surface-drainage, it may be remarked how difficult it must ever be to
keep them in good order so long as they are liable to be broken up
whenever water or gas-pipes require altering or repairing, besides the
extreme annoyance occasioned during that operation; and though it may
not be possible to obviate the inconvenience in all cases, yet I
conceive the evil may be reduced to very narrow limits by resorting to
system, and I would suggest that under the foot pavements passages
should be formed, lined with brick-work or masonry, as a common
receptacle for all the water and gas-pipes, having the flagging over the
passage so laid as to be easily lifted in case of need, and being
provided at intervals with side entrances for inspection and all such
repairs as could be effected without raising the flagging. The position
of the gas-pipes under the foot-pavement would be convenient for the
street and shop lights, and the water-pipes would be then equally so for
the use of the houses. But in respect to the sewer of the street, I
should propose to place it near the centre of the carriage-way, as more
distant from the dwellings, but as equally convenient to both sides of
the street. (See the section for new form of carriage-way.)
Having noticed the subject of diminishing the amount of street mud, and
of conveying the same into the sewers, as well as that portion of the
house filth which it may be practicable to discharge into them, we have
next to notice the mode of further disposing of the matter thus lodged
in the sewers. The practice has hitherto been (in a great degree) to
accumulate the filth in cesspools, and at intervals of five to ten years
to open the sewers by breaking into them, or to get access by man-holes
left for that purpose, and then drawing out the semiliquid contents of
the cesspool by means of a windlass and buckets; but in the Finsbury
division the surveyor, Mr. Roe, has had the merit of introducing a very
superior, less expensive, and less offensive mode of operation. Finding
that the surface-water did not generally enter the sewer in sufficient
quantity and with sufficient force to carry off the more solid contents,
he contrived, by sluices or flush-gates, to dam up the water to a
certain height, and then, by opening the same, to obtain a force of
water sufficient for the purpose; and the working of this new plan is
said to be highly satisfactory, the filth being prevented accumulating
in the sewers, and, as a necessary consequence, then choaking their
feeders, the house drains; and in this manner also the filth is removed
at less expense, and without any annoyance and noxious effluvia which
attend the old practice.
Mr. Roe has adopted also side entrances to the sewers instead of
man-holes, for the inspection and repair of the flushing apparatus. The
chief expense beyond the first cost of Mr. Roe’s plan is the attendance
of a person to open the flush-gates; but it is probable that some
contrivance may be found by which the pent-up water on reaching a
certain point may be able to open its own gate. It has, however,
occurred to me, in respect to this mode of flushing off the filth, that,
instead of damming up the water in the sewers, and forming them into
reservoirs, the purpose might be more easily and more effectually
performed by accumulating the surface-water from the gutters into
reservoirs before entering the street or district drains; a greater
head, or force of water, might thus be obtained, while the sewers
themselves would always be open and free from the obstruction of the
sluices and pent-up water.
In respect to the final deposit of the filth of London and other great
towns, it does seem a pity that so much valuable manure should be lost
to the land, and be discharged into rivers to their contamination and
obstruction, if any practicable and innocuous plan can be hit upon to
avoid the alternative.
One plan has been suggested of receiving the contents of the sewers into
pits, and then by means of steam-power and a sufficient supply of water,
forcing the matter of the sewers in a diluted state through iron pipes
into the country, and then applying it to irrigate the land in the same
liquid state. It would require much calculation to form an accurate
estimate of the cost and profit of such an undertaking; but there can be
no doubt if the matter was so applied it would prove exceedingly
valuable in enriching the land to which it was applied, as we may judge
from what has occurred in the vicinity of Edinburgh from a similar kind
of irrigation.
At Edinburgh, however, the liquid manure being conveyed from the town
for a distance in open ditches or sewers exposed to the sun and
atmosphere, it undergoes such a fœtid decomposition as to render the
operation no common nuisance to the public. But such effects would not
occur (at least, to the same extent) if the matter was conveyed in close
pipes with a plentiful effusion of water; and it is known that animal
carcases, when kept constantly exposed to fresh supplies of water, do
not suffer corrupt decomposition, but are changed into a fatty matter.
It seems necessary also that a certain degree of heat and exposure of
surface should be present to originate and promote fœtid decomposition,
as it is well known that in the pits in Paris, where so many dead bodies
were thrown, the result was not a fœtid decomposition, but a change of
the animal matter into adipocire, a comparatively inoffensive substance;
we may therefore expect that the discharge of the contents of the sewers
in pipes, excluded (as they would be) from heat, and copiously charged
with water, would be comparatively free from noxious exhalations.
Another plan of reserving the contents of sewers for the purpose of
manure would be to continue the sewers to some distance from the town,
and then to discharge them into a series of covered catch-pits, allowing
the water to filter off after depositing the solid particles; when the
first series of pits were deemed sufficiently charged, the sewers might
then be discharged into a subsidiary series, until the matter in the
first had become sufficiently consistent for cartage. Upon the first
plan of proceeding, the liquid manure could only be applied to land
quite near at hand, and fit for irrigation; on the second plan the
manure might be conveyed to a distance and applied to arable land.
It will be evident the great importance of applying such quantities of
manure as the sewers supply to useful purposes, but it is no less
evident that no system can be introduced to effect the object until
preceded by satisfactory experiments of cost, profit, and efficiency.
Some localities might offer facilities for one mode of action, and some
for another; and it is much to be desired that parties may be induced to
make experiments on both plans; and it is to be noted that though the
expense of raising the liquid manure from pits or tanks would be
necessary in some cases, yet in many situations no such operation would
be necessary.
On the subject of purifying the air of sewers, and of preventing the
escape of foul air by any crevices or chinks, I have heard of the
ingenious contrivance of erecting a tall chimney and connecting it by a
pipe with the crown of a sewer, for the purpose of creating such a draft
up the chimney as would occasion an indraft at any leak that might occur
in the ramified mass of drains of the district to which the chimney
belonged. It appears to me that there are some objections to this plan;
but not being acquainted with all the details, I shall avoid entering
into any controversy on the subject, further than stating that I should
rather propose an opposite process for purifying the air of sewers. I
would recommend that they should be kept excluded as much as possible
from external heat and ascending columns of air; but at the same time I
would endeavour by all means to send down as copious a flow of water as
practicable; and in London, though the Thames water may not be proper
for domestic purposes, it would be sufficiently pure for watering the
streets and cleansing the drains; and the supply being inexhaustible,
its application would only be limited by the cost, of steam power and
iron pipes.
In conclusion, I have to express my obligations to yourself for the
useful hints you have afforded me on several of the subjects above
treated of, and to say I shall be happy if any of the observations I
have submitted should prove conducive to the ends in view.
I remain, dear Sir,
Yours truly,
JAMES VETCH.
_Edwin Chadwick, Esq.,
&c. &c. &c._
London, 1st March, 1842.
6.—_Evidence of_ GEORGE GUTCH, Esq., _District Surveyor, on Shifting and
Building of Inferior Tenements in the Suburbs to avoid the Provisions of
the Metropolis Building Act_.
Is there any distinction in the character of the buildings built out of
the limits of the Metropolitan Building Act, or out of the limits of
your own district as surveyor?—Yes; there is a less expensive
description of buildings built out of these limits. In the adjoining
parish of Kensington, there are tenements run up four stories in height
with only a nine-inch wall from the top to the bottom, whereas in any
parish under the Building Act the walls of the same description of
houses would be required to be 18 inches thick in the basement and 14
inches upwards: this, however, is not a sized house for the occupation
of the poorer classes. At the Potteries, Notting Dale, Kensington,
however, there is a nest of houses huddled together without party-walls
and without drainage; many of them are built of wood and four-inch work,
and of such materials as would not be permitted where the Building Act
is in force. This is with reference to houses which are contiguous to
each other.
Have you not seen instances where sewers are made and drains in action
where the state of the premises is nevertheless dangerous?—Yes; only
recently the parochial officers of Paddington inspected the workhouses
and buildings belonging to the Kensington union, when we found the
drains formed but not trapped, and the inmates exposed to the foul air
from the drains themselves. I have read Mr. Oldfield’s statement, and I
think it very true and very important.
7.—_Estimate by_ MR. HOWELL, _of the Cost of Structural Arrangements of
Sewerage, Drainage, Water-tank, and means of House Cleansing for
Labourers’ Tenements in the Metropolis_.
FEET £ _s._ _d._
55. Drain and digging, with pantile bottom, three
courses high, arched over and cemented 4 2 6
10. Small drain from water pipe 0 10 0
46. Sup. slate slab cistern, 4 ft. by 3 ft. 9, and 2
ft. deep, holding 150 gallons 4 12 0
62. Three-quarter pipe to serve cistern, including
joints and fixing 3 2 0
12. Three-quarter pipe to serve yard, including joints
and fixing 0 12 0
Two three-quarter cocks—10_s._; one cock-ball and
boss—8_s._ 0 18 0
7. Inch standing and under waste 0 10 6
1¾ washer and waste 0 2 6
Pan closet, with basin, &c., complete 3 10 0
Strong D. trap—20_s._, service box—10_s._ 6_d._ 1 10 6
Cover to cistern 0 15 0
—— —— —
20 5 0
Deduct 7½ per cent. if done at contract prices. 1 10 0
—— —— —
18 15 0
From the above estimate the following items should be deducted, as
appertaining to the present objectionable system:—
£. _s._ _d._
Cesspool 1 0 0
Root of privy and ceiling 0 15 0
Drain, say 65 ft. 3 5 0
Water butt and stand 1 5 0
Service pipe, 40 ft. 2 0 0
Cock and ball—8_s._; waste pipe—7_s._ 0 15 0
—— —— —
9 0 0
Less 7½ per cent. 0 13 6
—— —— —
8 6 6
—— —— —
13 8 6
—— —— —
8.—_Description or Specification of_ MR. LOUDON’s _Agriculturist Model
Cottage_.
The plan and elevation which I have given are intended for an
Agricultural labourer in the north of England or in Scotland, where it
is customary to have the sleeping room on the ground floor. The walls
are supposed to be 18 inches thick, and the roof thatched, as being the
warmest covering in a cold bleak country. The front entrance is by a
porch, which contains a step-ladder to the garrets, which, being lighted
by windows in the gable ends, may be used as sleeping places for
grown-up children, while the younger children may sleep below in the
same room with their parents. _a_, is the kitchen; _b_, the sleeping
room; _c_, the back kitchen; _d_, the pantry; _e_, the dairy, if the
occupant should have a cow, which is generally the case with
agricultural labourers in Scotland; and _f_, a place for fuel, for
poultry, or for a furnace to heat a flue passing under the floors of the
two rooms in the direction of the dotted line _g_, the smoke escaping by
the upright flue _h_. The highest point of the sleeping-room floor is at
_g_, and of the kitchen floor at _i_; the highest point of the pantry
floor is at _d_, and of the dairy floor at _e_, and from these four
points the floors gradually slope at the rate of 1 inch to 7 feet to the
sill of the back kitchen door at _m_, so that no water can stand in any
part of these floors; and hence, when they are being washed with a mop
in the direction of the slope the water will readily flow towards the
back door.
A place for wood or other fuel, or for a pig or rabbits, according to
the taste or circumstances of the occupant, is shown at _n_; a privy at
_o_; a tank for liquid manure, communicating with the privy, at _p_; and
a pit for ashes and solid manure at _q_. Both these pits may have
movable roofs.
The surface of the yard slopes from the entrance door _r_, to the liquid
manure tank _s_. The back kitchen is entered by one step; the terrace in
front at _t_ is entered by three steps, and the door of the porch by a
half-step.
The garden is only partially shown, the portion omitted being a
parallelogram of sufficient length to constitute the contents of the
whole ground allotted to the cottage, one-sixth of an acre. It is
surrounded by a hedge, which may be shown architecturally to give an
appearance of design and taste on the part of the occupant.
The slope of the terrace may be covered with grass or flowers,
strawberries or ivy. The narrow border next the hedge may be planted
with flowers, and the larger compartments in front of the porch with
gooseberries, raspberries, currants, and dwarf apples. The culinary
crops are supposed to be grown in the back compartment, only a portion
of which is shown at _w_.
_A B_, is the elevation of the front hedge.
_C D_, a part of the side hedge.
_E F_, a section on the dotted line _E F_, to a double scale.
_G H_, a section on the dotted line _G H_.
The upper part of the drawing is an isometrical view.
9.—_Statement of the Requisites of Cottage Architecture, by_ J. C.
LOUDON, _Esq._
The _essential requisites_ of a comfortable labourer’s cottage may be
thus summed up:—
1. The cottage should be placed alongside a public road, as being more
cheerful than a solitary situation; and in order that the cottager may
enjoy the applause of the public when he has his garden in good order
and keeping.
2. The cottage should be so placed that the sun may shine on every side
of it every day throughout the year, when he is visible. For this
reason, the front of the cottage can only be parallel to the public road
in the case of roads in the direction of north-east, south-west,
north-west, and south-east; in all other cases the front must be placed
obliquely to the road, which, as we have previously shown, is greatly
preferable to having the front parallel to the road.
3. Every cottage ought to have the floor elevated, that it may be dry;
the walls double or hollow, or battened, or not less than eighteen
inches thick, that they may retain heat; with a course of slate or
flagstone, or tiles bedded in cement, six inches above the surface, to
prevent the rising of damp; the roof thick, or double, for the sake of
warmth; and projecting eighteen inches or two feet at the eaves, in
order to keep the walls dry, and to check the radiation of heat from
their exterior surface.
4. In general, every cottage ought to be two stories high, so that the
sleeping-rooms may not be on the ground floor; and the ground floor
ought to be from six inches to one foot above the outer surface.
5. The minimum of accommodation ought to be a kitchen or living-room, a
back kitchen or wash-house, and a pantry, on the ground floor, with
three bed-rooms over; or two rooms and a wash-house on the ground floor,
and two bed-rooms over.
6. Every cottage, including its garden, yard, &c., ought to occupy not
less than one-sixth of an acre; and the garden ought to surround the
cottage, or at all events to extend both before and behind. In general,
there ought to be a front garden and a back yard, the latter being
entered from the back kitchen, and containing a privy, liquid-manure
tank, place for dust and ashes, and place for fuel.
[Illustration]
7. If practicable, every cottage ought to stand singly, and surrounded
by its garden, or, at all events, not more than two cottages ought to be
joined together. Among other important arguments in favour of this
arrangement, it may be mentioned, that it is the only one by which the
sun can shine every day on every side of the cottage. When cottages are
joined together in a row, unless that row is in a diagonal direction,
with reference to a south and north line, the sun will shine chiefly on
one side. By having cottages singly or in pairs, they may always be
placed along any road in such a manner that the sun may shine on every
side of them, provided the point be given up of having the front
parallel to the road; a point which, in our opinion, ought not for a
moment to be put in competition with the advantages of an equal
diffusion of sunshine.
8. Every cottage ought to have an entrance-porch for containing the
labourer’s tools, and into which, if possible, the stairs ought to open,
in order that the bed-rooms may be communicated with without passing
through the front or back kitchen. This, in the case of sickness, is
very desirable, and also in the case of deaths, as the remains may be
carried down stairs while the family are in the front room.
9. The door to the front kitchen or best room should open from the
porch, and not from the back kitchen, which, as it contains the cooking
utensils and washing apparatus, can never be fit for being passed
through by a stranger, or even the master of the family, where proper
regard is had by the mistress to cleanliness and delicacy.
10. When there is not a supply of clear water from a spring adjoining
the cottage, or from some other efficient source, then there ought to be
a well or tank, partly under the floor of the back kitchen, supplied
from the roof, with a pump in the back kitchen for drawing it up for
use, as hereafter described in detail. The advantages of having the tank
or well under the back kitchen are, that it will secure from frost, and
that the labour of carrying water will be avoided.
11. The privy should always be separated from the dwelling, unless it is
a proper water-closet, with a soil-pipe communicating with a distant
liquid-manure tank or cesspool. When detached, the privy should be over
or adjoining a liquid-manure tank, in which a straight tube from the
bottom of the basin ought to terminate; by which means the soil basin
may always be kept clean by pouring down the common slops of the house.
No surface being left from which smell can arise, except that of the
area of the pipe, the double flap, to be hereafter described, will
prevent the escape of the evaporation from this small surface, and also
ensure a dry and clean seat.
12. The situation of the liquid-manure tank should be, as far as
possible, from that of the filtered-water tank or clear-water well. It
should be covered by an air-tight cover of flagstone, and have a narrow
well adjoining, into which the liquid should filter through a grating,
so as to be pumped up or taken away without grosser impurities, and in
this state applied to the soil about growing crops.
13. In general, proprietors ought not to entrust the erection of
labourers’ cottages on their estates to the farmers, as it is chiefly
owing to this practice that so many wretched hovels exist in the
best-cultivated districts of Scotland and in Northumberland.
14. No landed proprietor, as we think, ought to charge more for the land
on which cottages are built than he would receive for it from a farmer,
if let as part of a farm; and no more rent ought to be charged for the
cost of building the cottage and enclosing the garden than the same sum
would yield if invested in land, or, at all events, not more than can be
obtained by government securities.
15. “Most of these conditions are laid down on the supposition that the
intended builder of the cottage is actuated more by feelings of human
sympathy than by a desire to make money; and hence they are addressed to
the wealthy, and especially to the proprietors of land and extensive
manufactories or mines.”
The following is the view of a double mechanic’s cottage, from Mr.
Loudon’s collection, similar to the agricultural labourer’s model
cottage, of which a view has already been given.
[Illustration]
Besides the details of construction, such as are exemplified in the
report, that appear deserving of attention, there are details in the
furniture of cottages, and particular descriptions of furniture by which
it appears that much improvement may be effected. For example, an
important improvement in the box bedsteads used in Scotch cottages has
been suggested by Dr. Wilson, of Kelso. It consists of a curtain-rod and
curtains, which may be drawn out about three feet from the front of the
bed, so as to form sufficient space between the curtain and the bed to
serve as a dressing-room. It is observed by Mr. Loudon, that some of the
Leith and London steamers had the berths in the ladies’ cabins fitted up
in this mode some years ago; and it is a principle applicable, and, it
is unnecessary to say. necessary for the preservation of decency in
double-bedded rooms, as well as in those cottages where the box bedstead
is used. The following is a copy of the plan of the improvement given by
Mr. Loudon.
[Illustration: 2309]
Another part of Dr. Wilson’s improvements in these beds consists of the
hinging a part of the roof of the bed, so that it may be opened like a
trap-door at pleasure for ventilation, and the hinging of the boards at
the foot and at the back for the same object, and for giving access to a
medical attendant. Mr. Loudon expresses a hope that these improvements
form one step to getting rid of box bedsteads altogether. They are
noticed here as exemplifications of the moral ends which may be gained
in structural arrangements, which incur inconsiderable expense, and only
a little care at the outset. Other detailed improvements may be made
subservient to structural economy. The following is an exemplification
thus described by Mr. Loudon:—“It is a matter of some difficulty, in
small cottages, to place the shutters to the windows on the ground floor
in such a manner as to answer the purpose, and yet be out of the way.
The following plan has been adopted in some buildings of that
description, which have been lately erected. The shutters are hung on
hinges in such a manner as to fall down into a recess below the window
during the day-time; and consequently they are quite out of the way when
not wanted for shutting up the house, or for temporary purposes. The
idea suggested itself that shutters be occasionally used as a table or
ironing-board; and to effect this end, two movable bars as supports were
let into mortices in the floor, and made to abut against similar
mortices made in the ledges on the under side of the shutters. The two
cornices were slightly rounded, and the upper surface was left plain
without paint. Two swing iron or wooden brackets might be used instead
of the wooden bars, as they could be folded back into the recess also.”
[Illustration: 2308]
10.—_Specification of the Cost of Erection, Weekly Rents, Interest on
the Capital invested, and, the Numbers of Tenements and Cottages
occupied by the Poor and Labourers; taken from Returns made by the
Relieving Officers of their respective Districts, in 24 Unions in the
Counties of Cheshire, Stafford, Derby, and Lancaster._