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5
Physical Features and General Character of the District.
The greater part of the District is on flat ground on the
south bank of the Thames, but little raised above the level
of the river. There is rising ground to the east of the
Borough, extending almost to the top of Kingston Hill, a
height of 144 feet. There is also high ground near the
Cemetery, 59 feet. Nearly the whole of the district is now
built over; of the 1,114 acres in the Borough there remain
about 35 acres in the neighbourhood of Latchmere Brook
bordering on Ham, and about 15 acres near the Dust
Destructor, adjoining the Hogg's Mill stream. A few acres
remain unbuilt on in the Gloucester Road, and a few large
mansions with gardens may be cut up into building plots
before many years are past. The higher parts of the town
are on clay, the low-lying ground being mostly gravel.
In addition to the Thames, a small stream, the Hogg's
Mill River, enters the Thames near the Market Place. This
stream has a fall of about 25 feet in its passage through the
Borough, and if it were not for three mill dams it would drain
the district through which it passes very effectively. The
banking up of the water keeps this neighbourhood very damp,
and as the stream is very sluggish there is often a disagreeable
odour in the neighbourhood of the middle mill where the stream
broadens out to a shallow lagoon. Part of this has just been
filled in and I hope will improve the condition of the adjoining
houses. That there should be disagreeable odours in summer
time is not surprising, as the effluents from the Sewage Works
of Maiden, Ewell and Epsom all discharge into the stream
higher up. The average summer flow is not above 10 or 12
million gallons daily, but this will increase as the effluent from
the sewage works of these growing districts increases. It is
under the control of the Thames Conservancy as regards
pollution, but regulations are badly needed in regard to the
repair of banks, flooding, etc. This stream for the greater
part is outside the Borough, but any damage caused by
accident or neglect higher up is felt almost entirely within our
boundaries.
As if these conditions were not serious enough, the Surbiton
District Council have recently proposed to remove their