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12
NATURAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
OF THE DISTRICT.
The Urban District of Walthamstow has an area of 4,343 acres, and
lies between the River Lea on the west and Epping Forest on the east,
extending from Leyton on its south to Chingford on the north.
The area built upon is approximately 1,422½ acres, and the land
as yet undeveloped is 1,689 acres; the remainder is made up as
follows, in acres:—
Schools 52½, Reservoirs 361, Railways 110, Allotments 58,
Epping Forest 401, Marsh Land 100, Municipal Depots 4½,
Cemetery 12, Open Spaces 25, River Ching 25, London Playing
Fields 38½, Xylonite Factory 41, London General Omnibus Works
9 and the Sewage Farm 238.
The District is divided into six Wards for administrative purposes ;
they vary in altitude from 18 feet above ordnance datum in the St.
James Street Ward, to 230 feet in the Hale End Ward.
The subsoil is mainly gravel, the London clay showing itself in
various parts of the surface, more particularly in the Wood Street and
the Northern Wards.
There are two small streams within the District—the Ching and the
Dagenham Brook, and the River Lea flows past the western boundary.
The Ching, a small brook, enters the District at Highams Park in
the northern area, and winds its course through Hale End and Chapel
End to the River Lea.
The Dagenham Brook, rising within the District, is the outlet for
our drainage, and having received the effluent of the Sewage Farm,
situated in the western or St. James Street Ward, winds its course
through the neighbouring parish of Leyton and joins the River Lea at
Temple Mills, near Stratford.
Neither stream, at any point, is used for domestic purposes, nor
likely to be a source of pollution to potable waters.
The whole District has a duplicate system of sewers, and practically
every house water-closet accommodation.
The sewage is received into precipitating tanks, treated with lime and
alum, the solids removed, and the effluent subsequently passed over the
Farm before finally passing out of the District.
In addition to the Sewage Farm, which is about 238 acres in extent,
there are large filter beds of clinker for dealing with storm-water.