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 and parish of Beaconsfield / by Thomas Webster Rammell, Superintending Inspector.
- Rammell, Thomas Webster
- Date:
- 1850
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 and parish of Beaconsfield / by Thomas Webster Rammell, Superintending Inspector. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Serjeant's Pond was originally a chalk-pit, and in course of time matters deposited by the water has rendered the bottom water-tight. Mr. Rolfe states a circumstance connected with this pond which may be worth mentioning. It is not less than 200 feet above the level of the Thames, and it is commonly the case (that when the pond overflows the Thames overflows also, and when the water is low in the pond it is low in the Thames also. Probably this results from the rain-fall, simultaneously aiTecting both the river and the pond. In Shepherd's-lane the surface water is conveyed in an open ditch at the sides of the road to the end of the lane, where it stagnates in large pools until it evaporates. A portion of the sewage of the houses in this lane is conducted in the same sewer that leads to Wattleton Pond. In Windsor-street there is a barrel drain, which was originally constructed for the purpose of draining the church-yard ; there is also an open drain in the same part of the street. About halfway down this street a lane called Hedgerly-lane branches off to the south-east, and down this a portion of the water is conveyed by a circuitous course through New pond and Black pond into Stone pond, the other portion being conveyed first to an open stagnant pool opposite Mr. Hargreaves park gates, and from this point it is conducted through a part of the park into the canal, and then into a swilly, where it disappears. The matter passing down these drains consists of the house slops, and in some cases of the solid matter from the privies. The liquid refuse frequently overflows; and their state, particu- larly in hot weather, is represented as being most offensive. PVom the porous nature of the substratum nearly the whole of the rainfall is at once absorbed by it; and there can be no doubt that much of the liquid refuse also,- never reaches the above- mentioned drains, being similarly disposed of. Privies and Cesspools. — Some of the better class of houses have water-closets, but the ordinary] convenience is the common privy. The privies have usually cesspools lined with brick-work attached to them, the general dimensions of which are about two feet , deep and four feet long, by three wide. Those of the superior description of houses are larger. Some of the privies, however, and indeed most of those belonging to the cottages, are con- structed over open ditches, which, after wet weather, are generally full of water from the land-springs, and overflow into the surface drains, which, as above stated, run in various directions through the town. The effect may be imagined. The cesspools also are generally full of water from the land springs. They are mostly cleaned out once in two years, but some are not emptied for four or five years together. The matter is usually carted away, the cost of emptying varies from](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20422738_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
