Why was the Great Stink important?

Why was the Great Stink important?

For centuries the River Thames had been used as a dumping ground for the capital’s waste and as the population grew, so did the problem. The hot summer of 1858 elevated the stench to an unbearable level and resulted in an episode known as ‘The Great Stink’.

What was the Great Stink of 1854?

The Great Stink was an event in Central London in July and August 1858 during which the hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent that was present on the banks of the River Thames.

What was and what caused the big stink?

In 1858, the smell of untreated sewage from the polluted Thames in London, known as The Big Stink, led to the development of the drainage system.

When did the Great Stink start?

June 1858 – August 1858
Great Stink/Periods

What did London smell like in the 1800s?

It had choking, sooty fogs; the Thames River was thick with human sewage; and the streets were covered with mud. But according to Lee Jackson, author of Dirty Old London: The Victorian Fight Against Filth, mud was actually a euphemism. “It was essentially composed of horse dung,” he tells Fresh Air’s Sam Briger.

How did parliament stop the great stink?

The government’s response during the early days of the stink was to douse the curtains of the Houses of Parliament in chloride of lime, before embarking on a final desperate measure to cure lousy old Father Thames by pouring chalk lime, chloride of lime and carbolic acid directly into the water.

How did they solve the great stink?

How did the Great Stink end?

The bill enabled a brilliant engineer named Joseph Bazalgette to construct 82 miles of new sewers. The new sewers moved London’s waste eastward beyond the city, where it could flow more easily into the ocean. Consequently, the Great Stink went away and both the river and Londoners’ drinking water became cleaner.

What was London like in 1858?

In the summer of 1858, the city of London came to a standstill. Government could barely function; people resisted the urge to leave their homes, but demanded action from the government. What had brought London to its knees was the overwhelming stench that radiated from the surface of the River Thames.

What did Vikings smell like?

In Viking days, men were real men. And you could smell it a mile off. Mead, gore, sweat, animal meat, seawater and smoke were the typical odours of a 10th century warrior.

What did old London smell like?

The air itself was generally filled with soot and smoke. It was famously said of the sheep in Regent’s Park — there were still grazing sheep in Regent’s Park in the mid-Victorian period — that you could tell how long they’d been in the capital by how dirty their coats were.

What solved the great stink?