Dr. Airy's report to the local government board on the sanitary state of the Neath registration district.

  • Airy, Hubert.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Airy's report to the local government board on the sanitary state of the Neath registration 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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    Dr. Airy’s Report to the Local Government Board on the Sanitary State of the Neath Registration District. Edward C. Seaton, M.D., Medical Department, August 11, 1877. The Registration District (which is the same as the Poor Law Union) of Neath is situated chiefly in the western part of Glamorganshire, extending also into the southern part of Brecknockshire, and occupies (generally speaking) the whole drainage-area of the river Neath, except a portion in the north-east belonging to the Merthyr Tydfil Union. It also includes the valley of the Avon to the south-east, and stretches eastward over the mountains into the watershed of the river Llynvi. It adjoins the Swansea and Pontardawe Unions on the west and north-west, the Brecon Union on the north, the Merthyr Tydfil, Pontypridd, and Bridgend Unions on the east, and its south-western border forms part of the coast-line of Swansea Bay. The Neath Registration District, as at present constituted, comprises four sub-districts for registration purposes, namely, Margam in the east, Neath in the centre, Y stradvelltey in the north, and Cadoxton in the west. The district was formerly much more extensive. Previous to the 1st of July 1876 it included also the sub-district of Llansamlet, to the west of Cadoxton. (This now forms part of the Swansea Union.) Again, previous to the 1st of July 1875, it possessed also a sixth sub-district, Ystradgunlais, at the head of the Yale of Tawe, which, with two parishes taken from the Cadoxton sub-district, and two from the Swansea Union, went to form the new Union of Pontardawe. The Sanitary Districts included within the bounds of the Neath Registration District are three urban and one rural:— 1. The Neath Urban Sanitary District, co-terminous with the municipal borough, comprising the whole of the parish of Neath in the Neath Registration Sub- district and a small part of the civil parish of Blaenhonddan in the Cadoxton sub-district. 2. The Briton Ferry Urban Sanitary District, co-terminous with the parish of the same name, in the Neath registration sub-district. 3. The Aberavon Urban Sanitary District, co-terminous with the municipal borough of Aberavon, in the Margam registration sub-district. 4. The Neath Rural Sanitary District, comprising the whole of the Union excepting the three Urban Districts above named. With the exception of a belt of limestone in the hills on the northern border, the whole Neath district lies in the great South Wales coal-field. The mountain ranges which bound the Neath and Avon valleys rise in some parts to a height of 1,800 feet above the sea; they consist throughout of various strata of sandstone alternating with seams of coal and shale. The sandstone beds furnish building stone of various qualities and flags for pavement. Coal and iron mines have long been actively worked at numerous points both in the valleys and up in the hills. At present the activity of the mining operations is much diminished by the depression of trade. The coal mines form the chief wealth of the district, and, together with copper works, tin-plate works, and various other works depending on the coal, give employment, directly or indirectly, to the greater part of the population. Others are employed in agriculture, trades, shipping, and railway works. The Registration District as now defined, with an area of 115,464 acres, had in 1871 a population of 44,063; in 1861 the numbers were 39,384. At the present time, if we 42509. A