Collection O/080 - WESTMINSTER COMMISSION OF SEWERS

0.01 linear metres

O/080 1709 Collection 0.01 linear metres Westminster Commission of Sewers

Early Commissioners of Sewers were solely concerned with land drainage and the prevention of flooding, not with the removal of sewage in the modern sense. In 1531 an Act of Sewers was passed which set out in great detail the duties and powers of Commissioners and governed their work until the 19th century. Gradually a permanent pattern emerged in the London area of seven commissions, five north and two south of the Thames, with, after the Great Fire, a separate commission for the City of London. The London commissioners had more extensive powers than those in other parts of the country; they had control over all watercourses and ditches within two miles of the City of London as well as newly constructed drains and sewers. After 1800 the London commissioners also obtained powers to control the formation of new sewers and house drains.

The first reference to a commission of sewers for Westminster which has been found occurs in 1596. During the 17th century the areas named in the several commissions varied considerably, but they always extended beyond the bounds of Westminster. The first extant Letters Patent, that for 1691, includes within the jurisdiction of the commissioners Hampton, Teddington, Isleworth, Hanwell, Ealing, as well as Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. It was not until 1807 that the area was defined by statute; it then included all parishes within what is now the County of London west of the City and north of the Thames as far as Stamford Brook, with part of Willesden. The same statute gave the Commissioners power to control the construction of new sewers.

Deposited in 1961 (AC/61/057).

Copy of Court Orders of Westminster Commission of Sewers, 7 and 28 June 1709, allowing Mrs Katherine Akrode to make a drain from her house in Butcher Row, Saint Clement Danes, into the sewer there, 28 June 1709.

One item.

Available for general access.

Copyright: City of London
English

Fit

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

For more Westminster Commissioners of Sewers records see ACC/54/2 and WCS.

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. April to June 2009 Sanitation Waste disposal Waste treatment Sewers Water resources Drainage People People by roles Commissioners Improvement commissioners Environmental engineering Westminster Commission of Sewers St Clement Danes City of Westminster London England UK Western Europe Europe

Deposited in 1961 (AC/61/057).

Copy of Court Orders of Westminster Commission of Sewers, 7 and 28 June 1709, allowing Mrs Katherine Akrode to make a drain from her house in Butcher Row, Saint Clement Danes, into the sewer there, 28 June 1709.

One item.

Available for general access.

Copyright: City of London

• English

• Latin

English

For more Westminster Commissioners of Sewers records see ACC/54/2 and WCS.

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

• English