Complaint about the steam engine
This letter from a Mr W Jones Butt was printed in the Cheltenham Chronicle on Valentine’s Day 1850 having been first sent to the Board of Health in Whitehall, London. This was not to be the first complaint over the years about the smoke emanating from the chimney.
‘In Mr. Cresy’s Report on the Sanitary Condition of Cheltenham, he has omitted two very great nuisances, viz., the steam engines and the soap and candle manufactories. There are three of the former vomiting forth incessantly a volume of black smoke, and one of them (that at the Montpellier Baths) situate in the immediate vicinity of some of the best streets and buildings in the town. There is a candle manufactory in America passage, within 50 yards of the very best part of the High street, the smell from which is at the time so offensive as to cause people to hold their noses at a distance of nearly half a mile. Almost a month since I was at a concert In the Assembly Rooms, and the moment we entered the lobby from the concert room the stench became almost unbearable…’
The great flood of 1855
Cheltenham has been flooded to various degrees some 17 times, most notably in 1855 and 2007. The Cheltenham Looker-On of 28 July 1855 included a five-page report on the ‘Extraordinary Flood and Violent Storms of Rain’ that had just occurred in the town (there would be similar occurrences in later years). The following are extracts from the report to give an idea of the extent of the flooding and damage.
‘Cheltenham and its neighbourhood were visited on Thursday with storms of rain, such as had never before been experienced within the memory of any person living, and which will certainly never be forgotten by those who witnessed them or who suffered from their effects, as, we regret to say, many hundreds have done. The damage to property indeed amounts to a serious calamity which will require the outlay of many thousands of pounds to restore: the injuries caused by the rains and the flood which followed not being confined to the lower and ill-drained portions of the town, but extending more or less through those quarters in which the wealthy and the affluent reside…
‘The rain in Cheltenham commenced on Wednesday night, between nine and ten o’clock, and continued heavily and without intermission until Thursday, when, so far as abating, as heavy rains generally do when the sun exerts its power, they increased in intensity, augmenting at intervals to such a degree, that it seemed as if a succession of waterspouts were bursting over the town; the streets at these times being rendered impassable except to carriages, while the drains and water pipes of the houses being altogether inadequate to carry off the immense body of water pressing for egress, gave way, and in numerous instances, ceilings above and pavements below, alike and coincidentally bore testimony to the violence of the storms which in the afternoon were accompanied by vivid flashes of lightning, and peals of distant thunder…
‘The Chelt, which had been swollen to its limits during the day, between four and five o’clock overflowed its banks wherever these were open… The water flooded the kitchens of the houses in Royal Well Terrace, Bays Hill Terrace, and all the buildings in the rear, and between them and the back of the Royal Crescent… As the flood was now rushing with considerable violence down from Bath Parade, Sandford Street, and the back of Barrett’s Mill, and through the road in front of Oriel Terrace, and the gardens behind Cambray Spa, great apprehensions were raised for the safety of the houses over the Chelt and of the new sewers, the arches of which had already blown up in several places, but, fortunately, no such accident of so serious a character occurred…
‘…the flood at eight o’clock had obtained complete possession of the basements and all the gardens in Promenade Terrace, Promenade Villas, near the Literary Institution, and of all others of corresponding levels from Sandford to Alstone to depths varying from a few inches to several feet – extinguishing kitchen fires, and washing away the contents of larders, closets and coal cellars… often, too, washing the furniture out through doors and windows into the streets and areas adjoining – for the water, in many instances, rose considerably above the window sills of the lower apartments, and in some few, where the rooms were much sunk, reached even to the ceiling…
‘Both the Midland and Great Western Railways, being in cuttings, were under water for, at least, a mile out from their respective stations, and the trains which came in from Gloucester and Birmingham had more the appearance of long steam boats – or possibly sea serpents – than ordinary locomotives… The signal men and porters at work upon the lines near Lansdown Bridge were up to their knees in water…
‘Besides the places incidentally mentioned in the course of this foregoing narrative as having sustained damage by this sudden and extraordinary visitation, those which appear to have suffered most injury are the Montpellier Baths, every apartment in which – and their name is legion – became filled with water to a height of from four to five feet, and this so rapidly as to render it impossible to save any of the furniture or apparatus connected with the different bathing processes, which floated about from room to room, and might be seen yesterday morning lying on the floors covered with mud “most piteous to behold”…
‘Mr Hodges’ Nursery Gardens, in Imperial Square, were likewise much injured, some of his choicest and most beautiful flower beds being quite destroyed, as were also the fruit and vegetable produce in the enclosure near Cambray Spa, of which mention has already been made as having had its wall and greenhouse thrown down.’
TO READ MISCELLANY FROM 1856-1899 CLICK HERE