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London Metropolitan Archives

CLERK'S DEPARTMENT: WEST MIDDLESEX DRAINAGE


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): MCC/CL/WMD

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: CLERK'S DEPARTMENT: WEST MIDDLESEX DRAINAGE

Date(s): 1930-1965

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 2.66 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.

The West Middlesex undertaking served 16 local authorities covering an area of 171 square miles and a population of 1,360,000. 70 miles of trunk sewers carried 70,000,000 gallons of sewage a day.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Middlesex County Council Clerk's Department relating to the West Middlesex Drainage Scheme, 1930-1965, including maps and plans of trunk sewers and effluent conduits; administrative papers; staffing matters including appointment of Chief Engineers and Chemists; papers relating to the maintenance and upkeep of the Mogden Sewage Treatment Works, Isleworth; papers relating to general maintenance at Perry Oaks Sludge Works (demolished in 2002, the site is now part of Heathrow Terminal 5); papers relating to pollution and flooding in the River Thames; papers regarding the demolition of Brentford and Chiswick sewage works; papers regarding the general policy on chlorination stations, inter-district drainage, local sewer connections, methane gas, synthetic detergents, sludge disposal and trade effluents; correspondence with other sewage authorities, and papers relating to civil defence including war damage and air raid precautions.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

MCC/CL/WMD: General; MCC/CL/WMD/MP: Maps and plans.

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/L/WMD.

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
Air raid precautions | Civil defence | Defence | State security
Drainage | Water resources
Maintenance | Engineering
Rivers | Surface water | Water resources
Sewage disposal | Waste disposal | Sanitation | Environmental engineering
Sewage works | Waterworks | Industrial facilities | Facilities
Sewerage | Water resources
Sewers | Waste treatment | Waste disposal | Sanitation | Environmental engineering
War damage | War | International conflicts
Water pollution | Pollution | Environmental degradation
Water supply | Water resources management
Civil defence x Defence

Personal names

Corporate names
Clerk's Department | Middlesex County Council
MCC | Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council
Mogden Sewage Treatment Works

Places
Brentford | Middlesex | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Chiswick | Middlesex | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Heathrow | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Isleworth | Middlesex | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Thames, river | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Hillingdon
Hounslow