London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London

Holborn 1957

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Holborn Borough]

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9
SECTION 1.
General Information and
Statistical Summary.
General
Holborn, with an area of 405 acres, is the smallest of the Metropolitan Boroughs.
It is about 1¼ miles long, extending from Tottenham Court Road in the West to Farringdon
Road in the East, and averages about half a mile in width.
Soil.—Most of the Borough is covered with Taplow Gravel to a depth of between
10 and 20 feet overlaying London Clay which varies in thickness from about 40-60 feet
in the North of the Borough to about 80-100 feet in the South. In the North East corner
there is a small area of London Clay without gravel cover, and in the extreme South East the
London Clay is covered with brickearth. There is a deposit of alluvium in the valley of
the old Fleet River in the extreme East of the Borough.

Table: Typical Sections are:—

Typical Sections are:—

1.Tottenham Court RoadDrift (i.e. including Taplow Gravels)22½feet
London Clay63½feet
2.Grays InnMade Soil7feet
Gravel9½feet
London Clay40½feet
3.Lincoln's InnMade Soil13feet
Gravel5feet
London Clay113feet
4.Bernard StreetMade Soil10feet
Sand and Gravel11½feet
London Clay46feet

Table: Altitude.—The altitude varies from 40 feet above Ordnance datum in Farringdon Road in the East, to 92 feet above Ordnance datum in Torrington Place in the North West corner. In the South in Lincoln's Inn Fields the figure is 68 feet.

Altitude.—The altitude varies from 40 feet above Ordnance datum in Farringdon Road in the East, to 92 feet above Ordnance datum in Torrington Place in the North West corner. In the South in Lincoln's Inn Fields the figure is 68 feet.

Area of borough highways excluding footpaths46 acres approx.
Total length of roadsabout 25 miles
Population (1951) census ..24,806
Population (Registrar-General's mid-1957 estimate)22,230
Number of persons per acre (estimated average)55
Number of dwelling houses, flats and other residences6,119
Rateable Value£3,519,921
Product of penny rate, approximately£14,000
General rate for the year14s. 6d. in the £