Reports and correspondence respecting the drainage of the new palace at Westminster : January, 1849.

  • London (England). Metropolitan Commission of Sewers.
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports and correspondence respecting the drainage of the new palace at Westminster : January, 1849. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Mr Austin’s Report. Mr Barry’s Reply. whereas, in fact, it is placed, not in the vaults of the building, but in three arched spaces under an open gateway, each of which is not more than IB feet wide and 6 feet high, and intended ultimately to be filled in around the sewer with concrete. 6. The condition of this main sewer throughout its entire length must be re¬ garded as extremely dangerous to the health of those who reside in, and fre¬ quent these buildings. It is nothing but a continuous cesspool from one end to the other, emitting most noxious effluvia; and being blocked up at each end with heavy flaps, the only source of ventilation is into the buildings themselves, or into the court¬ yards into which these buildings look. 6. Owing to the levels of the outfalls of the public sewers into the River, the lower portion of the Palace main sewer cannot be otherwise than a reservoir (termed by Mr Austin, a continuous cess¬ pool) for ten hours in every tide; but no inconvenience or nuisance can possibly arise from this circumstance, when every drain connected with the main sewer is properly trapped, which is proposed to be done as they are successively connected with it. The condition of this sewer, ventilated temporarily as it has hitherto been from the man-holes at the two extremities of the building, cannot even in its present un¬ finished state be considered, as reported, “ dangerous to health not the slightest escape of noxious effluvia has ever been noticed either before or since the publi¬ cation of Mr Austin’s Report during repeated and careful examinations made