Dr. Parson's report to the local government board on the prevalence of typhoid fever in the Totnes urban and rural sanitary districts, and on the general sanitary condition of those districts.

  • Parson, H. Franklin.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Parson's report to the local government board on the prevalence of typhoid fever in the Totnes urban and rural sanitary districts, and on the general sanitary condition of those districts. 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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    classes usually met with in the market town of an agricultural district. The shipping trade is small, and there are no manufactures. The borough is of ancient date, and was formerly of considerable importance. The old town was surrounded by walls, of which the remains are still to be traced; but the present town extends in some directions considerably beyond their limits. It consists of two parts, Totnes proper in the parish of the same name, and Bridgetown in the parish of Berry Pomeroy ; these two portions, anciently distinct boroughs, lie on the opposite slopes of a valley, and are separated by the river Dart, which is here crossed by a bridge. The tide extends as far as a mill weir about a mile above this bridge. Totnes proper consists principally of a long steep street running in an east and west direction up the shoulder of a hill, and called in different portions of its length, Fore Street, High Street, and Leechwell Street. Fore Street and High Street contain the principal shops. Fore Street begins at the bridge. High Street is separated from Fore Street by an arch, a remnant of the old walls ; it is steep and narrow, and the upper storeys of some of the houses are built out on pillars over the pavement. The churchyard adjoins it on the north side, abutting against the back walls of the houses on that side; the basement floots of some of these houses,are as much as 15—20 feet below the surface of the churchyard. Burials in the churchyard have been discontinued for some years, but a damp heavy smell is said to be still sometimes perceived in the basements of the houses adjoining it. From Leechwell Street, at the upper part of the town, Cistern Street and Plymouth Road branch off. There are some other streets in the flat low-lying alluvial ground by the river, and there are also some back streets and alleys higher up in the old portion of the town. This part, viz., that between Leechwell Street and Fore Street, is very closely built, some of the houses having very little or no back space. Bridgetown consists chiefly of a single street with a few alleys on either side. The sewerage of Totnes is now being carried out according to plans designed by Mr. Appleton, C.E., and approved by the Local Government Board. The two parts of the borough have separate systems of sewers. On the Bridgetown side the main sewer and outfall tanks have been completed and the house connexions are in progress. There are two tanks for-the storage and straining of the sewage, capable of holding half a day’s flow ; the outlet of the tanks is tide-locked for about two hours each tide, but it is said that the outfall of the sewer into the tank is always open. On the Totnes side the outfall is at present into a small creek which joins the river, but it is intended to construct outfall tanks similar to those on the Bridgetown side, at St. Peter’s Quay, a little below the town. This site for the tanks was the one originally proposed when the sanction of the Local Government Board to the borrowing of money for sewerage works was obtained, but the Town Council afterwards wished to substitute for it a site on the Town Marsh, close to the town. The latter site howTever was disapproved of by Mr. S. J. Smith, C.E., one of the Board’s inspectors, who held an inquiry in March 1877> and the Town Council ultimately reverted to the St. Peter’s Quay site. It is stated that considerable difficulties were met with in procuring it, but these are now overcome and the work will be proceeded with without further delay. The present open outfall is complained of as being sometimes offensive, and occasionally the tide backs up it and covers a spring of which the water is used for drinking. Several cases of typhoid fever occurred in 1878 in an adjoining house. The main sewers on the Totnes side have been carried out at different times, but a large part of the work has been done during the past summer, and a portion of the houses, perhaps half, have been drained into them. The new sewers are of pipes, the largest sizes being 12 inches on the Bridgetown and 24 inches on the Totnes side. The older sewers were of brick or stone and of irregular construction. Some have been allowed to remain and connected with the new system. In Leechwell Lane an old 18-inch brick culvert is said to discharge into a 12-inch pipe. On both the Totnes and Bridgetown sides the sewers are in places not deep enough to drain the houses effectually, as the level of the back yards is lower than that of the street. Certain houses in the Plymouth Road are drained separately into an open ditch, the sewage being used to irrigate a meadow.