Dr Anne Folan spoke recently to Coddenham Village History Club about the problems of installing an efficient sewage system in nineteenth century Ipswich. First was cost; second was outflow.

One illustration was the man who chose to pay a fine for emptying domestic ordure into the road. He said it was cheaper to pay the fine for causing a public nuisance than to pay for the nightsoil cart to remove it. The council also took the cheap course and ended by paying much more when an efficient system was agreed.

There was a parallel in Coddenham. The parish council came into being after an Act of Parliament passed in 1894. At an early meeting in 1896 the trustees of vicarage land were “not agreeable to drainage over their property.” Ten years later C.W. Day wrote to the council of “the nuisance of a drain emptying on his meadow.”

The council then applied to the Rural District Council for a new drain along the roadside emptying below Dennis Pond. A surveyor was asked to advise and the medical officer was asked to report on whatever was “running down the Street.”

Two years later Herbert Smith, sanitary inspector, introduced plans for dealing with drainage. Mr Day objected to the scheme as it affected his land. The matter was referred to the Rural District Council.

In a letter the RDC offered to purchase land for sewage. This was rejected. It was decided to sink a second septic tank for the Street. Dr Addison resigned, whether on account of this decision or for other reasons was not recorded.

In 1917 (no misprint!) a proposal for a covered drain in School Road came from the RDC. This was approved subject to strict cost control. The work was done on acceptance of a tender of £4.12. 6d (£4.62½). (If this was the cause of continuing problems along a line from Blacksmiths Lane corner to Winter Barn the cost was clearly too strictly controlled.)

Apart from a request for a latrine for the football club in 1922, which was deferred until 1938, there was also a complaint regarding drains referred to the sanitary inspector. Months before the outbreak of World War II drains were again referred to the sanitary inspector.

In 1947 it was said that night soil collection once a week was sufficient. Donald Burton confirms that mains drainage was not available to most houses in Coddenham until the 1960s. There are still some properties reliant on septic tanks.

John Pelling
Local Historian.

Image Wikimedia Commons