Pre-regulation terraced houses in the United Kingdom
A pre-regulation terraced house is a type of dwelling constructed before
History
Between 1801 and 1901 the population increased fourfold, and during this period there was a migration from the land into towns (
The urban population influx started in around 1820 as steam or water power was successfully harnessed to drive the machines, and to produce the iron and steel to build the machines. More workers were attracted in from the countryside to tend the machines and a large number of dwellings were required in short order. Water powered mills were built next to rivers and the housing next to the mills in the floodable low-lying ground. The particles from smoke from the steam engines' boilers descended and wrapped the adjacent housing in a layer of grime. The workers were unskilled and poor, so could pay little rent. Although their families were large, they squeezed in lodgers.[4]
The rural migrants preferred employment in the city to the lack of employment where they were born. Accompanying the Industrial Revolution was one in the countryside, as agriculture was mechanised. The medieval system of many rural copyholders holding small properties and enjoying rights of common was being replaced by Enclosure, leading to larger farms with tied cottages for fewer employed labourers.
In 1845 there was a further influx of rural immigrants to the city, as penniless migrants fled the Great Famine of Ireland. Seeking work, they too lodged in these houses.[4]
Public Health Act 1875
The
Design and construction
The standard four-roomed two-storey cottage (
The size of the cottage was important, as the shortage of land and the need to minimise building cost were paramount. Every town approached the situation differently.
Some two-room cottages were as small as 10 feet (3.0 m) by 10 feet (3.0 m). Their narrow steep stairs aligned with the side or back wall. The heating was an open coal-fired cast-iron
Though the ground floor might have had a boarded wooden floor, more likely the cheapest houses would have had flagstones laid on compacted ash, much in the manner of the scullery floor after regulation. This had advantages, but in low-lying districts it would remain permanently damp. The upper floors would have been of wooden planks laid on joists; in poorer houses there were no plastered ceilings. Walls may have been plastered or not. Some houses had a slate damp-proof course but some had none. After poor weather or flooding the walls would dry out only slowly.[7]
Eradication
In general, these houses were unhealthy, shoddy,
References
Footnotes
Notes
- ^ Rosenfeld, Allen & Okoro 2011, p. 258.
- ^ Calow 2007, p. 97.
- ^ Brunskill 2000, p. 186.
- ^ a b c Calow 2007, p. 6.
- ^ Chadwick, Edwin (1842). "Chadwick's Report on Sanitary Conditions". excerpt from Report...from the Poor Law Commissioners on an Inquiry into the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain (pp.369–372) (online source). added by Laura Del Col: to The Victorian Web. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
- ^ Calow 2007, p. 13.
- ^ a b UWE 2009.
- ^ Calow 2007, pp. 21, 22.
- ^ "Explore the English Language | Lexico". Archived from the original on October 9, 2014.
- ^ a b Calow 2007, p. 8.
- ^ Tyrell-Lewis (2014). "Register grates". Bricks and Brass. Tyrell Lewis. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ Parkinson-Bailey 2000, p. 156.
Bibliography
- Brunskill, R.W. (2000). Vernacular architecture : an illustrated handbook (4th ed. (retitled) ed.). London: Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-19503-9.
- Parkinson-Bailey, John J. (2000). Manchester: an Architectural History. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-5606-2.
- Calow, Dennis (2007). Home Sweet Home: A century of Leicester housing 1814-1914. Leicester: University of Leicester:Special collections online. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
- Rosenfeld, Orna; Allen, Judith; Okoro, Teri (2011). "Race, space and place: Lessons from Sheffield". ACE: Architecture, City and Environment = Arquitectura, Ciudad y Entorno. VI (17): 245–292. ISSN 1886-4805. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- "Evolution of building elements". University of the West of England. 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
Primary source
- "Public Health Act" (PDF). HM Government Stationery Office. 1875.
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