THE SANITARY CONDITION OF CHULMLEIGH

Transcribed by Debbie Kennett

The following article was originally published in the North Devon Journal on 13th March 1856.

CHULMLEIGH
OUR TOWN - ITS SANITARY CONDITION. - With a population bordering upon 2,000, so low is the rate of mortality that not a single death has occurred for nearly three months. This may be partially accounted for by the elevated and beautiful situation of the town and the sanitary arrangements which the public-spirited inhabitants have recently carried out, whereby the thoroughfares are kept clean, the houses supplied with an abundance of water, laid on at high pressure and conveyed from a capacious reservoir to iron pipes through the streets, and brought into the houses at small cost. Some imperfections of drainage will probably be remedied by the provisions of the new Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act; but contagious diseases are unknown. If ever fever has been imported from some less-favoured locality, it has instantly been checked by the salubrious and disinfecting air of the place. The wonder is that valetudinarians have not more frequently availed themselves of the advantages it offers, instead of having recourse to watering-places and doctor's nostrum to secure what Chulmleigh affords "without money and without price." Some are beginning to find out the secret, for but few houses in the town are tenantless; let others imitate their example, and houses and villas will soon rise for their accommodation. The appointment of a policeman might tend to better order in the streets, and probably the town will not much longer be without the official "man in blue."