Dr. Barry's report to the Local Government Board upon the general sanitary circumstances and administration of the Rawdon urban sanitary district / [Fred. W. Barry].

  • Barry, Frederick W. (Frederick William), 1850-1897.
Date:
[1890]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Barry's report to the Local Government Board upon the general sanitary circumstances and administration of the Rawdon urban sanitary district / [Fred. W. Barry]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    / Dr. Barry’s Report to the Local Government Board upon the General Sanitary circumstances and Administra- Tlie inquiry to which the following report refers was directed to ascertain the general sanitary circumstances and administration of the Urban Sanitary District of Bawdon, with respect to which complaints had from time to time been made to the Board of default by the Sanitary Authority ; and of which the Board could learn nothing from the reports of the Medical Officer of Health. General Description.—The Urban Sanitary District of Bawdon comprises an area of 1,559 acres. It is roughly triangular in shape, and is bounded on the south by the Biver Aire, and on the west and east by the Yeadon and Horsforth Urban Sanitary Districts respectively. The district is situated altogether within the watershed of the Biver Aire., and from its highest point at Billing Hill (700 feet above Ordnance datum) the surface slopes westward to Yeadon, southward to the Biver Aire (here 200 feet above Ordnance datum), and eastward to the beck dividing Bawdon from Horsforth. There are three aggregations of houses in the district: (a) at Bawdon proper, which is situated nearly in the centre of the district, to the north of the Leeds Boad at an eleva¬ tion of some 400 feet above the river; (6) at Little London, a compact cluster of houses abutting on the Yeadon boundary, directly west of Bawdon but some 100 feet below it; and (c) at Hew Boad Side, “Little Moor, and Canada, comprising several straggling rows of houses, situated also near the Yeadon boundary, but a little to the north of Little London and at a slightly higher elevation. The southern portion of the district, known as‘Crag Wood, between the Leeds Boad and the river is thickly wooded and sparsely inhabited:—it contains a number of mansions of Bradford and Leeds manufacturers. The subsoil consists of sandstone at Little London, and chiefly of clay overlying the sandstone at Bawdon, Hew Boad Side, and Little Moor. The population in 1871 was 2,796, and in 1881 3,047 living in 660 houses. At the present time the population is estimated at 3,500. The gross rateable value is (1890) 14,27U., and the assessable value 11,768Z. There are two woollen mills in the district which employ a number of persons, and several small dairy farms whence milk is sent to Leeds and Bradford. Before entering on description of the sanitary circumstances of the district, it will be useful to give a brief account of the events which led to, and which followed upon, the formation of the Township of Bawdon into a separate area of Local Government. From 1872 to 1879 the Township of Bawdon was comprised within the Wharfedale Bural Sanitary District. In 1877 the Bural Authority, having received complaints of the existence of nuisances due to the want of sewers in different parts of Bawdon, proposed a scheme for the drainage of the township wjth the exception of the Crag Wood Estate. Here¬ upon the inhabitants immediately petitioned the Local Government Board to form the Township of Bawdon into a Local Government District. The Board, upon the receipt of this petition early in 1879 directed local inquiry to be held thereon by their inspector Mr. Morgan. At the inquiry it was stated that