A cesspool, or some equivalent contrivance, has long existed in
connexion with the structure of the better class of houses in the
metropolis, and there seems every reason to believe--though I am
assured, on good authority, that there is no public or official record
of the matter known to exist--that their use became more and more
general, as in the case of the sewers, after the rebuilding of the
City, consequent upon the great fire of 1666.
The older cesspools were of two kinds--“soil-tanks” and “bog-holes.”
“Soil-tanks” were the filth receptacles of the larger houses, and
sometimes works of solid masonry; they were almost every size and
depth, but always perhaps much deeper than the modern cesspools, which
present an average depth of 6 feet to 6-1/2 feet.
The “bog-hole” was, and is, a cavity dug into the earth, having less
masonry than the soil-tank, and sometimes no masonry at all, being in
like manner the receptacle for the wet refuse from the house.
The difference between these old contrivances and the present mode
is principally in the following respect: the soil-tank or bog-hole
formed a receptacle immediately under the privy (the floor of which has
usually to be removed for purposes of cleansing), whereas the refuse
is now more frequently carried into the modern cesspool by a system of
drainage. Sometimes the soil-tank was, when the nature of the situation
of the premises permitted, in some outer place, such as an obscure
part of the garden or court-yard; and perhaps two or more bog-holes
were drained into it, while often enough, by means of a grate or a
trap-door, any kind of refuse to be got rid of was thrown into it.
I am informed that the average contents of a bog-hole (such as now
exist) are a cubic yard of matter; some are round, some oblong, for
there is, or was, great variation.
Of the few remaining soil-tanks the varying sizes prevent any average
being computable.
What the old system of cesspoolage _was_ may be judged from the fact,
that until somewhere about 1830 no cesspool matter could, without an
indictable offence being committed, be drained into a sewer! _Now_,
no new house can be erected, but it is an indictable offence if the
cesspool (or rather water-closet) matter be drained anywhere else
than into the sewer! The law, at the period specified, required most
strangely, so that “the drains and sewers might not be choked,” that
cesspools should “be not only periodically emptied, but _made_ by
nightmen.”
The principal means of effecting the change from cesspoolage to
sewerage was the introduction of Bramah’s water-closets, patented in
1808, but not brought into general use for some twenty years or more
after that date. The houses of the rich, owing to the refuse being
drained away from the premises, improved both in wholesomeness and
agreeableness, and so the law was relaxed.
There are two kinds of cesspools, viz. _public_ and _private_.
The _public cesspools_ are those situated in courts, alleys, and
places, which, though often packed thickly with inhabitants, are not
horse-thoroughfares, or thoroughfares at all; and in such places one,
two, or more cesspools receive the refuse from all the houses. I do not
know that any official account of public cesspools has been published
as to their number, character, &c., but their number is insignificant
when compared with those connected with private houses. The public
cesspools are cleansed, and, where possible, filled up by order of the
Commissioners of Sewers, the cost being then defrayed out of the rate.
The _private cesspools_ are cleansed at the expense of the occupiers of
the houses.