View report page

Clattern House,
Kingston-upon-Thames,
February, 1894.
Gentlemen,
In presenting my First Annual Report, I wish to make
a few remarks upon the soil, position, and history of the
Borough with reference to public health. The soil of
Kingston is chiefly gravel, with alluvium and clay in
places. The situation of the town is on the South
bank of the Thames, from which it rises very gradually
to the foot of Kingston Hill, whence to the Borough
boundary the elevation is more abrupt. The levels are
given as: 20 feet at Canbury Gardens, 29 feet at the
Barracks, 100 feet at the angle in Liverpool Road, and 142
feet a hundred yards further on at the Borough boundary.
The Market Place is 29 feet, the Fairfield 33 feet, and the
Junction of Gloucester Road with the Maiden Road is 55
feet. Passing further South, Grove Road is 34 feet, and
Uxbridge Road 40 feet ; 40 feet is also the level at the
Borough boundary in Marsh Lane near the proposed
Isolation Hospital. The top of Kingston Hill is 176 feet.
The Hogg's Mill Stream enters the Thames near the
Market Place, having its principal source at Ewell,
where it bubbles up clear and pure from the chalk.
It is probable that this supply of pure water would be
gladly welcomed by the villages through which the stream
passes, as well as by the town of Kingston at its mouth,
had not Government in its wisdom given certain commercial
undertakings the right to force indifferent water supplies at
a heavy charge upon the inhabitants. Could this stream be
tapped at its source it might supply these towns and villages
with a good drinking water, which, when it had served its
purpose, could be turned into the stream again to flow with
the land drainage, as it does at present.