Dr. Carnwath's report to the Local Government Board upon an outbreak of enteric fever at Oakenshaw in the Urban District of Willington.
- Carnwath, Tom
- Date:
- 1912
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Dr. Carnwath's report to the Local Government Board upon an outbreak of enteric fever at Oakenshaw in the Urban District of Willington. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![The cottages are four-roomed with the exception of those in First and Second Single Rows which contain each only two rooms. The following description of the sanitary circumstances of Oakenshaw may be taken as generally applicable to the whole urban district. Drainage and Seiuerage.—Drains are represented for the most part by open half-pipe channels which run close by the doors of the houses and receive the kitchen slop waters. The very considerable streams thus formed are a fruitful source of unsavoury and, it is to be feared, somewhat risky, amusement to the children. The main sewer is of glazed stoneware with puddle joints. By a devious and but imperfectly known route it reaches ultimately the Brancepeth Colliery ponds and thence_ the diluted sewage finds its way along the course of the “ Old House Beck ” to the River Wear. The sewage of Page Bank and Oakenshaw is untreated ; that from Willington undergoes some degree of purification by means of septic tanks, bacteria beds, and sand percolation before being allowed to enter the river. Refuse and excrement disposal, — There are no waterclosets in Oakenshaw. The common form of closet accommodation is the privy midden, or a modification known as the ashcloset in which the midden part of the system is done away with and the space under the seat remains the sole receptacle for ashes and excrement. The ashcloset is emptied from the rear or from the side through an opening closed by an iron swing door. If properly constructed it is an improvement on the old privy midden, but it still falls far short of what, from the sanitary point of view, can be regarded as satisfactory. The privy middens are huge structures ranged in rows in the open street, a large part of which they occupy. To a stranger they form the prominent feature of the village. The middens are large and mostly uncovered. Few of them are watertight, and the free soakage of the filth into the ground and through the containing walls was a subject on which complaints were frequent. The scavenging, which is carried out by contract, takes place at all hours of the day. I was informed that it was no unusual spectacle to see a family at dinner while the midden was being emptied a few feet away from the doorstep. The Oakenshaw refuse and excrementitious matters are tipped in a field near New Row some 50 or 60 yards distant from the houses. The back streets are unmade and the statement of the medical officer of health that they are “ ])erfect quagmires after a little rain ” may readily be believed. It is difficult, if not impossible, to scavenge such streets efficiently. Water supply,—Like the rest of the urban district Oakenshaw is supplied with a good upland surface water from the mains of the Weardale and Consett Water Company. Each house has a separate supply tap.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28143309_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
