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

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London County Council 1907

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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each week. No manure is taken to these wharves, but at adjoining wharves large quantities of roadslop
and some manure are dealt with. There are some stables but no cowhouses in the vicinity.
(4) Manure Depot—This depot adjoins a railway siding at which manure is loaded directly
from carts into railway trucks, and sent to the country. Fish refuse and horse manure are also
received here. The railway yard is a very extensive one, having a width of 120 yards and a length
of a quarter of a mile. About 50 trucks are loaded per diem on an average, and these, as a rule, are
sent away each night to the country.
(5) Stable Premises No 1.—At these premises several hundred horses are accommodated.
The stabling is of modern brick construction, well lighted and ventilated. The manure is stored
in the covered yard in front of the stable, and is said to be removed daily. No other stables or
cowhouses are in the immediate vicinity.
(6) Stable Premises No. 2.—There are two large stables here in close proximity to one
another. Several hundred horses are kept. The manure is removed daily, and no considerable
quantity of manure was found at any time on the premises. Peat-moss litter was used instead of
straw. No cowhouses or noxious trade premises are in the vicinity, but there are some smaller
stables, and a fried fish shop is situated nearly opposite the house at which the largest number
of flies was caught.*
(7) Cattle Market.—The places of observation were all situated on the North side of the
Islington Cattle Market. The market days for the sale of cattle here are Mondays and Thursdays.
Lairs are provided on the South and West sides of the market-place and cattle are kept at these
lairs before the market is open ; while, if any of the cattle are not sold they are again placed in the
lairs until the next market day, or until they are slaughtered. There are slaughter-houses on the
East side of the market-place. The manure is swept up and removed on the day following each
market-day, the pens and alleys being washed down. Some small stables are in the vicinity.
(8) Cowhouse Premises.—These premises are licensed for the keeping of 20 cows in two
sheds. There is a dwelling-house adjoining, and a small open yard in which are receptacles for the
storage of grain and dung, and a milkstore. The cowsheds are brick buildings, but they are not of
modern construction. They are fairly well ventilated, but not well lighted. The dung is removed
from the premises twice a week. A railway line carried on an embankment lies a few yards to the
South, a bakehouse abuts partly on the South side of the premises. The neighbourhood is thickly
populated and lies a little way to the East of a market street.
(9) Centre situated midway between two Cowshed Premises.—One of the cowsheds is licensed
for the keeping of 12 cows, the other for 20. On the West side of the smaller cowshed there are
several stables with living and sleeping rooms over them. The cowshed premises are old and very
ill-adapted for the purpose for which they are used. Many complaints have been received as to
nuisance from accumulations of manure, and especially as to offensive smells experienced when
manure is removed.
(10) Offensive Trade Premises No. 1.—This centre is a knacker's yard in which about 70 horses
a week are dealt with. It consists of several buildings open at the ends and having openings
in the roof; also, an open fronted shed, and hauling ways. On the West side it abuts upon a public
school and play-ground, on the East partly upon a public street and partly upon several small
cottages, on the North and South it adjoins buildings used as manufactories. With the exception
of the immediately surrounding locality, which has recently been cleared under a housing scheme,
the neighbourhood is thickly populated by persons of the poorer classes, occupying small cottages
and tenement blocks—public and private. There are a number of manufactories of various kinds,
including premises once used by a Gut manufacturer, one cowshed and a few small Stables,
within the area under observation. There is, moreover, a small stable on the knacker's premises
for Police and other emergency work. The dung receptacle measures 7 ft. 6 in. by 7 ft. in area.
The front wall is about 3ft. high. The dung is cleared away daily by a contractor. It was observed
that the receptacle was thoroughly cleansed with water after having been emptied.
(11) Offensive Trade Premises No. 2.—These premises are in the occupation of a Cat-gut
manufacturer. In the immediate neighbourhood are two permanent school buildings; there is
also a building temporarily used as a school. No stables or cowsheds are in the immediate neighbourhood,
but there are premises upon which fish-curing is carried on. The Gut-scraping premises
consist of a brick building and a small open yard, and the offensive processes of the business are
conducted in closed chambers ventilated by extraction and propulsion fans, and the offensive
vapours are cremated in a furnace.
(12) Jam Factory.—During the season, a large quantity of fruit is received at the premises,
and, while the jam is being made, a characteristic odour is noticeable in the vicinity. Stables, in
which ten horses are kept, are situated in the rear of the factory.
While the intervals of time during which the fly papers were exposed were, as a rule, periods
of 72 and 48 hours, in certain exceptional casee, (bank-holidays, etc.), the interval was a somewhat longer
one. The numbers corresponding to each interval have been divided by three, in the case of the 72
hours, and by two in that of the 48 hours intervals, so that figures representing, so to speak, the "daily
number of flies," for each period, at each particular centre were obtained. Diagram I., which is based
upon these crude figures, suggests at once that the premises at which there are accumulations of house
refuse and stable manure tend to attract to their neighbourhood, if not to produce, exceptionally large
numbers of flies. Inasmuch, however, as the number of places of observation around the twelve centres
* The figures in the case of this centre have been obtained by dealing sep arately with houses surrounding the
two stables, and then adding the totals together.