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142
The staircases are dark and unventilated, and the upper back rooms
are supplied with only an extremely small window overshadowed by the high
wall at a distance of 3 feet 6 inches, and as a consequence these rooms are very
dark and badly ventilated.
All the rooms are low and cramped, little convenience is provided, there
is no sink, and the water tap is fixed in the tiny back yard adjacent to the
water closet.
These dwellings are aged, poorly maintained, damp, cramped, and overshadowed,
and their position deprives the interiors of adequate natural light and
ventilation, these defects being further aggravated by the sanitary defects arising
out of the individual bad planning features already mentioned.
Living conditions in these dwellings cannot be otherwise than unhealthy.
Photograph No. 17 shows these cottages.
HIGH HILL FERRY AREA.
This area is composed of a somewhat scattered collection of houses, the majority
occupying a low site in the Lee valley.
Some of these houses situated on the lowest part of the area have in the
past been subjected to periodical floodings, the effects of which upon the houses have
never been entirely remedied, and it should be mentioned that eight of these were
included among the dwelling houses upon which the Council made "Closing
Orders" in 1918, detailed reference to which will be found in my remarks dealing
with Middlesex Wharf area. The Ministry of Health prevented these Closing
Orders, as in the case of Middlesex Wharf, from coming into operation owing
to the shortage of housing accommodation. The dwelling houses in this area are
of widely different types, built in small groups or pairs, and approached through
narrow passages or culs-de-sac; the individual types and accommodation vary
between single and two-storey structures providing two to five rooms with the
addition, in the majority of cases, of a wash-house or scullery. Twenty-five
houses in this area are of the single-back type, that is to say lacking in adequate
means of through ventilation, in addition to which many of the remainder are
so planned or equipped that the interiors are gloomy or dark, and there are
instances where even the windows provided are of inadequate size. The general
internal arrangement of the houses in the majority of instances is definitely bad,
some with floors considerably below surrounding ground level; there are dark,
narrow, winding and dangerous staircases, many instances where entry is direct
into the living room, which is below the adjoining ground level, and staircases
directly connecting the two floors, and where, in the absence of through ventilation,
the atmosphere of the lower room is merely ventilated into the upper room. Some
of the houses have no yard, others quite a tiny open space adjoining, sufficient
only to accommodate a water closet and a water tap, but in these cases the yards
are very much enclosed. There are instances where wash-houses are used as living
rooms, and, according to information, are let as such, and some of the cottages
are not provided with a wash-house or any facility for family washing, and even
in some instances have no sinks.
Four cottages have only one common external water supply, and in these
cases the water closets adjoin the front door in full public view, as is also the
case in two other instances where the water closets are situated in the forecourt.
There is another group of cottaees where a common wash-house and water closet
(combined) serves for the use of three cottages.
All the dwellings may be described as old and damp, the dampness being due
to the fact that the buildings were erected at a time when building sites were not