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MEDICAL OFFICER'S ANNUAL REPORT SHEET 3 OF DRAFT
The watercourse to the North of Friern Barnet Road is about 160 feet
above 0. D. and receives two tributaries running in a S. E.ly direction,
the ridge between these tributaries being roughly defined by Friern
Lane with its highest point-290 feet above O.D. opposite the entrance
lodge to the golf links.
The watercourse to the south of Friern Barnet Road is at about 140 feet
above O. D. and receives a tributary running S. E. whose course is
roughly defined by Colney Hatch Lane, and another tributary running
N.W. across the Halliwick Park allotments and draining the Muswell
Hill portion of the South Ward.
The whole of the District south of Friern Barnet Road is a clay soil
with a subsoil of the London Clay and during the winter time surface
water is retained in the hollows on the surface.
During the heavy rains of November & December of this year the surface
pools have been rather more conspicuous than usual on the open spaces
unbuilt upon in the South Ward and some of the inhabitants have been
un-necessarily alarmed because this water has shown itself rather more
than usual. The same natural occurrence may be observed in other parts
of the district especially on the East side of Friern Lane where the
surface water is collected in a series of small ponds. So long as this
surface water is prevented from collecting under houses no harm to the
public health can arise therefrom, and in my opinion the Council would
not be justified in calling upon owners of vacant land to provide
surface water drains until it was proposed to erect dwelling houses,
when of course it would receive attention under the Building Byelaws
requiring the sites of houses to be properly drained.
The remaining portion of the district north of the Parish Church of
St. James is high land at or above 300 feet above O.D. with a gravelly
soil in patches (not so clean as that along the Friern Barnet Road
ridge) overlying the London Clay. This gravelly oil contains a
considerable amount of sub-soil water which drains off in an easterly
direction by the head waters of three small watercourses. All the
streams and watercourses drain to the Lea,
Some of the older houses in the north ward have cellars excavated in
these patches of gravel, and in several instances these cellars have
become flooded by subsoil water necessitating rather expensive works
of drainage. I should like to call the attention of persons about to
erect houses on a gravel soil in this district not to excavate the
gravel on the site, by so doing they are spoiling what would otherwise
be a dry and healthy site.
For administrative purposes the district is divided into three Wards
each returning four members to serve on the District Council one third
of such members retiring annually there are five polling districts
which at the middle of 1925 contained electors as follows:-
District P. comprising the whole of the North Ward -- 1814 Electors
„ R „ part of the Central Ward 958
„ N „ „ „ „ „ „ & part
of the South Ward 2,209 „
„ 0 „ part of the South Ward 848 „
„ q „ „ „ „ „ „ 2,167 „
The London County Council Hospital for Mental Diseases at Colney
Hatch is situated on a fine site sloping towards the South, completely
self contained and surrounded by a brick wall and for statistical
purposes has been ignored so far as the Births & Deaths are concerned
and only such parts of the population of this colony are included as
really form part of the population of the district such as the staff
resident on the estate and the workers engaged in the Asylum who are
resident in the district proper.
The District possesses some excellent open spaces and the Council
continues its interest in the East Barnet Playing Fields situated on
our East boundry.