NEWPORT

1. Living in NEWPORT in the 1850s

2. Newport in 1850 Can you see a pattern? Do the two areas have anything in common? Look at this map of Newport from the mid 19th Century. What do you think the redder areas are showing? Click on the these areas to get a magnified view. Do you still think you are right? The redder areas indicate ‘DENSITY OF POPULATION AND PREVALENCE OF DISEASE’. What do you think this means?

3. Using a map of modern day Newport, can you find if any of these streets and areas still exist? Can you think of any reasons why some areas had more deaths than others? Which area was the worst hit in 1855? What was the most likely cause of death? Causes of Death in Newport -1855 Do you know what all of these diseases are? Are some of them still dangerous today?

4. Living Conditions in Newport - 1850s In Charles Street are 30 houses, most of them connected with the culvert in the street. Six are low lodging houses, sublet into different apartments, and are very much overcrowded, as, for instance, the house inhabited by 30 persons; each room used for all domestic purposes during the day and as a sleeping room at night. Most of these lodgers are collectors of old rags or bones, which are heaped up in the rooms. In some of the lodging houses large quantities of dried fish are kept until they are often in a putrified state. In others are vegetables, such as remain unsold during the day. G T Clark. Report to the General Board of Health on the Borough of Newport. 1850, pg 18 Fothergill Street – There are 21 houses in this street, several consisting of four or five rooms, occupied by several families, and again, sublet by them to eight or ten, or sometimes twelve to fourteen persons, nearly all irish, having but the limited accommodation of one room, in which they all sleep in beds made of shavings and rags, on the floor, with windows closed and the fire places stopped up, breathing the same atmosphere over and over again… I found five beds in one room, six men in each bed, three with their heads in one direction, and three, with their heads in the other, one had fever…… G T Clark. Report to the General Board of Health on the Borough of Newport. 1850, pg 21 It is no uncommon occurrence to find old women or children sleeping in cupboards with their doors closed, and in one case the straw bed had not been changed for two years, and in another the mother of the tenant was found with three grandchildren sleeping in a small cupboard 20 inches wide and 41/2 feet long. G T Clark. Report to the General Board of Health on the Borough of Newport. 1850, pg 21 Wedlake’s Court – here are 14 houses, 11 of them have no ventilation, are inhabited by low Irish, low in position, filthy and unhealthy.. The drain is covered with flags and a board and has not sufficient fall. The privies are also filthy. The lower part of these houses are not fit for people to live in. Before the sanitary board came into operation this was one of the worst courts. In the middle of the court there was a large ash pit into which all of the house refuse was thrown, and this was built up against two privies, the contents of which flowed into the ash pit and so impregnated the atmosphere that it was most unpleasant for a person not accustomed to the Court to enter it. G T Clark. Report to the General Board of Health on the Borough of Newport. 1850, pg 26 Tabernacle Chapel Yard Burial Ground – this ground is crowded, loathsome and offensive; surrounded by a populous and respectable neighbourhood. The average depth of the graves I understand is from 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet; the soil wet. Consequently the graves, to a certain extent contain water. A part of Llanarth Street bounds it on the north; the pumps and wells of these houses are worse than useless, as any water in them is discoloured, and is so fetid that it cannot be used for any other purpose. G T Clark. Report to the General Board of Health on the Borough of Newport. 1850, pg 39 The [water] supply is very insufficient for the wants of the town, and the cottages suffer materially from the scarcity. For ordinary purposes they have recourse to the canal, the water of which is very dirty, many of the houses draining into it. G T Clark. Report to the General Board of Health on the Borough of Newport. 1850, pg 31 Almost the first matter for remark which presented itself to my notice was the continued presence of typhus fever, especially in the more crowded and dirty parts of town…Scarlet Fever, measles and small-pox, when occurring in these districts are more malignant in their character, and meet with circumstances favourable to the promulgation of their stay. G T Clark. Report to the General Board of Health on the Borough of Newport. 1850, pg 14

5. What you need to do… • 1)This slide has several pieces written about the living conditions in Newport during the rapid rise of industrialisation in the mid 1850s. Each one can be viewed (and hidden) by clicking on the numbers. • Read each one carefully and type any information that you find in the text box provided. • When collecting information, think about: • Conditions of living areas and houses – why were they like this? • Access to clean water • Presence of diseases • Other factors that might have affected the health and safety of people at the time. • 2) Read the pieces again. Why do you think living conditions were like this during the mid 18th century in Newport? Why did people put up with these problems?