A report on the drainage of Hammersmith / By Mr. Lovick and Mr. Donaldson, Assistant Surveyors. March, 1849.

  • Lovick, Thomas (Surveyor)
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A report on the drainage of Hammersmith / By Mr. Lovick and Mr. Donaldson, Assistant Surveyors. March, 1849. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    dy n. JHetropcilttau Jjetoersi, A Report on the Drainage of Hammersmith. In pursuance of the order of the Works’ Committee of 5th March instant, “ That Mr. Lovick and Mr. Donaldson report specially “ on the drainage of Hammersmith with as little delay as possi- “ ble ” We entered upon the examination of the drainage of this district, directing our attention in the first place to those localities in which the condition of the drainage has long been a subject of complaint, and which has formed the subject of special repre¬ sentation to the Commissioners. Commencing our inspection in the locality most prominent in this respect, Brook Green, we found that on the western side there was an open ditch, wide, stagnant, and with a large accumulation of foul deposit, receiving the drainage of most of the houses in its vicinity, and of a foul and pestilential ditch at the rear of several cottages in Slater’s Buildings, running, in a covered sewer, across the main road, thence open taking a very circuitous course through market-gardens to its outfall in the Thames, near Burlington Gardens, polluting with its exhalations the atmosphere throughout its entire course. Various blocks of houses at Brook Green drain into-this ditch by open ditches. In these the foul deposit is on a level with the floors of the houses, the main ditch not affording a sufficient outfall for the discharge of the foul and foetid matter which has largely accumulated and emits highly offensive emanations. Proceeding more into the heart of Hammersmith, and nearer the southern boundary, as a further illustration of the nature of its drainage, is a foul open ditch having its origin from a covered drain in the main road near the Nag’s Head public house; thence running westward past the Angel Inn, in a covered drain, thence turning from the main street, resuming its open and offensive condition, through the yards at the rear of the houses on the south-side of Little G-eorge Street, receiving in its course the privies on its banks attached to some eighteen or twenty houses. The ditch throughout is in an excessively filthy condition; hut in this portion there is a much larger accumulation of filth, and a proportionate increase of the noxious efflu¬ vium. The tidal water flows up this ditch, driving before it the foul accumulations; these are left by the receding tide in the upper part nearest the houses, and in the covered drain in the main road, exposing fresh surfaces of filth to active decomposition.