial-ground too small for its wants. Winsers is a very long and steep court, in a situation that is naturally one of the best for beauty and salubrity in the town, but is at present in a filthy condition, suffering from a privy at the highest part of the yard. Woottons Court had a very objectionable cesspool recently emptied. All these courts are ill paved and ill drained, the grates, where present, being in a foul state. 31. The Union-house, in this street, is in very creditable order as regards drainage and water-supply, and appeared in all respects very clean and neat, with none of those marks of sudden and suspicious cleanliness so apparent elsewhere. 32. The courts on the north or lower side of East Street are in a better position than those on the south, since the ground falls