Dr. Thorne Thorne's report to the local government board on the sanitary condition of the Dewsbury registration district, with special reference to the prevalence of infectious diseases in the district.

  • Thorne, Richard Thorne.
Date:
1878
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Thorne Thorne's report to the local government board on the sanitary condition of the Dewsbury registration district, with special reference to the prevalence of infectious diseases in the district. 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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    ^ Jt / xy Dr. Thorne Thorne’s Report to the Local Government Board on the Sanitary Condition of the Dewsbury Registration District, with special reference to the Prevalence of Infectious Diseases in the District. Edward 0. Seaton, M.D., Medical Department, 19 November 1878. § I.—General Report. The following Report relates to an inquiry into the sanitary circumstances of the Dewsbury Registration District, with special reference to the prevalence of infectious diseases in the district. I.—Description. 1. General.—The Dewsbury Registration District is co-terminous with the Union of the same name; it is situated in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and covers an area of 25,284 statute acres. It contains nine registration sub-districts and fourteen urban sanitary districts. 2. Topographical.—Speaking generally of the district, it consists of a series of steep undulations intersected by numerous valleys, at times deep and narrow. Here and there are broad elevated plateaux, and to the south is a considerable expanse of low- lying ground, which forms part of the Calder Yalley. This river flows through the district from west to east, receiving in its course numerous tributaries, of which the most important are the Spen Beck and the Dewsbury Beck. Both these becks have different names in different parts of their courses, but for the purposes of this report the two names quoted will be retained throughout. By far the greater portion of the district generally divides itself into two drainage areas. The first or the 8pen Bede Drainage Area* contains Mirfield, north of the Calder, Ravensthorpe, a portion of Dews- bury, Heckmondwike, Liversedge, a portion of Gomersal, and Birkenshaw. On the west the boundary of this area, so far as this registration district is concerned, extends from Mirfield Moor northwards to the west corner of the Liversedge urban district. The eastern boundary runs through Dewsbury northwards, passing through the extreme west of Batley, and through Great Gomersal to Birkenshaw. On the west side of this area small tributary streams divide the country into distinct and prominent ridges; on the east the ground, which rises rather abruptly in places, as, for example, at Dewsbury Moor and Little Gomersal, forms generally a wavy outline being indented with smaller valleys, all of which drain into the main one. The second or the Dewsbury Beck Drainage Area* would include the principal portions of Dewsbury, Soothill-Nether, Soothill-Upper, and Batley, Birstal, and part of Gomersal, an area of nearly 11 square miles. The western boundary of this area is the eastern one of the Spen Beck area ; the eastern one runs through Ossett-Street-Side to the north-east of Soothill-Nether, through Chidswell in Soothill-Upper, and across Bruntcliffe Moor to Adwalton, which lies beyond the northern boundary of Birstal. In the northern part of this district a ridge of land extends from Lamp Lands through Howden Clough, and divides the Batley valley from the narrow valley of the Howley Beck, but these two valleys unite at Batley and have their natural outfall into the Dewsbury Beck. To the north this ridge merges into the watershed which divides the basin of the River Calder from that of the River Aire. The ground between Earl’s Heaton in Soothill Aether and Hanging Heaton in Soothill-Upper takes the form of a broad plateau with a gentle slope towards the south. From the top of the escarpment of the Thornhill Rock which forms the western#boundary of this plateau, the slope of the ground towards Dewsbury Beck Yalley is very abrupt. On the opposite side of this valley the land rises with a steep ascent to the escarpment of the Birstal Rock, and then slopes gradually upwards from Batley Carr to Staincliffe. In a north-westerly direction from Batley, the sides of the valley rise less steeply except at Birstal, where the Birstal Rock forms a pro- minent feature. To the south of these two areas lies a portion of Mirfield and Thorn- hill. From Mirfield Moor the ground slopes southwards towards the River Calder; the district also lying to the north of a line drawn from the village of Thornhill through Fox-Royd and Lower Whitley and on to Heaton Moor, just beyond the south- western boundary of Mirfield, falls rapidly towards the same river. This part of the country is bold and varied, and is conspicuously marked by the high range known as Thornhill Edge. From Thornhill Edge the inclination is very steep down to the Smithy Beck, towards which on the south, the country which is intersected * In the above description of these two drainage areas, certain small areas are included which have their present and natural drainage into the Itiver Calder; but these could, I am informed, be for the purposes of artificial drainage, brought within the drainage area under which they are described. H 404. Wt. B 945. A