Dr. R. J. Reece's report to the local government board on the epidemic of enteric fever in the city of Lincoln, 1904-5.

  • Reece, Richard J.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. R. J. Reece's report to the local government board on the epidemic of enteric fever in the city of Lincoln, 1904-5. 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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    mills and tanneries in the City, which also has a large and increasing industry in the manufacture of agricultural implements and in trades allied to this manufacture. The Great Northern, the Great Eastern, the Midland, and the Great Central Railways run into the City. There is communication with Gainsborough and the Yorkshire towns by water through the Foss Dyke which joins the River Trent, and with Boston and the Wash by the River Witham. The City is annually visited by a large number of tourists. Lincoln is an assize town ; the Prison is situated in the eastern part of the City ; on the high ground to the north-west, are the Barracks, the depot of the Lincolnshire Regiment. Other institutions within the City are, the County Hospital for general diseases ; the Workhouse ; and “ The Lawn,” a large private lunatic asylum. The City of Lincoln consists of two portions, one built on the top and southern slopes of a hill, which rises abruptly from the plain of the Wold, and a larger and more populous portion which is built partly on low-lying ground situated mainly on the southern side of the River Witham. The terms “ up hill ” or “ above hill ” and “ down hill ” or “ below hill,” are used in Lincoln to describe respectively the neigh- bourhoods on the high ground near to and around the cathedral, and those on the lower ground' to the south of it. The lower part of the town, the surface of which is only 25 feet above ordnance datum, is built upon alluvial sand and gravel. The higher portions of the town, ranging from 100 to 225 feet above ordnance datum, stand on clay over- lying the Oolite. Lincoln is one of the old fortified cities, having a castle, as well as the cathedral, within its walls. Round the castle and cathedral are grouped at once the best and some of the worst houses of the City. It is here that houses are old, and streets some of them narrow and crooked, many houses being built irregularly, with the result of impeding lighting and ventilation. Beside the many old dwellings and small cottage property on the hill, a similar class of dwelling is seen in the narrow courts, alleys and causeways leading from the river in Waterside North, and Waterside South. The River Witham flows with a wide curve through the town, and it is connected with a fresh-water dyke (Sincil Dyke), which starts from the river opposite the waterworks, and, after flowing through the City, joins this stream again lower down its course, some miles below Lincoln. Liability of the district to floods.—The River Witham in passing through an agricultural district is joined by a tributary, the River Brant, some five miles above Lincoln, and by numerous small tributary streams and dykes and land drains before reaching the City. These drains and streams carry off the natural drainage of the land ; during heavy rains they become overfilled, and at times the river floods the lower parts of Lincoln. The last time that this happened was on 17th August, 1904, when l£ inches of rain fell between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., with the result that some of the yards at the backs of the houses in Bridge Street, East Side, were flooded to within 5 ft. or 6 ft. of the back doors ; meanwhile the storm water rose in the sewers and escaped through the sewer gullies in the yards. The Bracebridge Urban District, formed by the County Council on the 1st April, 1898, is an extension of the City of Lincoln to the south. It has a population of 17-1800 persons. The houses, mainly of like class with the artizans’ dwellings found in Lincoln, are built on each side of a main road, which has branch streets leading from it. On the one side the terraces of houses in these branch streets extend to the River Witham and on the other towards high ground.