Dr. Thorne Thorne's report to the local government board on the general sanitary circumstances and administration of the rural sanitary district of Dartford, and on an outbreak of diphtheria in the parish of Swanscombe.

  • Thorne, R. Thorne (Richard Thorne), Sir, 1841-1899.
Date:
1879
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Thorne Thorne's report to the local government board on the general sanitary circumstances and administration of the rural sanitary district of Dartford, and on an outbreak of diphtheria in the parish of Swanscombe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Nowhere did I find any true ventilation of drains, such as can only be ensured by pro- viding in the course of the drain two openings, one of which shall serve for the entrance of fresh air, as is contemplated in the Model Byelaws, Series IV., § 65, issued by the Local Government Board. Two extensive schemes for sewerage, however, affect this rural district. The first is the West Kent system of sewerage. The principal main sewer in connexion with this scheme passes through the parish of Bexley from west to east, and is, in its course through the parish, joined by the Cray Valley branch sewer. The main sewer subse- quently enters Crayford parish to the south, and, after traversing the northern part of the urban district of Dartford, its contents will, after being dealt with at certain purifying works, be delivered into the Thames. This system of sewerage is now approaching completion; but in view of the fact that some of the most serious condi- tions as to drainage which have been noted in this Report prevail in the populous parts of Bexley and of Crayford, it is to be regretted that, so far as these parishes are con- cerned, no arrangements have as yet been made either to utilise the sewers referred to or to provide some other efficient means of drainage. Both are now populous parishes, Bexley having an estimated population of 8,550, and Crayford probably containing at least 5,000 inhabitants. As regards Bexley, however, it is quite possible that the question of its proper sewerage and drainage has, amongst other things, led to a recent application that the parish should be constituted an urban district. The main sewer of the Darenth Valley Sewerage Works, which are now in process of construction, will also pass through the district. Entering it to the south, it will pass successively through the parishes of Lullingstone, Eynesford, Farningliam, Horton- Kirby, Sutton-at-Hone, and Wilmington, and then reaching the Dartford Urban District, it will, by means of a main sewer which the Dartford Urban Authority are required to complete in 1880, discharge into the West Kent outfall sewer. In addition, moreover, to the above-named places the greater portion of the parish of Darenth, which, with a few other more rural places, is within the drainage area of this sewer, is deemed a contributory place for the purposes of the main sewer works under a Provisional Order of the Local Government Board. When these two schemes of sewerage are completed, nearly all the more populous localities in the Dartford Rural District will be brought within their drainage areas, and thus means will be afforded for their efficient drainage. Swanscombe Parish, however, which, in addition to Greenhithe, includes a steadily increasing population in and near Swanscombe Village and Galley Hill, will, however, need sewers independent of either of these main works. 4. Disposal of Excrement and Refuse.—The means adopted in this district with regard to the disposal of excrement and refuse are, as a rule, faulty in the extreme. Perhaps the most frequent plan is to erect a common privy which is placed either directly over a large cesspool or communicating with it by means of a sloping passage excavated in the chalk or other soil, and at times lined with brickwork. Before the localities in which these closets are found became populous, the structures in question were placed at some considerable distance from the houses and the wells, and the evils resulting from them were comparatively inconsiderable. But of recent years the value of land for building purposes has increased and hence the area allotted to each house has become restricted. The labouring classes also, apparently ignorant of the resulting conse- quences, and hence indifferent to all considerations except their own personal con- venience, have shown a decided preference for houses having closets in close proximity to them. It might have been anticipated that this circumstance would have given rise to the absolute abandonment of this form of closet, but the difficulties associated with scavenging, so long as it is not undertaken by a Sanitary Authority, have doubtless hindered the adoption of anything in the shape of a dry-closet, and the result is that closets of the class I have described may now be found in close proximity to dwellings, the door of the closet often facing the door or window of the dwelling-room, so that a thoroughly tainted air can freely make its way into the houses. The extent of the evil is also greatly enhanced by the circumstance that the cesspools almost invariably receive the slops and liquid refuse; their contents are therefore wet, and as a conse- quence they are constantly in an advanced state of decomposition. In some parts of the district, however, pan closets provided with a “ siphon-trap ” have been provided, the contents passing into cesspools, from which they require more or less frequent removal. Rarely, however, are these closets provided with proper means of flushing, and as a natural consequence, many were found quite as offensive as closets of the sort previously described. Indeed, the practice of conveying into the closet-pan a sink-pipe from the interior of the dwelling, and so of affording means by which foul air