One particular well in Spring Grove Terrace was used by several people who later became infected. Spring Grove Terrace was a row of ten cottages – an isolated, remote and tiny community, close to the Rope Walk by the canal, supplied by one well. Just 15 feet from the well, standing on a higher level, was the nearest privy, while a slop drain carrying the terrace’s sewage to a ditch, ran close by. In September 1880 the terrace recorded its first case of typhoid and in total, seven affected families suffered 15 cases of disease there. Of the seven families, six got their drinking water from the well. The remaining three unaffected families got water from other wells. Inhabitants of houses nearby with separate privies, drainage and water supply were also unaffected. The report’s conclusion was that the water from this particular well certainly contributed to the contagion in this terrace, though the privy and drain might also be implicated. Attention then shifted to Springfield Terrace, at the rear of the Rutland Street Gas Works, a row of 24 cottages of which 14 were affected, giving rise to 31 cases of fever. Its well was at one end of the row (at the end of Springfield Street) with a slop drain and privy pit very close by, and with surface drainage seeping into it. I have attached a map of this area, so you might imagine the living conditions of its residents, with its privies, ash pits, and water tanks 'out back', and the well at the end (right) of the terrace. There was a similar examination of a row of cottages in Ebenezer Street. Six families had obtained their drinking water partly from a well and partly from a rain-water tank, both in close proximity to a filthy privy pit. Five of these six families went down with the fever. As the tanks had an overflow pipe into the sewer, the question as to whether the sewer air was causing the fever arose.
One particular well in Spring Grove Terrace was used by several people who later became infected. Spring Grove Terrace was a row of ten cottages – an isolated, remote and tiny community, close to the Rope Walk by the canal, supplied by one well. Just 15 feet from the well, standing on a higher level, was the nearest privy, while a slop drain carrying the terrace’s sewage to a ditch, ran close by. In September 1880 the terrace recorded its first case of typhoid and in total, seven affected families suffered 15 cases of disease there. Of the seven families, six got their drinking water from the well. The remaining three unaffected families got water from other wells. Inhabitants of houses nearby with separate privies, drainage and water supply were also unaffected.
The report’s conclusion was that the water from this particular well certainly contributed to the contagion in this terrace, though the privy and drain might also be implicated.
Attention then shifted to Springfield Terrace, at the rear of the Rutland Street Gas Works, a row of 24 cottages of which 14 were affected, giving rise to 31 cases of fever. Its well was at one end of the row (at the end of Springfield Street) with a slop drain and privy pit very close by, and with surface drainage seeping into it. I have attached a map of this area, so you might imagine the living conditions of its residents, with its privies, ash pits, and water tanks 'out back', and the well at the end (right) of the terrace.
There was a similar examination of a row of cottages in Ebenezer Street. Six families had obtained their drinking water partly from a well and partly from a rain-water tank, both in close proximity to a filthy privy pit. Five of these six families went down with the fever. As the tanks had an overflow pipe into the sewer, the question as to whether the sewer air was causing the fever arose.