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the earth beneath becoming sodden and oozing between the fissures of the stone and
leading to dampness beneath the house. The unwholesome condition of these yards which
is attributed to the habit of chopping wood upon the pavement, is added to by the custom
which generally obtains in Rotherhithe of keeping animals in the rear of houses During
our inspection, in the large majority of yards there were found fowls, rabbits, goats ducks
geese or pigeons, &c., and often not maintained in any proper condition of cleanliness'
Further, the unwholesomeness is increased by the defective condition of surface traps, the
absence of dust bins or the broken state of these receptacles, in numerous instances' the
dust being piled upon the earth in default of any better place of deposit, while the broken
wooden palings which separate yards, and the manner in which yards are often littered
with old timber, demonstrate the general neglect to maintain these premises in proper order
or repair.
In justification of what has been said in this report in condemnation of the conditions
of dwelling-houses occupied by the poorer classes, it needs to be emphasised that we have
personally visited in various parts of Rotherhithe several hundred houses, and that in the
majority of them unwholesome conditions of the sort we have enumerated abounded.
It would be invidious under these circumstances to particularise houses exhibiting the
defects described, but it will be convenient as illustration of the conditions referred to, to
give more in detail the actual facts witnessed as regards certain dwelling-houses, which
were not the worst of their class. A few will suffice for this purpose, although illustrations
might be easily multiplied indefinitely.
1. A house of two stories.—On the ground floor the woodwork dilapidated. On the upper floor, the back room
uninhabitable, plaster of ceiling and walls dilapidated, roof dilapidated, admitting rain, window falling out
(other rooms in better condition), bad settlements in brickwork of wall, watercloset in yard dirty, and without
water and water supply apparatus.
2. A house of two stories.—One room and a wash-house on ground floor, and one room above to which access
is gained by a staircase in the lower room. Woodwork of ground floor dilapidated. Upper room, floor broken
and mended with zinc by inmates.
Yard paving very defective. Watercloset without water and water supply apparatus, but clean No dust
bin, vegetable matter and dust lying over yard, and soaking into ground ; pigeons and ducks kept here.
3. Old timber-built house.— Roof defective, attic flooded when it rains, a pan used to catch the water which
enters room, rain also enters rooms on floors below, and a pan used here for same purpose. Throughout the
house, with the exception of oue room recently papered, rooms filthily dirty ; staircase dark, wanting in ventilation,
dilapidated, and smells offensively.
Yard paving defective, offensive channel caused by passage of discharge from sink to gully. Watercloset
pan corroded, without water and water supply apparatus. Setting of pan defective.
4. Old timber-built house.—Of four rooms, very dilapidated, lower floor 2 feet 3 inches below level of street,
and 5 feet 6 inches below level of churchyard immediately adjoining it. Rooms very low. damp enters through
walls and roof.
Overcrowding in houses is not known to the Vestry's officers to be of frequent
occurrence, and as a fact, only in a few instances at the time of our inspection did we
obtain evidence that the average cubic space for each individual fell short of the amount
generally required in the metropolis, and specified in the model bye-laws of the Local
Government Board as to houses let in lodgings.
Houses recently constructed are much less open to criticism than those of older date.
In respect of each house there was found no deficiency of the open space at the rear
required by parliamentary enactments ; the waste pipes of sinks and the overflow pipes of
cisterns are aerially disconnected from drains; waterclosets are provided with water
supply, but the pans are of a kind which give no sufficient opportunity for the maintenance
of cleanliness, and further, drain and soil pipe ventilation is generally wanting.
No evidence as to insufficiency of sewers came under our notice. The Vestry have now
under their jurisdiction a length of sewers amounting to 10 miles and 80 yards, while a
length of 5 miles and 306 yards is vested in the Metropolitan Board of W orks. Since
Lady-day, 1881, the Vestry have expended £8429 in the construction of new, and the
maintenance of existing sewers.