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are well maintained, but in some the walls are damp and in others they are matchlined. There is one
common dustbin.
Margaret-place.—This is a narrow court approached from Margaret-street by an archway and
containing two rows of two-storey cottages, ten in all, which are old and worn out and not well
maintained. Some of them are damp.
There are no streets in the district with houses built back to back. Considerable provision
has been made for the housing of residents in model dwellings, blocks covering an extensive area
existing near Goswell-road, in Peartree-court, in Rosoman-street, and elsewhere. Some of the blocks
visited during the inquiry are well arranged for the purpose of habitation, but objection must be made
to some of the conditions in Jerusalem-buildings and St. Paul's-buildings.
Inspection was made of separate dwellings in 443 instances, and in a fair proportion of these
no noteworthy defective condition was found, the premises being well maintained, and affording evidence
of supervision by the officials of the sanitary authority; in a large number of instances, however, one
or more conditions of sufficient import to justify the attention of the sanitary authority were found to
exist. Thus defective paving or insufficient paving of yards was noted in 79 instances, defective or
dirty condition of water-closets in 50 instances, rooms required cleansing or the interior of houses was
in need of repair owing to defective flooring or ordinary dilapidations in 99 instances ; signs of
defective condition of the roof were seen in 24 premises. Defective stack pipes or gutters existed in
28 houses, and dampness of walls in 69 houses. Drain inlets were in nearly all cases well trapped,
and where sinks exist inside houses the waste pipe was found to be properly disconnected and to
discharge over a trapped gulley situated outside the house.
The drains of premises which have been reconstructed in recent years are disconnected from
the sewer by an intercepting trap and are provided with means of ventilation, but in many houses
where the drains are of older construction no ventilation exists.
From information gathered during the inquiry it appears that a considerable number of houses
in the district have drains in common.
At 55 houses insufficiently covered or dilapidated dustbins were seen. A large number of
ttese receptacles in the district are fixed brick structures, difficult to cleanse properly, and often much
too large for the storage of the refuse of one week. This, owing to the system at present in vogue in
the district for the collection of refuse (referred to later in this report), tends to cause accumulations of
refuse for periods longer than that allowed by the Council's by-law made under section 16'(2) of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891.
It has been stated earlier in the report that many of the houses in the district are occupied by
more than one family. In a large number of cases these premises are let to one person who resides
on the premises and sublets rooms not required for the accommodation of his own family, and in these
cases, for the most part, the houses were found well kept and maintained; in others, however, the
landlord is not resident, and a dirty condition of passage walls and ceilings and of rooms pointed to
the need for periodic inspection. The majority of houses let in tenements have at one time been
occupied by single families, the rooms are generally of a large size, and overcrowding of tenements—as
judged by the low standard adopted by the vestry in their draft by-laws as to houses let in lodgings—
was but seldom met, only 14 instances having been noted. The sanitary authority does not possess a
list of houses let in lodgings in the district, and no houses are registered under the regulations of the
vestry in regard to such premises which were confirmed in 1887. At the present time, however, new
by-laws have been framed in substitution of these regulations, but they had not up to date of enquiry
been confirmed by Local Government Board.
There are in Clerkenwell 5 registered common lodging-houses, 2 of them forming one set
of premises. These at the time of inspection were well maintained and cleanly, with one exception,
where the sheets were dirty. At one house the common kitchen and the lavatory are badly lighted
and ventilated, and not well suited for the purpose. In another the lavatory is unenclosed and
unsuitable.
During the inspection of houses in the district I met with and visited 47 workshops; 18 of these
were in need of cleansing, and in 7 instances the water-closets were foul or defective. In one the
water-closet accommodation was inadequate, and one workroom was overcrowded. Generally speaking,
the means of light and of ventilation are well provided. Many of the workshops in this district are
small buildings which have been erected on part of the space at the rear of houses, originally probably
for the use of the tenant of the house; now, however, these houses are occupied by more than one
family, and the worker may or may not live in the house. In nearly all cases there are now but one or
two men working in these workshops, and there is ample air-space per head.
The workshops which I visited were mostly those which I came across in making inspection of
ordinary dwelling-houses, for although the sanitary authority have a book in which are entered
workshops to which their attention has been directed by complaint, or which have been met with by
the sanitary inspectors in the course of their routine duties, no systematic inspection of such premises
throughout the district has been undertaken, and no complete register has yet been prepared. No
systematic attempt, moreover, has been made to carry out the provisions relating to outworkers.
Of the bakehouses in the district 22 were visited; 16 are situated underground, and of these
8 are badly lighted, and 2 are inadequately ventilated. In 4 cases the floor paving was in need of
repair. No drain inlet was found inside any bakehouse, and in all there was evidence that the walls
are periodically limewashed and that the floors and troughs are cleansed.
The cowsheds, milkshops and slaughterhouses were at the time of inspection in compliance
with the by-laws and regulations applying to these trades. As regards the slaughterhouses, two are
not well adapted for the purpose, and one cowshed is objectionable owing to the fact that it abuts upon
the living house, and the door of the kitchen opens into the cowshed.
The water supply is furnished by the New River Company, and a constant supply is provided
throughout the district.