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houses in the area; on the east side there are 11 houses facing
one of these high buildings, and they are situated in a cul-de-sac
15 ft. 9 in. wide; those on the west side and in the centre of
the area abut on a court 19 ft. wide, and though this court is
not a complete cul-de-sac, for practical purposes it is little
better since it is shut in by four dwelling houses at the south
end and the only exit is a narrow circuitous passage 6 ft. wide.
All the houses are old, dilapidated and worn out; the woodwork
is old, dirty and dilapidated; the plaster on the walls
on the inside is in the last stage of dilapidation, and is only
prevented in many cases from crumbling away by being
covered by cheap wall paper; the rooms are very dirty and
verminous, and the yards are small and badly paved. The
light and ventilation are more or less deficient in all the rooms,
which in many cases are overcrowded. The inhabitants consist
mostly of hawkers, costermongers, casual labourers and others
whose habits are not very cleanly. A considerable
amount of the food which is sold on the barrows in Tower
Bridge Road is stored over night in these houses and therefore
exposed to all sorts of filth and contamination.
The death rate for the area for the last 10 years is 36 per
thousand living inhabitants, which is almost double that of
Bermondsey for the same period and considerably more than
double that of Bermondsey for 1912.
This area has given a great deal of trouble to the department
during the past 12 years, and the only remedy consists
in the radical treatment of it as a whole.
Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13, Nolan Place, Rotherhithe.
I beg to make a representation that the above dwelling houses
are in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for
human habitation, and recommend the Council to make Closing
Orders under Sec. 17 of the above Act.
The following are the reasons: —
These houses are situated in a small court, approached
by a narrow entrance which passes underneath the first floor
of No. 13 at the bottom of Hatteraick Street, Rotherhithe.
The width of the court is 13 feet and as the houses opposite
are about 16 feet high, the lower portions of the houses under
representation are very dark. The back yards are small, the