[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Willesden].

  • Willesden (London, England). Local Board.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Willesden]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    8 Willesden Local Board. SOIL. The soil of the district is a thin superstratum of loam on a variable thickness of stiff clay, with the exception, perhaps, of a small patch of land at the top of Dollis Hill, which seems to have no clay. When the foundations for the permanent buildings of the Isolation Hospital were being dug, I observed gravel at about two feet, or perhaps rather more, below the surface, there being about 18 inches of clay on it. THE BRENT. This small river forms the north-west boundary of the district, the reservoir at the Welsh Harp forming the northern point. The reservoir is formed by collecting the waters of the two streams coming from the northward. Below the reservoir there is a small stream coming from the north-west which has been made use of for the formation of a small lake in the ornamental grounds of Wembley Park, the overflow coming into the Brent as before. There is but a very small amount of water, which, in very dry seasons, seems to be lost altogether. Mr. Bobson and myself accompanied Dr. Copeman, of the Local Government Board, on June 29th, when he made his inspection of the river. The ground immediately under the dam of the reservoir was perfectly hard and covered with grass, the feeder, which conveys the water from the reservoir to the canal, had taken all the water for a longtime, none being allowed down the stream, the latter conse quently forming a series of stagnant pools By collecting, by means of a dam across the river, the effluents of the sewage field with the waters of the stream, the engineer is enabled to let down a small flow through a sluice at stated intervals, which has