[Report 1910] / Medical Officer of Health, Caistor (Union) R.D.C.

  • Caistor (England : Rural district). Rural District Council.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1910] / Medical Officer of Health, Caistor (Union) R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    TO THE Wold District. Carr District. Wold District. Carr District. CAISTOR RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL. Gentlemen, I beg to forward you my First Annual Report for the year ending 31st December, 1910. The Caistor Rural Sanitary District consists of fifty parishes, and covers an area of 116,206 acres. It is entirely agricultural. For purposes of registration it is divided into two districts—(1) Caistor, (2) Market Rasen, the latter township being excluded. GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. On the eastern side of the District is the range of downs called the Wolds, which running in a gentle south-easterly direction attain an altitude of from 300 to 548 feet. The summit ridge is composed of chalk of an average depth of less than 100 feet. The greater part of the frontal slope is composed of jurassic clays and of the lower cretaceous rocks. This high ground is intersected by numerous valleys inclining generally towards the east. To the east and west the chalk dips under impervious beds of clay. From the foot of the Wolds westwards the geological formation is of clay, belts of glacial drift and blown sand, with an outcrop of Lincolnshire limestone along the western border of the District in the neighbourhood of Wadingham. RAINFALL. The rainfall is important as a source of underground water supply. According to the Geological Survey Memoir the Wold district is the wettest part of Lincolnshire with a mean annual rainfall of 27 5 inches. The rainfall in the Carr District is appreciably less. WATER SUPPLY. The water supply of the Wolds presents some curious anomalies. The chalk being of a highly permeable nature absorbs a large amount of the rainfall, and where clay is banked up against it springs burst out as in the valleys and along the frontal slope. On the higher grounds and towards the water shed the water finds its way rapidly to the east and west. The amount of absorption varies also with plant-growth, and the result is that the supply is often intermittent. The diflSculty is overcome in nearly all these cases by the installation of wind-driven pumps or rams at the lower levels. There are still in the high Wolds, however, some farms and houses which depend upon rain water storage for their supply, and some others are supplied from surface wmlls, which are not always free from the risk of pollution. Indeed in some of these cases the supply is distinctly bad. The quality cf the Wold water is uniformly good when it is derived from the chalk. A study of the .Survey Map will show a series of villages at the base of the western slope of the Wolds beginning at Bigby on the north and ending at North Willingham on the south. These villages occupy an intermediate position, and owing to their proximity to the hills are generally well supplied with water with the exception of Searby. In the Carr District proper the water is of sufficient quantity but variable in quahty. The wells sunk in the blue clay are generally unsatisfactory, whilst those sunk through the boulder clay to the gravel show a decided improvement in the quality of the water. The majority of the wells in the low country are flush with the surface and many of them are unlined with brick or otherwise protected from contamination. There are not many deep borings in this part of the District, but they are interesting and may be helpful. I mention a few stating the depth attained before meeting the limestone without giving further details at present, except in the case of