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10
A memorandum of the Local Government Board calls
for detailed information under certain headings which are
dealt with seriatim.
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 large mansions with gardens remain to
be cut up into building plots sooner or later, but they are
hardly large enough for a Town Planning Scheme. 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 two mill dams it would drain
the district through which it passes very effectively. The
banking up of the water keeps this neighbourhood rather
damp, as the stream is very sluggish, but great improvements
have been made in cleaning out the stream and camp
shedding or otherwise improving the bank. Parts have been
filled in and the condition of the adjoining houses improved.
The effluents from the Sewage works of Maiden, Ewell and
Epsom all discharge into the stream beyond the Borough
boundary. 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.