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Subject: [LAN] SANITATION IN 1870-not for the squeamish!
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2002 16:55:57 EST

This is an extract from a report in 1871...from my home town of Westhoughton,
near Bolton, Lancashire. The "good old days!"....I think not!

"I will begin with the part of the village that immediately surrounds the
church. Opposite Mr Ditchfield's house is a plot of garden ground bounded by
a ditch which receives the sewage from about sixteen houses and a
slaughter-house adjoining. From this the sewage flows very sluggishly into a
wide ditch or sewage-pond in an adjoining field, which also, by other
channels, receives the sewage from two neighbouring rows of houses.
The pond is not more than 30 or 40 yards distant from these dwellings, and it
is horribly offensive. In place the ditch is silted up by foetid mud. There
are no sewers provided throughout the village, the sewage being allowed to
flow in any direction that the inclination of the land permits."

Enough?.......there are another two pages like this!
When we take a look at the 1871 Census - just think about the conditions our
ancestors used to live in.......talk about putting 'flesh on the bones'!!
(By the way - Mr Ditchfield was a wealthy Mill Owner and had a nice big
house...he bought the garden (or plot of land, opposite) so that he could
have a nice view from his windows).
Pam Clarke.

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