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Section A- Natural and Social
Conditions of the District.
Area (in acres) 3,346
Number of inhabited houses (end of 1039) according to
Rate Books 16,212
Rateable Value at 31st December, 1939 .£468,012
Sum represented by Id. rate £1,848
THE Sanitary District, situated about midway between the
Thames and the North Downs, is roughly rectangular in shape.
It is approximately one mile in width and, commencing at a
datum level of 72 at the northern boundary, it extends for some five
miles in a southerly direction up the slope of the North Downs to a
height of 450 feet above sea level.
The subsoil, which is clay in the northern part, changes to a sandy
gravel as one proceeds southwards, and then merges into chalk, which
covers the southern half of the district.
The River Wandle forms the eastern boundary in the northern
half and is fed by several springs which arise near the centre of the
district at the outcropping of the chalky subsoil. With the steadily
increasing demands made upon the underground supplies of the
Thames Basin, the flows from these springs have been more irregular
of recent years. The flow of water from the springs, however, in
1939, has, on the whole, been fairly maintained and was greater than
in the year before, when nearly all failed at one period.
In the year which saw the outbreak of war, it is not surprising
that the rate of housing development was reduced. New dwellings
erected totalled 117, compared with 391 in the previous year, constructional
work of this type coming to a halt completely in September.
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