Dr. W.W.E. Fletcher's report to the Local Government Board upon the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Newport Pagnell Rural District.
- Fletcher, Wilfred W. E.
- Date:
- 1912
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Dr. W.W.E. Fletcher's report to the Local Government Board upon the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Newport Pagnell Rural District. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Great Linford and Weston Underwood are supplied with water pumped by windmills from wells to reservoirs, and subsequently distributed by mains. Latlibury is supplied from the mains of the Newport Pagnell Urban District Council. New Bradwell, better known as Stantonbiiry, although it is in Bradwell, not Stantonbiiry parish, is partly supplied by mains belonging to the London and North-Western Bailwaj^ Company, the water being derived from two wells in the Wolverton and Stony Stratford Rural District. Bow Brickhill is supplied with water from three springs which have an abundant outflow. The water flowing from these springs was, in 1T82, awarded to the churchwardens and their successors, and is now vested in the rural district council. The village is built on the slope of a steep hill, and the springs are situated above the bulk of the liouses in the village. A considerable part of the lower end of the village belongs to one owner who has laid a one-incli main to supply his bouses. It has been estimated that if this main couLl be brought into the scheme an expenditure of about <£300 would secure an unlimited ])iped supply for the whole village, and the medical officer of health hopes to see this scheme carried out by means of a loan. There has, however, been some dispute locally about the ownership of the water of these springs. In some of the parishes which have been named occupiers of dwellings for which water supplies by public service are not avail- able obtain water from wells, or other sources; and, generally, throughout the district, excepting the parishes mentioned as hav- ing public supplies, water is obtained from wells, or on occasion from a pond, a spring, or a stream. The wells are of varying depth, some as much as 60 feet deep; and the distances from the ground surface to the water levels vary greatly according to the sites of the wells. Almost universally, if not invariably, these wells are merely surface wells in the sense that they form reservoirs for the collection of subsoil water; and, so far as was observed, all of them are dry-steined with local stone or brick. In some instances subsoil water was visible, freely per- colating into the wells a few feet below the ground level, and running down their sides. Usually the tops of the wells are insufficiently protected, and instances were seen where ineffectual steps had been taken to remedy this defect. Sometimes pumps are fitted to the wells, sometimes windlasses; and sometimes buckets attached to a dipping pole, or rope, are used. Very many of these wells are so situated that escape front contamination, if not from gross pollution, is almost im])ossible, and the medical officer of health regards them, generally, as supplying water of doubtful quality, basing his opinion not only on local surround- ings, but on the results of many analyses. Two samples were obtained on my suggestion, and were submitted to analysis; one from a well behind an unoccupied cottage at Cold Brayfleld, which supplied the occupiers of neighbouring cottages, and one from a well at Ravenstone. Both samples were condemned. The large 24807 A 2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2814322x_0007.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
