Maureen that is interesting. I'd been wondering what folk did when the midden filled up, just moved the 'little house' above it? I'm sure that description of Bolton was typical of most of the swiftly growing towns on that time. I've seen similar comments about Preston. Also I thought the houses in the centre block of the square may have been 'back-to-back' which would have meant no 'back yard'? thank you for your help, cheers, Cassie On 22/05/2006, at 2:49 AM, Maureen Marsh wrote: > Hello everyone, > reading the mails about Bolton and its drains etc brought this book > to mind, written by Raymond > Hargreaves in about 1985 with extracts taken from Bolton papers. > This tells it as it really was, not very pleasant to say the least. > > VICTORIAN YEARS, > BOLTON 1850-1860. > > Bolton Chronicle 11 June 1853. > > Too much attention to the sanitary conditions of the Borough cannot > be paid at any time, but more > especially during this present hot weather, when atmospheric > impurities and noxious effluvia arising > from surcharged cesspools and putrid matter which has been allowed > to accumulate upon our > middensteads, tend to engender disease and to foster those > epidemics which if not checked in time > would soon decimate our population. > > The committee had for a long time been aware of the difficulty of > cleaning the river Croal; and when > they took into account that parties brought before the Bench had > been merely fined 2s6d for putting > probably a hundred cart loads of cinders in the river the > difficulty became greater still. There > were factories foundries and bleachworks which emptied all their > cinders in the Croal, there were > numerous parties which emptied all their filth into the river and > unless these cases could be more > vigorously dealt with than heretofore it would be out of the power > of the Sanitary Committee to do > their duty. > It was not the poor but the rich who could afford to pay who put > these cinders in the river and > therefore ought to be proceeded against. > > ( In September 1853 there was an outbreak of Cholera.) > > 24 Sept 1853. Editorial. > > In whatever direction we move we shall not have to travel far > before we meet with cesspools "running > over" into the very streets, dungheaps reeking with all imaginable > kinds of filth, drains and > gutters streaming with all kinds of impurities, offensive trade > operations carried on, from which > the sickening smells continually arise, stagnant pools of water > constantly emitting the most > deleterious mephitic gases, houses devoid of those conveniences > which decency as well as cleanliness > renders indispensable, and in short, the most palpable proofs of > the presence in rank luxuriance of > every description of abominable nuisance, calculated alone to > engender disease, and certain, in case > of the appearance of cholera amongst us, to aggravate its horrors > and to increase its fatality. > <end> > The articals go on about the sad state of affairs in Bolton and the > conditions of the people, and > how they had to live, it is one of the best reads I have found for > telling it as it was, no rose > tinted glasses here. > > Hope you find this interesting. > Regards Maureen. > > > > > > > ==== ENG-LAN-BOLTON Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from this list, send the command "unsubscribe" to > ENG-LAN-BOLTON-L-request@rootsweb.com (if in mail mode) or ENG-LAN- > BOLTON-D-request@rootsweb.com (if in digest mode.) > > ============================== > Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. > New content added every business day. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx >