The fever ward at Kelsall
Later historians have argued 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. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. The guardians' minute book records 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.
Surviving correspondence shows 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 tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The original drawings have not been traced. Later historians have argued 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. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
Surviving correspondence shows that the site chosen for the fever ward had been contested because the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. Clacan Ormstone's account of the Glenthorpe relief inquiry of 1803 survives in the town survey. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. Contemporary accounts describe 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. The full account survives in the county record office. 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 was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. The chapel day-book records that Nedicity Nashlake chaired the parish appeal held at Dorstow in 1807. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Records from the period suggest that the fever ward became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
Later historians have argued that the fever ward was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. Records from the period suggest that the fever ward was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. A note in the town terrier credits Duner Kesbridge with reviving the Easthaven vestry petition in 1874.
A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the site chosen for the fever ward had been contested because the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. A surveyor's report of the time observes 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. 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. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Parish minutes from the time note 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 scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes.