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London Metropolitan Archives

CLERK'S (LEGAL) DEPARTMENT: EAST MIDDLESEX DRAINAGE


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): MCC/CL/L/EMD

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: CLERK'S (LEGAL) DEPARTMENT: EAST MIDDLESEX DRAINAGE

Date(s): 1934-1965

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 5.16 linear metres

Name of creator(s): MCC | Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The phenomenal growth of population in Middlesex from early 1920s brought problems of peculiar difficulty in sewage disposal. These were partly offset by the district councils extending their local purification works but it was clear that the problem could best be met by co-ordination and centralisation of treatment.

After intensive investigation and report by its consulting engineers, under the guidance of John Duncan Watson, the County Council with difficulty secured one of the last Unemployment Grants and obtained powers to construct and operate a system of trunk sewers, with sewage purification and sludge disposal works, to serve Western Middlesex. The undertaking came into operation in 1935-36 and included the Mogden works, then the largest and most modern full-treatment plant in the world.

Further powers were obtained in 1938 for a similar undertaking to serve North and East Middlesex. Although the Second World War delayed the project, the new works were in operation by 1963. The East Middlesex works served 14 local authorities covering an area of 95 square miles and a population of 710,000. The system included 24 miles of trunk sewers, with a flow of 32,000,000 gallons a day.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Middlesex County Council Clerk's Legal Department relating to the East Middlesex Drainage Scheme, 1934-1965, including conferences and correspondence between the MCC and over local authorities; reports on sewerage and waste disposal; papers relating to boreholes; papers regarding the Cuffley Brook Sewer, East Barnet Branch Sewer, High Level Sewer, Lee Valley Main Sewer, Tottenham Low and High Level Sewers, Chingford Sewer, Waltham Holy Cross Branch Sewer and Wood Green Sewer; papers relating to trade effluent agreements; protective clauses and notices; purchase of sites; electricity lines near the works; contracts and supplies; acquisition of and access to land and sludge disposal.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

MCC/CL/L/EMD-1: General

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to these records rests with the Corporation of London.

Physical characteristics:

Fit

Finding aids:

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

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Acquired with the records of its parent authority, the Middlesex County Council, and with successor authorities.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

See also MCC/CL/EMD.

Publication note:

For further information on the history of the Middlesex County Council please see Middlesex by Sir Clifford Radcliffe (2 editions, 1939 and 1953), LMA Library reference 97.09 MID; and The County Council of the Administrative County of Middlesex: 76 years of local government, 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1965, by Middlesex County Council (1965), LMA library reference S97.09 MID.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Rules or conventions: 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.

Date(s) of descriptions: April to June 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Drainage | Water resources
Drainage engineering | Hydraulic engineering
Land ownership | Land economics | Agricultural economics
Sewage disposal | Waste disposal | Sanitation | Environmental engineering
Sewage works | Waterworks | Industrial facilities | Facilities
Sewerage | Water resources
Sewers | Waste treatment | Waste disposal | Sanitation | Environmental engineering
Land

Personal names

Corporate names
Clerk's Department | Middlesex County Council
MCC | Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

Places
Chingford | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
East Barnet | Barnet | Hertfordshire | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Edmonton | Middlesex | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Lea, river | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Lee, river | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Ramney Marsh | Enfield | Middlesex | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Tottenham | Hertfordshire | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Waltham Cross | Hertfordshire | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Wanstead | Redbridge | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Wood Green | Haringey | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Woodford | Redbridge | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Waltham Forest