Abstract
IN a paper read to the Newcomen Society on February 21, an interesting sketch was given of the history of the streets and pavements of London. In only two periods in its long history has London been efficiently paved and drained: in the days of the Romans and during the last hundred years. How well the Romans worked can be seen from the remains of causeways and sewers now and again brought to light during excavations in the City. With the departure of the Romans went the art of road-making, and for century after century the citizens accepted with extraordinary complacency conditions which would not be tolerated in any city to-day. As a rule, the roads were unfit for wheeled traffic, the sidewalks were of gravel and dirt, the rain spouts projected over the pavements and such sewers as there were were connected ineffectively with gutters full of holes. Complaints were made over and over again, and though surveyors and paviors were appointed, things were seldom satisfactory. Even in the days of Wren and Newton, Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street drained into the mud-filled Fleet River, which had long ceased to be navigable and had become a nuisance. Westminster was every bit as bad as London, and in 1742 Lord Tyreonnel in the House of Lords said: “The filth of some parts of Westminster and the inequality and ruggedness of others, cannot but in the eyes of the foreigners disgrace our nation, and incline them to imagine us a people, not only without delicacy, but without government, a herd of barbarians, or a colony of hottentots”. Improvements were effected from time to time, it is true, but it was only during last century that real progress was made.
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Streets and Pavements in London. Nature 133, 322–323 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133322d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133322d0