Understanding the significance of Papplewick Pumping Station to public health and the

Victorian period.

Key Facts about CholeraCholera is a water born disease.

During the 19th century, cholera spread across the world from its original reservoir in the Ganges delta in India.

Six subsequent pandemics killed millions of people across all continents.

In C19th Britain there were 3 epidemics.

People usually get the illness by drinking infected water.

Cholera usually started in the poor areas of towns and cities, but unlike other diseases, cholera did spread into the richer areas.

At the start of the C19th- people thought disease was spread by bad air- miasma. This is because, it wasn’t until 1861 that Louis Pasteur made his crucial discovery that germs cause disease. Pasteur wasn’t universally accepted even then and was ridiculed by some in the medical/ scientific world.

Prior to Pasteur there were people who had made the connection between living conditions and illness. During an epidemic in London Dr. John Snow plotted a map and realised that deaths were clustered, in one area. He found by removing the handle from a water pump, where people got their water from, the deaths stopped. This was because the water coming from this pump was infected with cholera.

Magnified image of the cholera bacterium. It has been magnified 10,000 times.

Key Facts about cholera today - http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated.

It affects both adults and children.

People with low immunity – such as malnourished children are at a greater risk of death if infected.

The short incubation period of two hours to five days, enhances the potentially explosive pattern of outbreaks.

There are an estimated 3–5 million cholera cases and 100 000–120 000 deaths due to cholera every year.

Provision of safe water and sanitation is critical in reducing the impact of cholera and other waterborne diseases.

Cholera transmission is closely linked to inadequate environmental management.

Typical at-risk areas include urban slums, where basic infrastructure is not available and camps for internally displaced people or refugees, where minimum requirements of clean water and sanitation are not met.

The consequences of a disaster – such as disruption of water and sanitation systems, or the displacement of populations to inadequate and overcrowded camps – can increase the risk of cholera transmission should the bacteria be present or introduced.

Cholera remains a global threat to public health and a key indicator of lack of social development.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/

Cholera and Nottingham in the C19th.

http://www.papplewickpumpingstation.org.uk/nottingham_water1.html

Nottingham owes its location to the Rivers Trent and Leen which provided the early settlement with means of transport, defence and water supply. Wells, springs and rainfall were other important sources of water, although many people had to buy their water from carriers known as ‘Higglers’.

As the population grew, the rivers and wells became increasingly contaminated by waste from homes and from the town's tanning and dying industries. A more organised method of water supply was needed and over the years a number of water companies were formed to serve the growing population.

1696: Nottingham Waterworks CompanyWater was taken from the River Leen and pumped into a small open reservoir on Park Row, from where it flowed by gravity to most parts of the town.

Late 1790s: Zion Hill Water and Marble Works CompanyWater was drawn from two wells near Canning Circus and Alfreton road using a steam beam engine that also sawed blocks of marble. The company ceased to exist independently after 1824.

1894 Print of Industrial Steam Powered Victorian Machines

1824: Northern Waterworks CompanyWater was pumped from a well in Sherwood Street to supply the north east areas of the town. Higglers working for this company charged ¼ d for each bucket of water or ½ d if it was delivered up an alley or courtyard.

A Victorian Higgler selling water.

1826: The Nottingham Trent Waterworks CompanyIn 1831 the company established the Trent Works on the River Trent. The water works extracted water from the river, filtered it and pumped it by a steam driven beam engine to Park Row reservoir. Built by Thomas Hawksley, it was the first waterworks to supply water at continuous pressure.As the Industrial Revolution gathered pace the expanding town faced more public health problems and by 1830 the Nottingham Waterworks Company had abandoned its original works and established a new waterworks at Scotholme in Basford, where the water from streams and River Leen was not polluted by the town’s sewers.

Fresh water for Nottingham: One Step ForwardFounded in 1826 to supply the southern areas of the town, the Nottingham Trent Waterworks Company introduced a new approach to water supply under the direction of its engineer Thomas Engineer, Thomas Hawksley.In 1831 Hawksley built the Trent Works pumping station, the very first station in England to provide fresh water at a constant high pressure which prevented the water from becoming contaminated. Water was diverted from the River Trent and passed through brick filter tunnels laid in natural beds of sand and gravel, into a small uncovered reservoir near Trent Bridge and then the works pumped the water up to Park Row Reservoir.

OLD TRENT BRIDGE and WATER WORKS, 1869

Nottingham Corporation Water Department engineer, Marriott Ogle Tarbotton

Thomas Hawksley

http://www.papplewickpumpingstation.org.uk/nottingham_water4.html For more information about life at Papplewick Pumping Station -

However, the standards of health in the town continued to fall, despite the improvements to the water quality.

Between 1720 and 1830 the population of Nottingham had increased from 10,000 to 50,000, mainly due to the introduction of framework knitting and the lace industry. But the town was prevented from expanding beyond its original medieval area by the Burgesses and Freemen, who wished to keep the surrounding common land for other purposes such as grazing and pasture.

The 1844 report to the Health & Towns Commission stated:

‘..nowhere else shall we find so large a mass of inhabitants crowded into courts, alleys and lanes as in Nottingham. 8,000 back to back houses built from cheapest materials and enclosed courts with little light or fresh air.’

Fortunately two Acts of Parliament - both passed in 1845 - laid the foundations for a better quality of life. Firstly the Nottingham Enclosure Act allowed the town to expand into the surrounding countryside, and then the Nottingham Water Act merged all of the small companies into a new Nottingham Water Works Company. Recognising the size of their task, the company appointed Thomas Hawksley as their engineer - further information on Thomas Hawksley:

Links to – Geography – Physical – - Water cycle at Papplewick and geology of bunter sandstone- How we can make water clean

Images of Victorian Nottingham

1930s – 1950s. The Papplewick Pumping Station Deputy Superintendent's children, Pem and George, enjoying playtime in a tin bath and dolly tub.

These children, now in their 70s and 80’s, have told Dragon Breath Theatre their story, and inspired the characters of the children ‘Pem’ and ‘George’

© Papplewick Pumping Station