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19
The average density of population in England and Wales
is 618 persons per square mile, or one person to 1.04 acre. In
the administrative county of London there is an average of
38,680 persons per square mile, in Middlesex 4,848, and in
Lancashire 2,554.
The growth of the town districts at the expense of the
country districts is illustrated in a table which shows that in
1851 the urban and rural populations were approximately
equal ; by 1881, 67.9 per cent. of the population were living in
urban districts, and by 1911 the proportion had risen to 78.1
per cent.
Back-to-Back Houses.
There are very few houses of this class in the district and
practically no houses built in courts.
Site, Sub-Soil and Drainage of Deptford.
The physical features and character of the Borough are
better described by considering the whole of London, but
generally speaking we may say that the town is situated on
one side of a long ridge, at the top of which ridge we find
Telegraph Hill, and extending in South-East direction we have
Hilly Fields. From this ridge we get a wide sweep down into
the Thames valley, until in the North and East we get very
low-lying land.
In the Southern district the soil is practically all clay, but
the gradual slope forms an ideal drainage area.
In the South-West we find gravel to the north of New
Cross, and clay to the South of it. In the South and South-East
we have all clay. So much clay has a serious effect on the
houses and drains after a very dry or very wet season, in which
the clay shrinks or expands, the foundations being seriously interfered
with. There is also an interference with the foundations
owing to the sliding movement which takes place on a big slope.