Victorian Slums and Reform
In order to allow boats to dock without running aground at low tide and to remain afloat, the "Float" was constructed: the Tawe was diverted and a new dock with locks created. Work began in 1852, and the result was New Dock in 1859. Further changes to the docks were proposed, and the town authorities realised the potential grave effect on public health, particular in the riverside St Thomas area. Drinking water came from springs locally but clean water sources were increasingly rare. Cholera broke out in 1832; and again in 1849.
There was no sewerage system in Swansea until 1857 and the water supply in areas above the reservoir level was "in many cases of a questionable character" (contemporary report quoted by Dean). The Lliw reservoir of 1863 helped provide clean water, but drainage of dirty water was still a problem.
In 1865, Swansea suffered an epidemic of yellow fever, the only outbreak of that disease on the British mainland. A cargo of copper ore from Cuba was landed in exceptionally hot weather in September, and with it a number of infected mosquitoes. In a month, 27 inhabitants were infected and 15 died.
Swansea saw yet another outbreak of cholera in 1866 and the local authorities were eventually forced by legislation to act. The only way to improve some areas was wholesale slum clearance, and this was the solution imposed in several regions of Swansea, notably Greenhill (current Dyfatty and Alexandra Road area), an area with massive overcrowding and consequent disproportionate incidence of cholera cases. It was populated largely by Irish immigrants, many of whom had fled the potato famines. Several of the landlords of Greenhill making great profits from their rents, and who required recompense for the loss of their properties, were local dignitaries, including Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn, MP. (Dean)
Sewage and pollution were also part of the cause of the decline of the oyster trade centred on Mumbles, also known as Oystermouth. Kilvert's diary described a thriving and ancient industry in 1872; within five years, it had almost completely collapsed.
Read more about this topic: History Of Swansea
Famous quotes containing the words victorian, slums and/or reform:
“Conscience was the barmaid of the Victorian soul. Recognizing that human beings were fallible and that their failings, though regrettable, must be humoured, conscience would permit, rather ungraciously perhaps, the indulgence of a number of carefully selected desires.”
—C.E.M. (Cyril Edwin Mitchinson)
“But look what we have built ... low-income projects that become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and general social hopelessness than the slums they were supposed to replace.... Cultural centers that are unable to support a good bookstore. Civic centers that are avoided by everyone but bums.... Promenades that go from no place to nowhere and have no promenaders. Expressways that eviscerate great cities. This is not the rebuilding of cities. This is the sacking of cities.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)
“It is doubtless wise, when a reform is introduced, to try to persuade the British public that it is not a reform at all; but appearances must be kept up to some extent at least.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)