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15
It appears to rue to have been a mistake in placing the sewers both
under the control of the Central Board and the several Local Boards The
whole system of the sewerage of London should have been under the
management of only one public authority Many of the sewers, as regards
their levels, are so badly constructed, that it would have been better, and
probably cheaper to the rate-payers, if all such sewers had been so reconstructed
as to suit the present outfall into the river Some of the existing
sewers hold a large quantity of deposit, and are always emitting most
offensive effluvia In several parts of this district, the sewers are very
offensive, and are frequently complained of, particularly those in Church
Lane and Back Church Lane
Vaults under Spitalfields Church
In my Report for the Quarter ending December, 1859, I reported that
the Order in Council requiring that the vaults under Whitechapel Church,
Trinity Minories Church, and the Lutheran Chapel, in Hooper Square,
should be freely lime-whited—that the coffins in the vaults be covered
with fresh earth and powdered charcoal, &c , had been complied with;
but, with regard to the vaults beneath Spitalfields Church, respecting
their ventilation and extent, Mr Grainger, the then Government Inspector,
deemed it sufficient to order that the several gratings opening into Church
Street, and the grating opening opposite the Rectory, should be closed,
which orders were duly complied with
Mr P H Holland, the present Inspector, appointed under the powers
of the Burial Act, 1855, inspected these vaults in August last, and, in consequence
of his report, an Order of the Privy Council, dated the 2nd of
February, 1867, was issued, directing that the coffins then unenclosed
beneath the church be embedded in soil, mingled with charcoal, and enclosed
either by concrete, or by stone-work, or brick-work properly
cemented The very satisfactory manner in which this Order has been
executed, is shown in the following report of Mr S J Hyam,the Vestry
Clerk of Spitalfields Parish
"At the time of Mr Holland's visit (in consequence of the decay of
the large water-pipes, conveying water from the roof of the church) the
crypt was in a very unpleasant state from damp, which, by its action upon
the coffins, increased the effluvia that escaped from the mass of human
remains there deposited Some years previously, nearly all the window
openings into the crypt had been built up, pursuant to an Order in
Council; bo that, in addition to other evils, the place was quite dark, and
almost without ventilation