Dr. Gresswell's report to the Local Government Board on the prevalence of enteric fever in the registration sub-district of Hebden Bridge / [D. Astley Gresswell].

  • Gresswell, D. Astley (Dan Astley)
Date:
[1885]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Gresswell's report to the Local Government Board on the prevalence of enteric fever in the registration sub-district of Hebden Bridge / [D. Astley Gresswell]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    There can be no doubt that these charges tend to encourage accumulations of house refuse; some of the poor will not pay the charge until their pails are brimful, and it may he overflowing, so that the pail and the closet become offensive. Some again discharge the contents of their own pails and ash-boxes directly into the river (in preference to paying the Local Board), and so cause nuisance. N uisance from this cause has decreased since the charge was lowered from threepence to twopence a short time ago. The abolition of the charge would doubtless be of great sanitary advantage. There are two main water supplies. One is from the Local Board waterworks. The collecting ground for this water is moorland of large extent, at Widdup, about six miles away, and at a very considerable elevation (some 1,000 feet) above Hebden Bridge ; it is far removed from ordinary sources of pollution. The water is brownish, owing to the peaty character of the land from which it is collected. It is laid on in nearly every street, and every facility is given to owners of property to obtain it.* The other supply is from springs, which issue in great numbers from the hillsides. In some instances this spring water is used at its very source; very exceptionally it is carried some little distance in pipes ; in most instances it is allowed to flo w some distance, open to all conceivable modes of pollution, before it is used. There is, indeed, generally a most careless disregard of the liability to pollution of these water-courses from open, unpaved, or at least non-cemented privy-pits, slop streamlets, manure piled in heaps or scattered over the land and into the very water-courses themselves, and from leaking stone sewers. It will be necessary to describe some of these supplies in detail. 1. The Bridge Lane supply.—This is said to come from three springs. It flows from these down hill in labyrinthine courses under the houses which flank the street called Bridge Lane, and it is tapped by almost every householder on the way. At one point the issuing water is said frequently to have the appearance of slop-water, and at another to frequently “ stink like sewage.” An old midden privy, indeed, lies immediately above the course of the water, and in the lane itself there are two old stone sewers for slops and surface water. Most of the inhabitants, however, of this cramped and overcrowded part of the town use this water for drinking. 2. The Boyd Terrace supply. —This is very similarly circumstanced. It flows from the hills above, and is tapped on its way for certain domestic uses, while immediately over its course there is a large open and old-fashioned midden privy. 3. The Foster Mill Lane supply.—This also flows from springs in the hill above, and is used by most of the inhabitants of the lane. It collects in a large stone cistern. Old midden privies are within 50 yards above the cistern, and slop streamlets flow over the site of it. 4. The Birchcliffe supply.—This water collects in several large stone cisterns situate at various heights on the north-east slope of the valley. It is supplied by many springs in the hill above. Much of it comes from three springs on the Birchcliffe Farm. These are within a hundred paces of one another. The water issuing from them flows along the hillside in three open parallel narrow channels over meadow land for a distance of some 200 to 350 yards, and then it sinks into the soil. The water of the channels which are lowest on the hillside then passes in underground courses for some 50 yards, and enters a large cistern called the White Lion cistern. The water of the higher channel is supposed to pass underground to some of the other cisterns, which, six in number, are placed in near proximity to one another. The latter, however, are doubtless also fed by other springs whose position is not known. That one of them receives - water from the Birchcliffe land is indicated by the observation, made by many who use it, to the effect that when gas-lime is put on the Birchcliffe land the water is tainted with its odour. The Birchcliffe water is open to pollution on every side.f The land over which the above-mentioned channels run is part of the slope of the valley ; it is thickly manured (with human as well as animal excreta) in autumn ; on the hillside, above and within a short distance of the springs and channels, there were, at the time of my visit, two large privy-pits, a small privy, and a large manure heap, the tracks of leakage from some of which were very plainly visible down to the ujipermost channel; * The Local Board supply water to the factories by meter; this is accordingly economized, and water from local and dangerous sources is frequently supplied to the factory-hands. 2 Six samples of the Birchcliffe water were taken in January 1885, one from each of the three springs, and one from each of three of the cisterns. They were pronounced by Mr. W. G. Wood, F.I.C., F.C.S., to be “ very pure ” ; he added, “ the waters may be used safely for drinking purposes.” He reported that the cistern waters had on an average half a grain more solid matter per gallon, 0‘33 grain more of organic and volatile matter, 0‘17 grain more of organic matter, rather less free ammonia, and rather more albumenoid ammonia than the average of the spring waters.