Report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary circumstances of the Axbridge Rural District, Somerset, by Dr. Reginald Farrar.

  • Farrar, Reginald Anstruther, 1861-1921.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary circumstances of the Axbridge Rural District, Somerset, by Dr. Reginald Farrar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    disposal. The sewers are in all cases constructed of sanitary pipes with cemented joints, and the sewerage appears to be satis- factory. At Little Longstone the sewage, after treatment in settling tanks, is disposed of by irrigation over land on which there is a good growth of osiers. The disposal system is well re- moved from the village, and a satisfactory effluent is obtained. In the five other places the disposal system consists of precipita- tion by alumino-ferric salts, with subsequent irrigation over land. The Stoney Middleton, Hathersage, and Winster disposal systems are satisfactory, yielding good effluents, and being situate in places remote from dwellings or roads so that no offence is occasioned. Tideswell is sewered on the “ separate 5J system, the surface water being discharged separately from the sewage by old rubble drains. The sewage disposal works are unsatisfactory. They are situate close to the high road to the south of the town, and being badly managed, give rise to considerable nuisance. They comprise settling tanks in which precipitation is effected by alumino-ferric salts, three filter beds, and a strip of land for irrigation; but the effluent is badly distributed over the land, which is also insufficient for the purpose, and the irrigation is ineffective. The deposits of sludge removed from the filter tanks occasion a very offensive stench. The effluent is discharged to the lliver Wye. Cromford is well sewered, but the effluent is not altogether satis- factory. Negotiations are in progress for connecting the sewage system of Cromford with the sewers of the Matlock and Matlock Bath and Searthin Nick Urban Districts. At Clielmorton the inhabitants have carried out a sewerage scheme of their own, which the medical officer of health reports as unsatisfactory. I did not myself visit this village. In some villages, such as Calver, Litton, Cressbrook, Earl Sterndale, Nether Padley, and Youlgreave, partial arrest of the solids is effected by the interposition of settling tanks between the sewers and their outfalls. Calver is sewered in different sections to the River Derwent. In the main section a settling tank is interposed between the sewer and its outfall. At Calver Sough a serious nuisance is occasioned by the over- flow of a cesspool into a gutter by the roadside. Eyarn is sewered by old rubble drains, with a few lines of modern sanitary piping. There are two principal lines of sewer- age ; one to the south, the other to the south-east, towards Stoney Middleton. The greater part of the sewage runs by the roadside, partly in a rubble drain, partly in an open channel, to the Middleton Brook. A proper sewerage scheme is needed for this village, but this need is less urgent than that of water supply. The sewerage might be economically effected if the sewers of Eyam were connected with the Stoney Middleton sewerage system. Elton is irregularly sewered by odd lengths of rubble drain, which in some instances run under the houses. A sewerage