[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Tottenham District].

  • Tottenham (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
[1920]
Catalogue details

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

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

    10/108 (page 10)
    10 PHYSICAL FEATURES AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE DISTRICT. Tottenham is situated 5 miles due North of London. The River Lea and Walthamstow bound its Eastern border, Stoke Newington and Hackney lie immediately to the South, Hornsey and Wood Green to the West, and Edmonton to the North. It includes 3,014 acres of land, and measures 2¼ miles from North to South and miles from East to West. The subsoil is of clay, covered by a shallow layer of gravel. It is traversed by three shallow brooks, The Stonebridge, The Moselle and The Carbuncle, which are so badly polluted that they may be regarded as sewers, and for the most part are culverted— the remainder ought to be; all should be made rat proof. The River Lea as it flows through Tottenham is banked up so that its level is above the Marshes—so called—a large tract of land extending to 110 acres which it borders on the East. The Hale and the Markfield Estates lie immediately to the South of the Marshes. It thus happens that when the Lea rises to an unusual extent the valley becomes flooded, and, as in February of 1919, the houses on these Estates suffer severely. From the Lea valley the land gradually ascends towards the West to reach its highest points at Downhills and Devon shire Hill. Tottenham is fortunate in having 16 open spaces, namel: The Marshes, 110 acres; Downhills Park, 30y acres; Bruce Castle Park, 20 acres; The Down Field Recreation Ground, 19½ acres; The Chestnuts Recreation Ground, 13 acres; Land East side of the River Lea, 25 acres; and various Commons amounting to nearly 16 acres, including Tottenham Green, overlooked by the imposing Town Hall, Central Fire Station, Public Baths and County School. The ordnance levels are 30 feet at the Marshes, and 100 feet at the base of Downhills Water Tower and at Devonshire Hill. The subsoil water rises at times so as to flood the cellars of the houses in the lower parts of the district. Fogs in the Autumn and Winter are frequent and dense in the Lea Valley. Social Conditions:— Tottenham is a dormitory of London, and the trains, trams and buses are crowded morning and evening by toilers