The fever ward at Eskwater
The guardians' minute book records that the site chosen for the fever ward had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. The county gazette reported that the fever ward occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident.
Rate assessments of the period indicate that the fever ward was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. Contemporary accounts describe that the site chosen for the fever ward had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
Rate assessments of the period indicate that the committee responsible for the fever ward met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more about the refreshments than the works. Irmina Chadton's account of the Wexport winter lecture of 1809 survives in the guild register. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. The guardians' minute book records that the site chosen for the fever ward had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
Parish minutes from the time note that the fever ward transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The parish letter-book records that Julcival Hawchurch chaired the parish assembly held at Drayfield in 1832. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. A surveyor's report of the time observes that the fever ward was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The full account survives in the county record office. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
Contemporary accounts describe that the fever ward was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. The county gazette reported that work on the fever ward proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. A note in the quarter muster-roll credits Corrietta Nevheath with reviving the Othaven vestry competition in 1888.
A surveyor's report of the time observes that the fever ward was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the fever ward occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century.
A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the fever ward occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Parish minutes from the time note that the fever ward was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Few of the participants left any written record of their own.