LONDON’S RISE IN HEIGHT.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4564, 16 May 1923, Page 4

LONDON’S RISE IN HEIGHT.

GROWTH AT THE RA'l’E OF A FOOT A CENTURY. How London rises on its own debris was described by Mr. R. L. Sherlock in a lecture on the influence of man as an agent in geographical change before the Royal Geographical Society, states the “.Westminister Gazette.”

In the early days of London, he said, all waste accumulated round the houses, whether house refuse, the waste of industries, or the ashes of buildings. Near the town there would be excavations for gravel or brick-earth, and these holes when disused would naturally be filled up with the 'town s refuse, and the filled-up ground gradually built over.

Meantime more pits would be opened up beyond, those in turn being filled up and built over. In addition waste was thrown into the street and trampled underfoot, and on this accumulation the town rose i higher and higher. During the construction of the i Metropolitan sewers sections were I made across London. The thick- ' ness of the waste or “ made ! ground,” as it is convenient to call I it, varies greatly over Loudon; thus ! at High Street, Shoreditch, it is 4/3 i feet in thickness- while at the junc- ; tion of Old Street and Goswell Road : it is 19; feet. i The oldest parts of London stand on the thickest accumulation of i debris. It would seem that a rough ! estimate of the growth in heightgof Londonx>n its own debris would be : one foot per century. j Another ingredient rf made ground that must not be overlooked is the ash from fires. At first this ■ would be from wood, later coal was imported, and the ashes were : thrown out of the house, usually into the street. The lecturer had estimated the coal used in London ! from the year 1600 to. 1912 at 846 > million tons, say, 850' million tons from the earliest times to 1912. ! At the moderate estimate of 5 per ; cent, of ash this has yielded 42/ million tons of rubbish, which has probably gone directly or indirectly into London made ground. By indirectly he meant that much of it was used in stock-bricks, and the bricks were built into London houses and eventually incorporated in the made ground. Until 1815 all sewage was entirely, and until 18'47 partially, retained in cesspits, and towards the end of this period parts of the ground under London were honeycombed . with cesspits. i Further, in 1907, to mention, a ■gruesome, subject, 50,000 persons ' were annually buried in spaces not . exceeding 203 acres in extent. ’ There must also have been accumulation from these causes. An increasing amount of waste is burnt in destructors and the inorganic remains are cast into flagstones. These, for instance at Walham Green Station, sometimes show nails, boot heels, etc., set in the stone and brilliantly polished by attrition. The artificial flags are used up locally, and when worn out help to make road foundations. Once again local waste accumulates in local “ made ground.”