[back to menu for this book]

[-34-] DISTRICT, No. 3.

THE chief peculiarity of this district consists in its comparatively small number of courts and alleys, and the total absence of gardens. This part of the parish is about the oldest. The houses then built were chiefly to accommodate the weavers, and the practice followed was, to build a street of several stories, not, as is the present custom, to plant on the damp, undrained soil, two rooms on a ground floor. In this district, a very great number of the houses are built on a level from 18-inches to 2-feet below that of the path-way. Dust and dirt, therefore, readily become deposited in the houses, and there is much difficulty in cleansing them. In the summer season, moreover, they are very liable to have the mud washed into them. At all times they are very damp, and become sources of much disease to the inhabitants; rheumatism is extremely prevalent, and forms a large proportion of the cases of sickness. Over-crowding takes place to a great extent in this district. Many of the houses in Nelson-street, which have only four moderate sized rooms, have a family in each floor. The larger houses in Hare-street, Swan-street, and Bacon-street, are similarly overcrowded; sometimes as many as 14 persons sleep in one room. From six to nine is a common number. The chief occupants are mechanics and labourers, but principally weavers. Their earnings are very small and very precarious, and their habits are commonly intemperate. Many of the old streets which have granite road-ways, are in a most disgracefully broken-up state, rendering transit over them dangerous and disagreeable. The cleansing of the streets here seems to be utterly neglected. The complaints of the impossibility to have refuse removed by the contractor, are everywhere prevalent, loud, and deep. The same practice of scattering the slops, and all refuse on the streets is the rule. The same want of efficient drainage is manifest, and the same absence of sewerage is greatly to be deplored. Much poverty is apparent, and the causes of disease and death are to be found to an alarming extent. The water supply is conducted on the same outrageous principles of utter indifference to the welfare and comfort of the miserable tenants. There are two water closets in this district. One at the parsonage, another at the Green-gate, both of them drain into cesspools. Generally, there is one privy for every two houses, but in many instances there is only one for a much greater number. Some of them are very offensive.
    This district contains the grave-yard attached to the parish church; 80,090 persons have been buried in it.
    The railway has been, at once, a source of great benefit to this part of the parish, and of no slight evil. It has erased a great number of streets and alleys of the worst possible description, and thus effectually rid the parish of a cluster of houses containing a population ever paupers, ever sources of expense, through their sickness and mortality. But although it has thus removed a kind of property utterly unimprovable, it has produced considerable sources of disease in the [-35-] filth and dirt which are permitted to accumulate around the bases of most of the arches. The great traffic, likewise, from the goods depot, has broken up the streets and produced great uncleanness. On the whole, however, great benefit has arisen to this part of Bethnal-Green Parish by the passage of the railway through it. It is greatly to be deplored that a very great number of the houses which abut on it are in a most dilapidated, desolate, and wretched condition, and that no efficient steps are taken either to erase them, or to render them fit for habitation by human beings. In consequence of the numerous houses which have been taken down for the railway, and partly, perhaps, from the numerous officials employed by the Company, who require to reside near the terminus, a great demand has arisen for all kinds of houses, and of lodgings. I observed in all my travels through this district but two empty houses; these were two- roomed, and, doubtless, would speedily be occupied.
    The same streets, which, 10 years ago, were considered the most unhealthy, and which were remarkable for their great mortality from epidemics, at the present time exhibit the same causes of disease, and a similar high mortality. No improvement, worthy of the name, has been effected, though the lamentable facts of the great prevalence of disease and high mortality have long been notorious.
    The following illustrations are the records of my personal inspections of this district:-
    GRANBY-ROW, ABBEY-STREET, 1.-This row is west, and a continuation, of Thomas-passage, described in District, No. 2. The houses are situated eighteen inches below the level of the roadway, and are therefore very damp. The drainage is most imperfect, and unworthy of the name. There are dust-heaps and garbage-collections near most of the houses, and reeking dung-heaps close by the windows. One stand-tap supplies every three or four houses. This row is in the most abominable state of dirt and filth that can well he imagined. The path is most unequal, full of puddles of mud and filth, and nearly impassable. The centre gutter or surface drain is full and most filthy. The miserable yards in front of these houses are abominably filthy; the privies are full and offensive. The yards themselves are covered with open surface drains and shallow pools, full of offensive and foetid slimy mud. All kinds of slops and garbage are strewn everywhere on the surface. The houses are very wretched. This place was formerly called Botany Bay, as if to characterise a place where none hut those fit for extrusion from society could reside. Certainly if the name was intended to convey an idea of a place altogether beyond the bounds of civilisation it was extremely appropriate. The dwellings of the wretched persons who live here are as dirty internally as they are externally.
    DERBYSHIRE-ST., WEST, 2.-On this dirty street is thrown much garbage. The houses an the south side are two feet below the level of the road.
    RAMSEY-ST, 3.-The houses on the east side are much below the level of the road. The British Schools are situated here.
    WINCHESTER-PLACE, 4.-The yards at the back of the houses in this place, and between it and Chelsea-place, are in a perfectly beastly state. They are [-36-] covered with dung, refuse, and garbage heaps. The soil emits a most offensive smell.
    WINCHESTER CRESCENT, 5.-This is a very filthy court. The yards at the west side are bounded by a high and dead wall; those on the east side are excessively foul, in fact they are in a state resembling a pig-stye. The houses on both sides, are below the level of the pathway; 3s. and 4s. 6d. weekly are paid as rent. Some nine months ago the whole of the inhabitants of this court were ill of fever.
    WOOD-ST., 6.-This street is in a very filthycondition. At the north-eastern end is a cow-yard, in which there is a very large accumulation of pasty dung, boarded- up. The place is excessively dirty, and smells most offensively. From 40 to 50 cows are usually kept here.
    HARE-ST, 7.-This street is abominably dirty and foul; a condition which results from no imperfection of the street itself, as it is well paved and has a good roadway. The back yards of the houses here are in a most scandalous state. Let us take one as an example:-The back-yard of No. 79 is in a perfectly beastly state of filth; the privy is full, and smells most offensively. There is a large cess-pool in it, one part of which is only partially covered with boarding; the night-soil was lately removed from it, but the stench arising from it is still very great. In another part is a little puddle, or pond, of foetid semi-putrescent mud. A pig-stye has lately been removed, but the organic remains common to such places, are mixed up with the earth, and form a pasty mass spread over part of the sail. The wife of the present occupier lately died of fever, and his child recovered with great difficulty. None of the inhabitants are well; three cases of fever and one death were clearly traceable to the abominable filthiness of this place.
    HARE MARSH, 8.-On the north of the railway the footpaths are paved, and there is a granite roadway. Notwithstanding these favourable circumstances the street is abominally [-sic-] dirty and covered with mud and decaying garbage. Under the arch are accumulations of filth, but to the south of the railway the place is in a deplorably foul and desolate state. Four houses here present every mark of the extreme of dilapidation, decay, and wretched poverty; the backyards are perfect pig-styes, covered with mud, filth, and nastiness. One tap supplies three houses with water.
    ST. JOHN SRTEET, 9.-The arches of the railway, which x'tin along the south side of this street, are converted into stables for the horses employed by the railway company. This street is very dirty. At the "Fighting Cock," which is at the east corner of the street, forming part of Hare-street, seven persons were attacked with cholera, during the epidemic, who all died within three days. The roadway of this street is broken up, and in a very bad state; it is also thickly populated Dr. Smith said nine years ago, "Malignant fever has been remarkably prevalent, and has stalked from house to house;" the railroad, however, has taken down one entire side of the street. Fever, however, is still common in this street, which is one of the most unhealthy in the district.
    [-37-] THREE COLT CORNER, &c., 10.-This place is very dirty, garbage lies on all parts of the roadway.
    KNIGHTLY COURT, 11.-This court is in a very dilapidated state. In it there are two privies in a beastly state, full, and the contents flowing into the court. There is one dust reservoir. One stand-tap supplies the seven houses. The court at the further end of this court is quite unpaved, and in a nasty filthy state; two cases of severe typhus lately occurred here, one died. These wretched houses are let at 3s. 6d. per week.
    PETLEY-ST., 12.-The roadway is broken up and full of holes, and more resembles the remains of an ancient Roman road, than a modern roadway.
    FLEET-ST., 13.-This street is most abominably filthy, the gutters are full and partly cover the street with foetid, black, slimy mud; garbage is frequently thrown over its surface; the houses are elevated, consisting of several flats, with different families in each; the ventilation of the rooms is most imperfect, and the smell from them most disagreeable. It will be observed that fever and the other epidemics are rife in this dirty place. Horse-ride in Fleet- street, is very filthy.
    FLEET-ST. HILL, 14.-A great part of this place is most abominably filthy.
    FIEFS-COURT, 15.-For the 10 houses there is one dust-heap at the end of the court, the ashes and refuse of which continually slide down from the heap, and choke up the drain in this court, and cause a poo1 of fluid filth to stagnate, and defile the place. The houses are two-roomed, and let at 2s. 6d. a week.
    WILLIAM-ST., 16.-A very dirty gutter is in the centre of this street.
    BLACKBIRD-ALLEY, 17.-The archway No. 29 has deposited around it garbage and refuse, and is beastly dirty.
    COLLIER-COURT, LITTLE GEORGE-ST, 18.-The inhabitants of this little court take great pains and bestow much labour in attempting to keep it clean; but the loss of time and the labour necessary to keep it clean are greatly complained of. There is one privy, one tap, and one dust-bin common to the three houses, which are two-roomed. Rent 3s. a week.
    GREAT GEORGE-ST., 19.-In this street is a yard, containing stables and cow- sheds, which is very dirty, having much refuse on its surface.
    WHITE'S-COURT, GREAT GEORGE-ST., 20.-In this court are several dust and garbage-heaps; one tap is common to six, and another, to two houses.
    BUTLER'S-BUILDINGS, 21.-In this court, or alley, are eight, small, two-roomed houses, and two large houses with four or five rooms. There is one tap common to all, and one dust-heap; but there are eight privies, which are nearly full, and in a most filthy condition. The two larger houses are dark, close, and desolate- looking; three cases of fever occurred in them lately.
    PULLEN'S-BUILDINGS, 22.-Two only of the six houses in this alley are in -]³ethnabGreen parish. There is one dust-bin in common, and one tub to supply water; but, for some reason unknown to the inhabitants, the supply has been cut off from them by the Water Company, and they are now compelled to get it as they best can, and "from anybody" who will give it to them.
    [-38-] ANCHOR-ST., 23.-This street has just undergone the (nominal) process of cleansing, and presents an excellent example of the manner in which this work is gone about; the semi-fluid, black, foetid mud has been swept into the gutters, and chokes them up, a part being washed on to the foot-pavement; the slime still covers, in a tolerably thick layer, the surface of the street, and presents the most disgusting proofs of the abundance of vegetable and animal remains, which are mixed up and incorporated with the mud; the odour arising from this street is most offensive.
    At the foot of York-street, and leading from this street, is the archway referred to in my Lecture (p. 25). This archway extends for a very considerable distance, having been greatly prolonged by the additions lately made to the terminus. This passage is partly covered over with wooden cross-beams, but at the extremity two stone arches are placed at right angles to each other. The parish of Bethnal-green has a right of way here, which it would not yield to the Railway Company; the passage therefore remains. It is nearly perfectly dark, and is made use of by the public to deposit every kind of excremental refuge, garbage, and filth; animal and vegetable remains of all kinds are thrown there in every stage of decomposition. Last time I visited this horrid place I passed through it, but now it is so disgusting that I would not (accustomed even as I have been to every kind of offensive nuisance) advance beyond the threshold of it; the odour arising from this place is most offensive ;-it is absolutely necessary that this passage be shut up; in its present state it constitutes a most disgusting and abominable nuisance, alike destructive to health and offensive to every feeling of delicacy.
    LITTLE YORK-ST., 24.-This street is in the same condition as Anchor-street, equally filthy and abominable, and disgraceful to the authorities.
    LITTLE ANCHOR-ST., 25.-This street is in a similar condition to the foregoing, with the exception that mud-heaps are piled on it every few yards; in it there is a large yard in a most filthy state; stabling-sheds for carts cover the ground.
    CLUB-ROW, 26.-This street is in a perfectly beastly condition, and resembles the surface of a pig-stye more than a roadway made for the accommodation and traffic of civilized beings; on it are scattered heaps of garbage and collections of mud. The roadway itself is much broken up, so that to journey over it in any vehicle produces the most painful and distressing jolting.
    BACON-ST., 27.-This street is very filthy; garbage is strown an the surface, and mud-heaps occur every few yards; in it there is a cow-yard, with the usual collection of putrescent animal and vegetable refuse. This street has long possessed a disgraceful notoriety for its dirty state, and the prevalence of disease in it.
    SWAN-ST., 28.-This street is an abomination, its condition utterly disgraceful, and greatly to be reprehended. The effects of such a condition of things are manifested in the fact that the parochial medical officer receives more orders for attendance upon the sick here than he does for any other place ill his district. [-39-] Swan-street is densely crowded, and celebrated for its unhealthiness and its high mortality.
    SWAN-COURT, 29.-This court, like the street from which it derives its name, is abominably filthy; there are three open privies belonging to it, they are full, and most disgusting; there are, likewise, two more privies situated in the court, but they do not belong to it. Dust-heaps, ordure, and garbage are scattered about, as are also shallow pools of liquid foetid filth. The houses convey the impression of desolation; the surface, that of great moral debasement and degradation among the occupants; the whole locality, that of wretchedness and misery, and disease. The medical officer at one time attended here six cases of fever, being all the occupants of one room; they all lay in one bed. He also attended in another house, at the same time, three cases of small-pox, two of which died, and a case of jaundice. All this disease was mainly attributable to the impure atmosphere.
    LITTLE BACON-ST., 30.-This street is in an equally beastly condition with Club-row (vide 26), the description of which perfectly applies to it.
    BUSBY-SQUARE, 31.-This square is perfectly dirty; the houses are two feet below the level of the court-yard; there are two privies in it, which are full, and one dust and garbage-heap; there is likewise one tap for the supply of water.
    BUSBY-COURT, 32.-The houses here are two feet below the level of the yard, and are very damp. One tap supplies five houses; there is a privy to each house, which is emptied once a year. The inhabitants think this an unexampled instance of cleanliness, and consider "they would be very well off, if things were always as comfortably managed."
    GRANBY-ROW, JAMES-ST., 33.-The houses here are below the level of the footpath, which is clean-a most unusual occurrence. In front of these houses is an open space, consisting of the back yards of the adjoining houses; in this space are eight open privies.-This description contrasts most favourably with that of Dr. Southwood Smith, published nine years ago.
    EDWARD-ST., 34.-To these houses there are three privies attached; one tap, and one dust and garbage-heap; the houses are two-roomed, and rented at 3s. 6d. per week.

[-40-]

[-41-]

[-42-] DISTRICT, No.4.

THIS district exceeds all those which have gone before it in filth, disease, mortality, poverty, and wretchedness; it abounds with the most foul courts, and is characterised by the prevalence of the greatest nuisances, and perennial foulness. Unlike the last district, there are several gardens in it resembling those already described, but infinitely surpassing them in everything degrading to our civilization. For many years this district has been notorious as the hot-bed of epidemics. This is easily explained, when the foulness of the streets, the dense crowding in some parts, and the nearly total absence of drainage and house-cleansing, are considered. The drainage, in fact, is characteristic of primitive barbarism; the drains are very near the surface, and some of the houses are built over them; the streets are perpetually covered with the most offensive foetid mud; the population is very dense, as many as 30 persons residing in a single house- 57 houses had a population of 580 persons. In about half a mile square of these houses and streets 30,000 persons are congregated; the houses are generally of the worst class, and four-roomed, but great numbers resemble, in many respects, those in the worst parts of the Old Town of Edinburgh-a class of houses common to the French, and which they were the cause of introducing into both places. The houses built by the French refugees are all several storied, and have large rooms on each floor, with a common staircase; the houses are, without exception, let out in rooms; each room contains a family, with a bed common to all; generally it is a work-room as well as a dwelling-room. Ventilation in these rooms is in the most defective state; the atmosphere is most oppressive, and loaded with unhealthy emanations; it is a common practice to retain the foecal remains in the rooms, in order to avoid exposure, and the perfect nastiness of, the common privies. The parochial medical officer has not seen, and does not know of, one water- closet in the whole district. All the tenements in Greengate-gardens are unfit for human habitation; they are much under the level of the neighbouring road, and are very damp; they smell most offensively. There are great numbers of low public-houses and beer-shops in this district; all these are crowded with lodgers, and thus become great nuisances, and sources of disease and immorality. Since several streets have been pulled down by the Railway Company, there has been much overcrowding; so much so, that not a habitation or lodging can be had in the neighbourhood, and some persons are, even now, in opposition to the law, residing in cellars, because they can find no place else to reside. The poor inhabitants generally prefer any kind of abode to the workhouse. The occupations of the inhabitants are chiefly weaving and shoe-making; hawkers, toy-makers, and cabinet-makers, abound here, and the women wind silk and cotton. Those small manufactures which are carried on here are chiefly prepared in the prospect of being sold to the ready-money shops, or on speculation. The earnings of the population of this district are very low and precarious, their habits most irregular, and generally intemperate-ta-day an unexpected "stroke of luck" supplies [-43-] them with means to indulge their appetites with dainties and abundance-tomorrow sees them deprived of the most inferior kinds of sustenance. No pru-[-sic-] or forethought prevents them from living on the best, when they can, or restrains their ill-regulated appetites. Their common food consists of potatoes and bread, and butcher's meat of a very inferior quality. Numerous chandlers' shops are in the habit of supplying this inferior kind of food, and of receiving goods as pledges for its payment; these pledges are sold at the end of a month, if unredeemed. Moral debasement and physical decay, naturally enough, accompany the utter defiance of all the laws of health, and the complete disregard of all the characteristics of civilization. Such a population always supply our courts with criminals, our gaols with convicts, our charities with paupers, and our hospitals with the sick and diseased; and impoverish the honest, labouring poor, by the heavy poor-rates to which they give rise.
    WILLOW-WALK, 1.-There is one stand-tap to four houses in this court, but there is no receptacle for refuse; there is a cow-shed in it. The houses are two- roomed, and let at 3s. a week. None of the inhabitants earn 10s. a week.
    GREENGATE-GARDENS, 2, 3.-These gardens are divided into "three walks;" the first, the middle, and third. The first contains eight houses, which are in a most wretched condition, planted on the clay, and without drainage of any kind. One of them has a cesspool, which is not emptied more than once in three years; the others have three privies, which are full, and most disgustingly offensive. The houses contain two rooms on the ground floor, and are let at 3s. 6d. per week. The average earnings of the inhabitants are 6s. per week. One water-tap is common to five houses; three houses are without any water supply, and the occupants require to obtain it at the "Green-Gate" public-house. In the middle walk the greatest dirtiness and filthiness prevail; all the privies are full, and have not been emptied for at least four years; many are overflowing, and the contents spread over the yard; all kinds of refuse and garbage are thrown in front of the houses, for want of dust-bins; holes are dug in the earth to receive the slops; collections of dung and manure abound in some places. 2s. 6d. a week are paid for these houses, and the average earnings are 6s. per week. The third walk is still more filthy than the rest; excrements are scattered about, all the privies are full and overflowing, and the soil desiccating in the sun. One stand-pipe, beside a dung-heap, is the only means by which 30 houses are supplied with water; of course quarrels for precedence and to ensure a supply are common. The whole of these gardens are in a condition alike disgusting and disgraceful. Being private property, they are never cleansed by the parish, but are left in a perpetual state of dirt and nastiness; they are excessively damp, and most noisome. The tenements, as has been remarked, are unfit for human habitation; disease is always common here; some of the worst cases of typhus fever were removed from this locality to the workhouse.
    STROUT-PLACE, 4.-This place is always very dirty, from cattle going and returning to a cow-shed, the smell from which is frequently very offensive, and is much complained of.
    [-44-] CRESCENT-PLACE, 5.-One pump in the centre of the crescent, communicating with a sunk tank supplied from the main, supplies all the 25 houses.
    SOMERSET-BUILDINGS, 6.-The drainage is imperfect, the drains being stopped. A tap supplies every two houses, which are two and three-roomed.
    CRABTREE-ROW, 7.-The privies at the back of Somerset-buildings abut on the street, and are only separated by a boarding; the surface drainage flows into street-gutter, and stagnates there, and the soil from the privies oozes into the main road. At the south-end of these buildings all kinds of garbage, putrefying remains of fish, and every kind of refuse, are deposited by the public, to the great annoyance and injury of the occupants. Opposite to this row there is a very large triangular open space, which has been made by the removal of numerous gardens and houses similar to those described under the head of Greengate-gardens - a removal at once beneficial to the neighbourhood and the occupants, as it is the only open space in this densely-populated district. But although the houses have been swept from the ground, the holes attached to the privies and cesspools were only partially filled up; a considerable quantity of night-soil, therefore, remains mixed up with the ground and refuse on the surface; in addition, being waste ground, and quite open, it is largely made use of to deposit all kinds of dirt, garbage, and excrementitious matter, which are allowed to dry in the sun. After rain (which stagnates on account of the level), and in warm weather, a very offensive odour arises from this place; it is greatly complained of in the neighbourhood as a resort for all the reprobate characters in the vicinity on Sundays, who there gamble, fight, and indulge in all kinds of indecencies and immoralities. The passers-by on Sundays are always sure to be subjected to outrage in their feelings, and often in their persons. The enclosing of the space would be considered "a great blessing."
    TRAFALGAR-PLACE, NICHOLS-ROW, 9.-Tn this street the privy and the water- barrel are in juxta-position. Water is laid on to each house, A quantity of refuse of every description is piled against the wall in front; the surface-drains are choked up, and the place, consequently, very dirty.
    AUSTIN-ST., 10.-This street is one of the filthiest in the metropolis, and is contiguous to Shoreditch Church-yard. There is a new cow-yard in it, which is very clean.
    OLD CASTLE-ST., 11.-Garbage is thrown all about the street, there to decompose.
    OLD CASTLE-COURT, 12.-This court is abominably filthy; it has never been cleaned in 16 or 17 months; the yard and gutters are full of fmtid fluid, arising from the drainage of collections of garbage and foul heaps, and from the inundations of the overflowing privies. 5s. 9d are paid for these dilapidated three-roomed houses. Ten houses, containing 28 families, have two stand-pipes in the yard to supply them with water. The inhabitants complained loudly, deeply and bitterly, of the state of their court, and would willingly contribute 4d. per week for relief.
    SWEET APPLE-COURT, 13.-The gutter in the centre of this court was very [-45-] filthy; garbage was strewn about, the privies were quite full and dilapidated. Each house has water supplied to it, but by a cock let through the wall; and as the house is parcelled out, whenever the person who inhabits the first floor is from home, and the door therefore locked, no one can procure water. This may happen when the water is on, and a great difficulty in obtaining it may thence arise. From the dripping of the water-pipe the place had become damp, and on opening the door, a horrid odour of nastiness, like putrid paste, was found to pervade the room.
    BAKER'S-COURT, VIRGINIA-ROW, l4.-Pig-styes and donkeys are here; they create an offensive nuisance.
    MINING'S-PLACE, MOUNT-ST., 15.-There is no dust-bin, but there are piles of refuse. There are two privies to the eight houses; they are overflowing, and most filthy. A large cesspool, covered by a board, is in the centre of this little court. Excrements are strewn about. There is no supply of water for these eight houses.
    COLLINGWOOD-PLACE, 16.-In one of the houses in this place, formerly No. 13, Mount, which is two-roomed, about 8 feet high, and 8 by 9½ feet in length and breadth, and 4 feet below the level of the street, I found a family of six persons, who all slept in one (the front room), the other being very damp. The man's name was Johnston. His wife was dangerously ill of typhoid erysipelas on the miserable bed, on which the whole family usually slept. The rest of the family therefore had to sleep on the bare boards, in the same room with the sufferer, thus further defiling the impure atmosphere of this dark and damp abode of helpless poverty, 1s. 6d. a week was the rent; yet the husband's peculiar trade failing him, he had, for a considerable time, been unable to earn more than 1s. a week; they were, therefore, all starving. Nevertheless, in the belief that he would get work next week, he would not consent to place himself and his four children in the workhouse, the only terms upon which, even in her most dangerous condition, his wife could be admitted into the workhouse. Nine years ago, Dr. Smith recorded the fact, that out of seven houses in this court, fever had prevailed in five, and that in No. 6, six persons had been attacked. Here, then, nine years after it has been put on record that this place is a disgraceful nuisance - that it is a den of pestilence - do we still find all the elements of the disease rank and rife -still do we find the connection  between filth and fever made apparent by the suffering of the unhappy occupants. The privies attached to this place were full and most offensive. There was no dust-bin, but heaps of garbage and refuse were scattered about. In this place ten houses have one water-tap; two privies are common to seven houses; they were full and most disgusting. The houses, as already mentioned, are two-roomed; they are let at 2s. 6d. a week. Where two families reside in one house, 3s. is the rent. There are thirteen families in the ten houses.
    LITTLE COLLINGWOOD-ST., 17.-There are collections of mud and filth here. One tap supplies two houses. 
    [-46-] NELSON-ST., 18.-In this street is a cow-yard; there are also dung-heaps. The privies are also full and offensive.
    BROADWAY, AUSTIN-ST., 20.-Collections of garbage are on the streets, and all kinds of decomposing vegetable refuse.
    BOUNDARY-ST., 21.-In this street there are most offensive smells from tripe- boiling, from collections of old bones from marine-store shops, and from tallow- melting, carried on in the adjoining parish of Shoreditch.
    HALT NICHOL-ST., 22.-On the surface of this street were bountifully strewn all kinds of dust, dirt, refuse, and garbage. It is not cleansed more than once in three weeks or a month; and though cleansed (nominally) only last week, it was as filthy and dirty as if apparently it had not been cleansed for months. This state of very many of the streets arises not only from the extreme want of accommodation for storing refuse till the dustman shall remove it, but from the dust contractor utterly neglecting to remove it. The inhabitants, therefore, in order to get rid of all their refuse, solid as well as fluid, are compelled to throw it on the streets, there to putrefy and be mixed up with the mud. In consequence of the free exposure of the animal and vegetable remains in a pasty state to the sun, the muddy compost becomes most offensive to the smell, and a constant cause of disease and death to the inhabitants. Invariably, wherever such filthy streets are found, so likewise are fever and the other zymotic diseases. Loud complaints were made to me that the only way to get rid of the refuse was to throw it on the streets, as the dustmen would not take it away unless paid for so doing. The inhabitants of this street complained bitterly that "the people in it never died a natural death, but were murdered by the fever." In the back yards of No. 21 in this street the soakage from the neighbouring privies had permeated through the wall, infiltrated it, and spread itself over the yard, where the offensive foetid soil was covered over, and as it were dammed up by collections of dust, cinders, and refuse. The poor-rate collector complained of this place as a great nuisance.
    SHORT-ST., &c., 23.-On this street are collections of garbage, &c.
    NICHOL'S-ROW, 24.-A cellar here serves at once for a dust-bin and a privy. The yards were filthy, and filled with refuse.
    MEAD-ST., 25.-In this street alone, in the whole district, was there a good fall of water in the gutters. Garbage and refuse of all kinds were liberally strewn on the street. The gully-holes emitted the most offensive odours. The privies in this street are generally full and overflowing.
    TURVILLE-ST., 26.-On this street, likewise, garbage and refuse are abundantly distributed; the street itself is most dirty.
    TURVILLE-BUILDINGS, 27.-Collections of dust, dirt, and refuse and vegetable remains are here. The inhabitants stated that, on account of the landlord being in debt to the water-company, ten houses were deprived of their supply of water. Eight houses are at present without any supply. Two privies are common to three houses, and one privy is common to seven houses; they are all nasty, and horribly offensive.
    [-47-] GEORGE-TERRACE, TURVILLE-ST., 28.-There is one dust-heap, and one stand-pipe to supply water, common to five houses. The cock is cut off, and when the water comes on it continues to run and deluge the place.
    THOMAS-PLACE, OLD NICHOL-ST, 30.-The privies are close to the houses, and the smell is offensive.
    SHEPHERD'S-COURT, OLD NICHOL-ST., 31.-This court is excessively dirty, and foul; the privies are confined and dirty; excrements are scattered abroad.
    MAIDSTONE-PLACE, OLD NICHOL-ST., 32.-There is a quantity of refuse collected here, and the place is very wet.
    DEVONSHIRE-PLACE, OLD NICHOL-ST., 33.-One tap in a small court out of this place supplies the nine houses. In this court there is a refuse-heap.
    NEW NICHOL-ST., 34.-The roadway is in a most dilapidated condition and most disgusting, from the surface being covered with refuse, garbage, mud, &c.
    NEW COURT, NEW NICHOL-ST., 35.-This is a narrow confined court, supplied with one dust-bin, and a privy, for every two houses. The water runs from a stand-tap into a long, narrow, open tank, which is next to the privy. There is also another open privy common to three houses, and opposite to it a barrel containing water.
    SHACKLEWELL-ST., 36.-This is a narrow street containing a great number of inhabitants. Near to the entrance of this street, and within a yard, there is a considerable collection of dung, &c. There are twenty-six houses at the further end of this street; at the south-west end one tap is common to four houses; at the north side, in consequence of a quarrel between the landlords and the water company, eleven houses have been deprived of their supply of water. The back yards to these houses are 2½ feet deep by the frontage. In them are the privies, most of the privies are full and offensive. These houses are situated within a few feet south of Gibraltar Chapel grave-yard. On entering No. 23 the smell was most offensive, and was compared to that from a close confined vault in which the dead had long been retained. It seemed to me, however, to arise from some foul drain below the floor of the house. Be that as it may, decomposition takes place very rapidly in this street; meat becomes speedily tainted, and leather becomes covered with a green mould, even in one night. 3s. 6d. and 4s. a week are paid for these two-roomed houses. 12s. appears to be the extreme of the weekly earnings of the inhabitants; it was stated that not one earned 14s. a week. Sir James Tyrrell is the ground landlord of this street. Since the property has come into his possession no remedies have been applied to the discreditable condition of things which exists here, and has continued so long as to be a bye-word and a reproach.
    ROSE-ST., 37.-A slaughter-house here is complained of as a great nuisance; there is likewise a stable with collections of dung.
    TURK-ST., 38.-This street presents another instance of the abominable nuisances which exist in London. A nightman has here formed a yard, where he has piled mountains of filth, dust, dirt, and ashes, mixed with decaying animal and vegetable remains and manure of all kinds. These are classified into [-48-] separate little hills, and are piled as high as the houses, and cover a very large space of ground. The continual additions which are daily made to this enormous accumulation, and the sifting and the sorting of it, cause the loose particles on the surface to be wafted by each wind over the surrounding neighbour hood, to be deposited on the streets and in the houses, and to defile the air breathed by the inhabitants. This enormous depository of garbage and manure serves as a source whence to supply the neighbouring counties. From twenty five miles round do the farmers send their carts to this yard to obtain that manure which, while on their fields, it serves to enrich the soil, in the midst of this dense poor and squalid population sows the seed of disease and death, and thus further impoverishes the wretched poor.
    ROSE-PLACE, TURK-ST, 39.--This is a filthy court; a collection of dust is piled against a wall. The ground is most dirty, and covered with foetid mud, which flows into a large hole or old cesspool, covered by a piece of board. No water is supplied to this den of nastiness. 2s. 3d. a week are paid as rent.
    ALBION-PLACE, 40.-This place is very dirty; there is a dust and dirt heap; one stand-tap supplies seven houses. The gardens at the back of Turk-street are disgracefully filthy. 3s. 6d. a week are paid for the two-roomed houses in this court. The occupier of the one I inquired at has not earned 4s. a week for the last five months.
    PROVIDENCE-PLACE, DUKE-ST., 41.-One privy, one tap, and one dust. heap are common to the eight houses.
    PRINCES-COURT, VIRGINIA-ROW, 42.-This court is very dirty, owing to the insufficient drainage into Princes-place. When the surface-drain is stopped up (which frequently happens), and more especially when heavy rains fall, the six north-western houses are flooded with foetid water, to a depth of four or five inches. The back yards of the houses in this court are not more than one yard square, excluding a privy. The six houses referred to, and two in Princes-place, are supplied with water from a stand-tap at one end of the court; the other fourteen houses are supplied from another tap at the other end. 2s. 6d. a week are paid for these two-roomed houses, the inhabitants of which earn 3s., 10s., or 12s. a week.
    HEPWORTH-PLACE, FOUNTAIN-ALLEY, 43.-This court is in a most disgraceful and disgusting condition. It is below the level of the alley which leads to it; there is no drainage whatever. The foetid fluid which ever covers its surface (receiving the soakage of the dust-heaps in the centre, and dissolving the vegetable and animal refuse lying about), whenever the rain falls, pours itself into the houses on the northern side, and inudates [-sic-] them. The privies closely attached to the back walls, permit their contents to infiltrate, and soak through, the walls of the houses, and to defile the lower rooms. One tap in the centre of the court is common to the fifteen houses of two rooms, of which the court is made up. 3s. a week are paid for the houses, and the inhabitants earn, on an average, from 12s. to 15s. a week.
    PIERCES-PLACE, FOUNTAIN-ALLEY, 44.-This court is in a very filthy [-49-] dirty state, and is covered with water. When the weather becomes wet, the houses are inundated with foetid filth. There is a stable at the end; manure is kept there. There is one tap to supply water, one or two collections of dust and garbage, and a privy, in a most beastly state, pouring its contents upon the surface of the dirty yard.
    THOMAS-PLACE, OLD NICHOL-ST., 45.-In this place there is a large collection of decomposing foetid manure, and pultaceous refuse; it remains for a month before it is removed, again to be replaced.
    SEVEN-STEP-COURT, CRABTREE-ROW, 46.-The four houses in this court, (like an immense number of the houses of the poor in this district), are unfit habitations for human beings. There is a putrid pool in the centre of the court, owing to the drain being choked up. The court is beastly dirty; there are dust heaps, one stand-tap, and one full and offensive privy in it.
    WEATHERHEAD-GARDENS, 47.-The houses in these filthy gardens are in a most dilapidated condition; they have two rooms on the ground floor. The gardens, as they are termed, are considerably below the level of Crabtree-row; there is no drainage whatever. Collections of dust and garbage are near every dwelling-house; and the privies, though lately emptied, are very filthy; the whole place is very damp and excessively dirty, and conveys the impression of the utter absence of every social comfort. The entrance from Austin-street, called Hole-in-the-Wall, is abominably filthy. These gardens, and their approaches, like the other gardens in this parish, in wet weather are in the dirtiest state possible. Their dirty condition and the dilapidated dwellings correspond well with the character of the occupants, who are said to be thieves, gamblers, smashers, and vagabonds. 2s. 6d. a week are paid as rent; one stand-tap supplies twenty-two houses.
    WELLS-COURT, CLARENCE-PLACE, 48.-This court is very filthy; there is one tap in it. Some dust-heaps, and a great stench from a dung-heap, and from the manure in the neighbouring dairy are observable.
    STROUT-PLACE, 49.-Three of the houses, which are two-roomed, lead into Smith's place; these have two common privies, and, as usual, they are full; dust-heaps and garbage are attached to each house. To these houses and to 
    SMITH'S-PLACE, &c., 50.-Eighteen two-roomed houses in this place, there is one stand-tap, with a small wooden tank to supply water; the tank itself was uncovered, and received, besides the impurities deposited from the atmosphere, the remains of fish and other refuse. Whenever the dust and garbage heaps, common to each house, are being removed, or receive additions, some of those particles which are suspended in the air unavoidably fall into the open tank. It is unnecessary here to speak of the deterioration of the water from the absorption of foul air, from privies, &c. In another court, in this place, four similar houses have a gutter in the centre of the court, full of foetid refuse, a heap of dust, ashes, and garbage, and a dirty offensive privy. There is another court, in this place, containing eight houses; here there is a large collection of ashes and garbage, and a stagnant foetid pool, arising from imperfect drainage. There is [-50-] a stand-tap common to each two houses; but from there being no cock, when the water comes on, the place is flooded, and the refuse, mixed up into a paste, is spread over the surface of the yard, there to desiccate, and produce fever. The privies, here, are full and offensive; the houses themselves are so damp as to be uninhabitable on the ground-floor; two of the houses are two feet below the level of the court, so that when the water comes on, or after heavy rains, the floors of the lower rooms are inundated. It need scarcely be added that rheumatism and fever are common.
    SMITH'S-BUILDINGS. 51.-There is a stable here, and of course dung. heaps, &c.
    GIBRALTAR-WALK, 52.-Upon this street refuse and garbage are continually being thrown. All the slops of this, and a majority, I might almost say the whole, of the houses of this district, are thrown upon the streets; these remain on the surface, and become thoroughly incorporated with the mud, forming a thick, semi-pultaceous black foetid mass. When the streets are cleansed, this matter is swept with brushes into the centre of the street, to remain in a heap till the cart shall come, into which it is to be thrown. As these streets are very imperfectly paved, a very considerable quantity of this putrid refuse still remains on the surface, and in the hollows between the boulder-stones. The first shower of rain washes this mud up, and renders the streets as filthy as if they had not been cleansed for months. The odour of these streets is always most offensive and disgusting. Near the southern end of this filthy walk are two gully-holes, which constantly emit the most abominable stenches, and give rise to fever in their neighbourhood.
    BRENAN'S-PLACE, GIBRALTAR-WALK, 53.-The whole place is very filthy; excrements are strewn over the surface; there is no water laid on.
    NORTON'S- GARDENS, GIBRALTAR-WALK, 54.-The drainage here is very insufficient, even though there is a sewer but a few yards from it; the place is very damp, and the soil dirty; there are no back yards to the houses; the privies are emptied about once a year, and are usually full and offensive. One open wooden tank in a state of decay, and covered with green mould, supplies these six houses, and six others situated in front, with water. The rent is 3s. 6d. a week; the average earnings of the occupants are l0s.
    GIBRALTAR-PLACE, 55.-This place is gravelled in front, and has a good fall, so as always to be clean; the chapel and Sunday schools and a large burying-ground are here
    GIBRALTAR-GARDENS, 56.-The yards in front of these houses are partly very filthy; to the seventeen houses there is but one stand-tap.
    THOROLD-SQ., 57.-This is a very filthy but open square of twenty-two dilapidated houses; the gutters are full of foetid fluid; the clay-soil is covered, in many parts, by water, and the whole surface is muddy. Around the square are collections of garbage, and heaps of dust and ashes; the privies are full and offensive. It is stated that the dustman never comes to remove the refuse though repeatedly applied to. The houses are four-roomed, and are let to two [-51-] families; for the ground-floor 3s. a week is the rent, for the floor above, 3s. 6d The water is supplied to this court from a sunk tank communicating with the main. A pump in the centre of the square raises the water when wanted.
    NEW TYSSEN-ST., 58.-This Street is in process of paving, but is as present in a most abominable state of dirt. No.- in this street has afforded an excellent illustration of the interest which is taken by the proprietors of small tenements to preserve their property from decay, and their tenants from disease. Not tlll [-sic-] the one has become dilapidated, and the other profitless, do they manifest that interest which it is their moral duty to display, and the neglect of which is entailing uepon [-sic-] a squalid population disease, premature decay, poverty, immorality, and irreligion. Five persons occupied this dwelling, and were successively attacked with fever; they were all removed to the workhouse. Two other persons again occupied the dwelling, and in turn succumbed to the insidious poison which haunted it; they likewise were removed to the fever wards of the workhouse. Again, a third family of two persons made their home in this place, and again the potent poison manifested its power, and prostrated the occupants with loathsome fever - again did the workhouse receive the victims of disgraceful negligence and cruel apathy. Then, and not till then, was the foul and filthy cesspool emptied, and the drains, choked with solid filth, half cleansed; and when the work was done, and the foul smells still hung about the place, indicating the persistence of the poisonous agency, another family instantly, and in complete ignorance of the calamity impending over them, occupied the thrice- stricken abode.
    GARDEN-PLACE, HOPE-TOWN, 59.-This place is in a lamentable condition; a narrow alley or lane separates the houses on either side; there is no drainage; therefore the place is damp and dirty. There are the usual collections of dust, ashes, and garbage; the privies are full, and many are most offensive. In one (No. 8) the surface-drain (a wooden one) from the cesspool of No. 29, New Tyssen-street, which is immediately behind it, runs right below the wooden floor, which is rotten in Some parts; 15 inches deep by 10 broad of half-dried foecal matter were contained in it; the house itself was damp. The influence upon health of such a nuisance is illustrated in the remarks upon New Tyssen-street. It is utterly impossible that any population can be healthy in such a locality.
    GOSSETT-ST., 60.-This street is so muddy, and so cut up, that the footpath is a quagmire, and the roadway impassable.
    REFORM-SQ., MOUNT-ST., 61.-This is one of the cleanest courts in the district; besides a dust-heap in a corner, there are two privies, which are nearly full; there is one water-pipe without a cock to the six houses. As the court, however, is paved, the run of water from the open pipe, when it comes on, is very useful in cleansing the drain in the court.
    LENHAM-BUILDINGS, MOUNT-ST., 62.-There is a dust-heap here; one pipe without a cock supplies seven houses.
    [-52-] MOUNT-SQ., 63.-The whole place is very dirty indeed; there are two privies in a beastly condition, and a refuse-heap in a recess in the back yard. The houses here are two-roomed, one above the other; the place is dark and dismal. One pipe without a cock supplies the place with water. A slaughter-house abuts - on this square, the smell from which is complained of by the inhabitants as most dreadful and scarcely endurable; the blood of the slaughtered animals is stated to be retained in holes for a week or a fortnight together; the untrapped drain in - the centre of the square likewise, occasionally, creates most offensive smells. At I least a dozen cases of fever have been attended by the parochial medical officer in this court during the last twelve months, besides scarlet fever, &c. Nine years ago; a similar story was told by Dr. Smith. He then stated, on the authourity of the then parochial medical officer, that seven persons were attacked in succession in No. 2, six in No. 3; in the next house three, and in the next one. - For nine years, then, at least, has this court continued to do its work in poisoning by fever the unfortunate poor who ignorantly take up their abode in this nest of fever. How long shall it be permitted thus to injure the health and destroy the lives of its occupants?
    TURVILLE-PL., 64.-There is one stand-pipe, with stop-cock, for the whole court.
    ROOK'S-FL., GIBRALTAR-WALK, 65.-In this place is a very extensive contractor's yard; as about 100 horses are kept in this yard, very considerable accumulations of manure take place, which are not regularly removed; two enormous cart-loadsfull were being removed at the time of my visit. The place is dirty; five families reside in this yard; by its side is the nuisance referred to under the head of Turk-street, 39.
    COTTAGE-PL., SATCHWELL-RENTS, 66.-Here there are one stand-tap to three houses, and a refuse-heap.
    MOUNT-PL., 67.-Here there is a dust-heap; one stand-tap is outside, and - three taps are in the cupboards of the houses, which render them damp; the privies are full.

[-53-] 

[-54-]

[-55-]

[-56-] DISTRICT, No. 5.

This district is by far the most respectable of the five medical parochial districts. It contains the main road and the streets branching from it. The unhealthiest parts are Cambridge Circus, Chapman's-gardens, Bath-street, and part of Old Bethnal Green-road; there are no nuisances in it except the remarkable one referred to under the head of Anne's-place; the drainage in the best part is pretty good, though still capable of great improvement,-there are comparatively few weavers occupying this district. These two elements tend to reduce the mortality and amount of disease; the remarkable exemption of the chief parts of this district from fever and the other epidemic diseases, is no doubt to be attributed to the comparative cleanliness and good drainage; this last is chiefly to be attributed to the natural levels of the district. Great complaints however arise in consequence of part of the main road being unprovided with a sewer. Some of the best houses in the district are thus compelled to have privies and cesspools greatly against the inclination of the occupants. Several of the parties residing in this unsewered part of the road, were Commissioners of Sewers, but could never induce that obstructive, overbearing body to attend to their wants. The new houses built in Peter-street and Elizabeth-place, are very well drained and are supplied with water-closets. A thing so extremely rare as to be worthy of observation, probably there are more water closets attached to these few houses, than there are in all the other thousands of houses in the parish.
    ANN'S-PLACE, 1.-Leading from it to the space near the canal, is an open field, where there are several open foul drains and ditches.
    Since the delivery of my Lecture, the following nuisance has become established in this place. Between the canal and the back of St. Matthew's-place, Hackney. road, entering from Anne's-place, a nightman has formed reservoirs for every conceivable kind of filth. One covers a triangular space of ground, the sides of which respectively measure 177, 126, and 114 feet the dung, refuse, filth, are piled up to a considerable height, except where the contents of the cesspools are thrown. By the side of this triangle, leading from Anne's-place, there is a ditch, filled with most offensive and putrid matters, precisely the same as in Lamb's-fields; it is about 390 feet long, and varies from three to sixteen feet in width. At a right angle there branches from it a smaller, but equally filthy ditch, about 300 yards long. Where these filthy ditches meet they form a broad moat round a hillock of refuse, the matter of which, sliding into the moat, affords a constant supply of material to keep up offensive and destructive decomposition. In taking notice of this frightful and pestilential nuisance, I have not taken into consideration two or three mountainous heaps of ashes, cinders, &c., which are not positively offensive and noxious ; the odour given off from this place is beyond conception disgusting-it spreads to a great distance, and is complained of by all as an intolerable nuisance. * (* ANN'S PLACE, 1.-While passing this sheet through the press, I again visited the nuisance in Ann's-place, and found that considerable Changes had very recently been effected. Such nuisances are, in truth, generally in a transition state. The manure has been shipped in barges, a great part of the ditches has been filled up, and the refuse sorted into matter for burning, and for making bricks. A filthy open privy with the excreta draining into a ditch, presents a very repulsive aspect. The manure is now, I was told by a workman, chiefly sent to a depôt of his master's in Worship-street. The neighbourhood complains greatly of the. constant transit of wagons of filth.)
    [-57-] No one, I believe, whatever maybe their opinion as to the nuisance in St. Luke's which lately came under judicial interference, could possibly doubt that such enormous heaps of decaying animal and vegetable remains must prove injurious to health. The senses revolt, the feelings are roused with indignation and depressed by despair, when such atrocities are seen perpetrated in the very face of society. The laws which imprison and transport for petty theft, view with calm indifference this wholesale, barefaced, and violent robbery of the health of communities. People, helpless and impotent, cry out in puerile indignation against such abominable and pestilential conservations of refuse; but, the sordid gainers, firm and entrenched in the strongholds of legal quirks, and laxity, and the astounding indifference of governmental and local authorities, set their feeble cries of suffering and despair at defiance.
    The existence of these nuisances in Bethnal Green, so long after the passing of Lord Morpeth's Act for "the removal of nuisances," clearly indicates that the task of their suppression must be laid upon some public functionary.
    CHAPMAN'S-GARDEN'S, CAROLINE-PLACE, AND QUEEN CAROLINE-PLACE, 2 - A the foot of Seabright-street, and in these gardens, there is a stable and pig-stye, which usually emits a most offensive smell; the dung is stored and laid on the surface of the neighbouring damp, and totally undrained, plots of ground; sometimes it is dug into the ground. There are 20 houses comprised in these gardens, three of which have water laid on, the remaining 17 require to obtain it from a common stand-pipe, the cock of which has been cut off. When the water comes on, therefore, it is allowed to run till turned off from the main; the narrow footpath is thereby flooded, and the road made miry. In wet weather the whole of this place is very dirty; the houses are necessarily very damp. Queen Caroline-place, and Caroline-place, are the southern part of these gardens, and entered by a distinct lane, the houses here (with the exception of two which are good, in the best the owner of the other houses live) are of the same description as those in Gale's and George-gardens. Most of the houses have a separate supply of water; some, however, have only one pipe common to two; barrels sunk into the ground receive the water in some instances. The privies are full, and drain into a cesspool close by them - In the house I entered the cesspool was kept uncovered, in order to allow the smell to escape, in the belief that the drainage was promoted by the access of air ; the drainage of these houses consists of a four inch brick drain, generally dilapidated and broken down,-and frequently stopped up; the place is complained of, as being grievously damp.
    PAIN'S-GARDENS, 3.-A, court containing seven houses inhabited by weavers. One house has no water supply, the occupants therefore, beg or steal it ; there are three taps to the other six houses, the privies are dilapidated, full, and most offensive. There is no drainage whatever, its want is greatly complained of; £12 a year are paid for each of these dirty houses which has a work-room above and two small rooms below. Disease is exceedingly rife in this filthy place.
    TEALE-ST., 4.-Behind this row of houses and in process of being filled up, is a very deep and very extensive hollow, the result of an excavation for clay, to [-58-] make bricks, made more than twenty years ago. Into this hole all the small drains of the neighbourhood lead; every kind of refuse is thrown into it, eight privies empty their contents into it, and dead animals putrefy there; the smell from this place is most offensive and disgusting; next to Lamb's-fields this nuisance is (or rather was) one of the most vile. A shallow surface drain conveys the excess of the contents of this hole through No. 10, Goldsmith-row, into a sewer made two years ago, in Goldsmith-row; the houses in this row are distant only eight feet from it: the yards being bounded by it. Previously to the formation of the sewer in Goldsmiths-row, and now, when the surface drain is stopped up, the stagnant foetid putrid fluid floods the houses to a depth of ten or twelve inches. When I examined No. 10, I found the marks of the levels of the former inundations. Water is supplied to these houses and retained in open barrels, it is therefore exposed to the foul air and poisonous miasma, arising from this putrescent pond. The house itself consists of three rooms, - the kitchen is under the level of the road, six feet high, and seven feet wide, and eight long; the surface drain passes just under the surface. The work-room is seven and-a-half feet high, and eight feet wide, the bed-room above is the same size, but has a sloping roof-in this room a man, his wife and mother sleep.
    The occupants complain of constant nausea, and loss of appetite, headache, and general debility, and indisposition; their sallow unhealthy countenances sufficiently indicate the pernicious effects upon their health, of the poison which they are constantly inhaling. It is proper to add, that this nuisance is not in the parish of Bethnal-green, but only just without it. The deleterious emanations which arise from it, however, affecting as they do the health of the neighbour. hood, necessitate an account of it.
    In front of Teale-street is a large open space used by the public to deposit garbage, refuse, dirt, and filth of all descriptions, which are seldom, if ever, removed. This place constitutes an offensive nuisance.
    EMMA-ST., 5.-Opposite to this new street, and behind St. Matthew's-place, Hackney-road, is an immense lake, the result of the filling up by springs and drainage of an enormous excavation, made twenty or thirty years ago to procure clay for bricks; this lake has been infinitely more offensive than at the present time, but even now constitutes a great nuisance. Much refuse drains and is thrown into it. It should be made compulsory on the owners of such property to fill up the excavations, which they make, in order to prevent them becoming putrid lakes and intolerable nuisances.
    OVAL, 6.-Near the entrance to these cottages, there is a dairy, with the customary accumulation of dung and refuse; the houses here are damp, especially those on the western side, bordering the lake just spoken of.
    GROVE-Row, 7.-Is a long, very narrow alley, bounded by high walls on both sides, leading from the Oval to the Canal. In Grove-row, there are five houses on the right side of a tolerably fair character,-but further on to the left, there are four miserable one-storied, two-roomed houses; there are no back yards to these houses, which enter upon the alley, but at the end (likewise opening into [-59-] the alley, but separate from the houses), there is one small yard in which are contained two large butts, which afford an excellent supply of water; there is one privy and one dust heap here for the four houses; this alley is a perfect nuisance, it serves as a common convenience, it is always muddy and dirty, and covered with garbage and excrements.
    HARE-ROW, 8.-Consists of eleven houses, three of which face Cambridge-place, the roadway before these is always in the most disgraceful condition, covered with garbage, and very offensive; the scavengers never cleanse this place, at least it has not been cleansed, according to the occupants, for the last three years. Eight houses lay back from Grove-row and have plots of ground in front of them; these plots or yards are muddy and dirty; three houses have a separate supply of water and privy, the next three houses have one stand-pipe in common, the next two have each a supply of water. To these five houses there are three privies in a very fair condition as to external cleanliness, but still offensive; there is one dust-bin common to the five houses.
    CENTER-STREET, 9.-Along one side of the street, and close to the footpath, are the other privies of the houses in front of it.
    ALBI0N-BUILDINGS, 10.-These are tolerably fair houses, the back yards to these houses are damp, dust-heaps and garbage-heaps are common, and the whole place looks dilapidated; there is a privy to each house, and a large cesspool common to two privies,-that which I visited was nearly full and offensive but was considered by the occupants in a perfectly satisfactory state, and quite unobjectionable. I am firmly convinced that, to the filthy state of the yards is to be attributed the amount of sickness in this place.
    ACCIDENTAL-PLACE, 11.-Consists of three small houses, each two-roomed, and one story; the rooms are ten feet long by eight broad, and about seven and a-half or eight feet high. There is one very small yard in common to the first two houses; there is also one stand-pipe in common, there is a privy to each house, full, and filthy; also a small wash-house six feet by four feet, in the most dilapidated condition possible ; there is a large dust and garbage heap in the yard. When the water comes on, unless some person is at home to attend to it, the water comes into the house ; the last house has no supply of water, but is empty at present. In the first of these wretched habitations, a mother and her six children reside ; the husband is from home, but a person keeps house with her. Eight persons, therefore, sleep in the bed-room. The children look ill and sickly. In No. 2, a man, his wife, and child reside; the two former are recovering from fever. The small passage in front of these houses is six feet wide, it is covered with garbage, and in wet weather is abominably filthy, as usual it is never cleansed. A dead wall is in front, and at the end, of this cul-de-sac; three shillings a week is the rent of each of these hovels.
    NELSON-PLACE, 12.-A narrow blind alley, which has six houses at the upper end, and ten at the lower; these ten have small yards in front of them, they are two-roomed, and one story high,-the rooms are about ten feet broad by nine deep, and seven feet and a-half or eight feet high; there is a small back-yard to [-60-] each house, about four feet by five, less the space occupied by a privy; the privies drain away, probably into cesspools, as there is no sewer here,-there is a dirty heap in each yard. The privies are dirty and so are the yards. Each house has a tap; the houses at the end of this alley are very damp; the alley itself is dirty and covered in various parts with dust-heaps and garbage; there is a dead wall in front of the houses, and at the end of the alley; the privies of the neighbouring houses abut on the wall. At the end of it, the contents of the privies attached to the houses in the Hackney-road, had oozed through the wall, and covered the alley, A quantity of dirt and refuse was thrown upon it, to conceal its offensiveness; the place has been in this state for at least three months. The inhabitants complained grievously of the offensive smells emitted by the privies in front of their houses. The following table exhibits the state of this alley:-

AMY'S-PLACE, 13.-A narrow passage with three houses on either side, the alley is damp and dirty, the houses are two-roomed and one story high; they have a back-yard eight feet by four feet, a collection of dirt and garbage, and a privy nearly full. The houses are very damp, and the inhabitants say that the place strikes cold like a well; those which I saw were all suffering from severe catarrh. Three shillings a week is the rent of these houses, little better than those in Accidental-place.
    PROVIDENCE-PLACE, 14.-An alley leading from Bath-street to Barnet-street; the drain passes under the floor of No. 6, and renders it very damp.
    BATH-ST., 15.-This street is very dirty, and the surface broken up and covered with all kinds of refuse and garbage.
    JAMES-ST., 16.-Two of the houses in this street were originally summer- houses, in gardens.
    CROSS-ST., BARNET-ST., 17.-The houses here are damp, a small part of the footpath is paved, -garbage abounds on the street.
    [-61-] BARNET-GROVE, 18.-This street is always remarkably dirty; the houses are damp, many of them being planted in small gardens.
    WILLOW-WALK, BARNET-GROVE, 19.-This is along narrow alley, about 200 yards long, leading to the Baker's Arms public house, in Warner-place; there are five houses on the northern side of it, and about sixteen on the southern side; three of the former and eight of the latter are in small gardens. For 77 yards in this most filthy walk, does a stagnant foetid gutter extend. In wet weather the contents are washed over the road, and render it almost impassable. I recollect seeing here some cases of very malignant scarlatina. The houses in the gardens have water laid on, and the privies drain into cesspools in the centre of the gardens. Between Willow-walk and the back of the houses in part of Barnet-street, and behind Ion-square, are two rope walks, north of these rope walks, and commencing close to where Barnet-grove joins Barnet-street, is a black ditch, or open sewer, filled with most offensive putrid refuse and mud, it runs westwards 170 yards in a straight line, and is from four to five and six feet wide, at the western end it receives the contents of fire or six privies, and at the eastern end it spreads itself out and cover about 30 feet square, with its putrescent slime.
    BOURN'S OR BAKER'S ARMS GARDENS, 20.- These gardens occupy a large space between Warner-place and Barnet-grove; they are in an intermediate state between George and Gale's-gardens on the one hand, and Whisker's-gardens on the other. By far the greater number of summer-houses, or wooden sheds in these gardens are unoccupied, still a considerable number are inhabited; the majority of those which are inhabited are, however, of a better character and seem to have been somewhat adapted for the residence of human beings. Water is laid on to the houses on the outskirts, but there is no drainage whatever, except into cesspools ; the necessaries are either common privies, or privies draining into cesspools, the whole place is excessively damp. In summer these gardens present an appearance remarkable for their beautiful flowers and their general neatness.
    WELLINGTON- ROW, 21.-A street entirely occupied by weavers, the street itself is very dirty and the gutters full; the houses are of the usual construction of weavers houses, and of course greatly defective as regards ventilation. The north side of this street consists of cottages and gardens, which are generally neatly laid out.
    WELLINGTON-PLACE, 22.-There is no proper footpath here, the gutter is generally full from the drain at the end being stopped up, and the whole of the public way exceedingly filthy and dirty from that cause, and from being on a lower level than the adjoining street, called James-street; this place is chiefly occupied by weavers ; there is an open space in front of the houses where the public deposit all kinds of refuse and garbage, and create an offensive nuisance.
    HAMMOND-GARDENS, 23.-A court containing seven houses, with small yards in front, one large dust and garbage heap occupies a principal part of the entrance [-62-] way, there is but one privy to all the houses, and one butt to supply them with water.
    CLAREMONT COTTAGES AND LANSDOWNE-PLACE, 24.-Are each a row of nine houses in a court, which appears clean, being unpaved, however, the ground readily becomes muddy and ditty.
    SIMPSON-PLACE, WEST AND EAST, 25.-Are entered by distinct alleys. Simpson-place, West, contains four two-roomed, one storied houses, each with a small yard, wash-house, privy and water supply, and the usual dust heap. It likewise contains eleven houses, two-roomed, and one-storied, with no back yards whatever; the yards or gardens are in front of the houses and are under water whenever rain falls, dust heaps and garbage abound in this yard. One stand pipe supplies the eleven houses; there is no cock to it; there is one privy at each end of the alley in a better condition than such places usually are; three shillings and sixpence are the rent of each of the former four comparatively comfortable houses. Simpson's-place, East, contains twenty-three houses. Six are similar to the four in Simpson's-place, West, but are let at 4s. 8d. a week; two are similar to the eleven referred to, have one privy, in common, and one stand pipe; they have two heaps of dust and refuse, and garbage; the other fifteen houses are intermediate in their state between these two kinds of houses ; the very small back yards contain a privy, and the inhabitants complain grievously of the offensiveness arising from its proximity. Many of the yards in front are under water, all are very damp.
    ION-SQUARE, 26-Thirty-eight new houses, forming three sides of a square. Close by the southern end runs the filthy black ditch spoken of under the head of Willow-walk. Nearly all the houses in this square are remarkably damp, so much so as to be very injurious to health.
    HILL-ST., 27.-A cross-street, behind a part of hackney-road, and considerably below its level; thirteen of the houses are below the level of the street, and require to have a raised gutter to prevent the contents flowing into them.
    WOLVERLEY-ST., 28.-A double row of houses forming a cul-de-sac; they are placed on a low level, and are very damp. Ventilation is imperfect here.
    BADEN-PLACE, 29.-These houses are situated on the northern bank of the canal on a very low level; the whole of these houses and the houses behind them, in the parish of Hackney are exceedingly damp; the streets are in the worst condition possible, from the total want of drainage, and abounding with impurities and stagnant water. Fever, rheumatism, catarrh, and zymotic diseases are especially common.
    SHEEP-LANE, 30.-An unmade roadway, and probably the worst in London.
    SOUTHAMPTON-COTTAGES, 31.-Six small houses at the back of Southampton- place, unusually well provided with domestic accommodations, but being much below the level of the surrounding neighbourhood they are very damp.
    CAROLINE.ST., HACKNEY-ROAD, 32.-A long narrow street, dark and ill-ventilated.

[-63-]

[-64-]

[... PREVIOUS SECTION] [NEXT SECTION ...]