The engineer’s next report was for the year ending April 5th, 1868, and was divided into three heads. Repairs to roads; repairs to paving; and repairs to sewers. First with respect to roads. The cost of the macadamised roads had been £2329 12s. 7d., being an increase of £137 7s. 8d. Some new roads had been taken by the board, and were repaired and cleansed, and all the roads were stated to be in good order. Second, with respect to paving. The expenditure had been £1088 8s. 10d., being an increase of £218 13s., but a part of the Market Place had been newly paved with granite at a cost of £216. Third, with respect to the sewers. The cost of repairs, &c., had been £546 5s. 5d., being a decrease of £29 16s. 9d.
Since 1850 the annals of the city consist chiefly of proceedings of the corporation as a council or Board of Health. Meetings have been held almost every fortnight for the transaction of public business, which has been largely increased. The proceedings of one single year, even if summarised, would fill a volume. The corporation has levied rates to the amount of £45,000 yearly! and the expenditure has been of equal amount. This has been caused by many public improvements, by widening old streets and opening new ones, and by the extension of the area of the Cattle Market.
Mr. Morant gives the following account of the drainage works:
“The drainage of the city of Norwich flows into the river at numerous places, as is commonly the case; it is the object of the new works now in progress to intercept all the old sewers, to prevent the sewage flowing into the river, and to convey it to one point. For this purpose several deep sewers are being constructed, varying in size from 18 inches in diameter to 6 feet high by 4 feet wide, of oval shape.
“The point selected for the pumping station is between the railway at Trowse Station and the river Yare; and a large piece of garden ground has been purchased, and engine and boilerhouses, workshops, &c., have been erected. Adjoining the engine-well are the grating tank and penstock chamber, and with these the principal main sewer communicates. This sewer, which is 6 ft by 4 ft., is intended to be carried under the bottom of Bracondale, Carrow Hill, and along King Street to near Messrs. Morgan’s brewery, where it will receive the high-level sewer. This sewer will be from 30 ft. to 80 ft. below the surface of the ground. From this point it will be 5 ft. 3 in. by 3 ft. 6 in., and will be continued along King Street to the top of Rose Lane; here one branch will turn off to the right under Rose Lane, beneath the bottom of the river near Foundry Bridge, under the towing path, to beyond Bishopgate Bridge, where it will unite with the present outfall sewer, and receive the whole of the drainage of the northern portion of the city. From Rose Lane the main will continue to Tombland, where a branch will extend to Bishopgate Bridge, with subsidiary branches to Quay Side, &c.; it will then turn to the left under Prince’s Street, St. Andrews Broad Street, Charing Cross, and Lower Westwick Street, and will unite with the present sewer emptying itself at the New Mills.
“From the end of the principal main near Messrs. Morgan’s in King Street the high-level sewer will commence with a flight of granite steps, about 30 feet in height, and continue 4 ft. 6 in. by 3 ft., gradually reducing, and carried under King Street to Rose Lane, across the Bull Ring, where it will be about 44 feet below the surface, under Opie Street, Bedford Street, Pottergate Street, West Pottergate Street, Mill Hill, Rose Valley, Mount Pleasant, Town Close Road to Ipswich Road, and will provide for the sewage of a very large district hitherto entirely undrained.
“Self-acting Storm Overflows are provided at several convenient points, and also numerous shafts for access to, and ventilation of, the sewers. At the pumping station at Trowse the sewage, after passing through gratings to prevent sticks and other substances from choking the pump valves, will pass into the engine-well, from whence it will be pumped through cast-iron pipes 20 inches in diameter, laid under the Kirby Road to near the cross road leading to the Bungay Road, and then be led in a main conduit across the centre of the land hired by the Board, and by means of small feeders to every part of the farm.
“The steam engines will be three in number, and of the kind known as condensing rotative beam engines, with steam cylinders of 35 in. diameter and 6 ft. stroke. Each engine will be provided with a high lift pump connected with the pumping main, and also with a low lift pump; the object of the low lift pumps is to enable the rain water to be pumped into the overflow sewer in time of heavy storms, when the sewage is so greatly diluted as to be little more than soiled water; the first scouring of the sewers will be pumped by the high lift pumps on to the land.
“Four boilers, each 27 ft. 6 in. long and 7 ft. diameter, with two flues, are provided to produce the steam necessary for working the engines, and the chimney shaft to remove the smoke is 140 feet in height.
“The foundation of the engine had to be carried down 29 feet below the surface, and much difficulty was found in getting in the walls on account of the force of the springs, the bottom being 22 feet below the water level in the adjoining river, and from the same cause considerable difficulty is met with in driving the tunnels for the sewers. In Trowse for example, the soil proved to be running sand and mud, which was very troublesome to overcome; the same soil exists under Rose Lane, Foundry Bridge, and Bishopgate Street, but nearly everywhere else the tunnels will be in the chalk.
“Irrigation by sewage is no doubt quite in its infancy, but from the very satisfactory results arrived at at Barking, Croydon, Norwood, Edinburgh, Banbury, Rugby, and other places, there is good reason to hope that eventually the Board’s Sewage Farm at Crown Point will prove a success.”
CHAPTER XXII.
Norwich Musical Festivals.
Since the year 1824, musical festivals have been held in this city triennially, for the benefit, originally, of the hospitals, and lately of various other charities also, and for the promotion of musical science. These celebrations have been so successful on the whole that the total surplus receipts over the expenditure have amounted to more than £10,000. Works of the greatest composers have been well performed by the most eminent instrumentalists and vocalists of the day, and thereby a taste for music has been diffused throughout the city and county.
The patrons of the festivals have included the Queen, the late Prince Consort, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Kent, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke of Cambridge, the Princess Mary of Cambridge, the Duke of Wellington, the Marquis of Lothian, the Earl of Roseberry, the Earl of Gosford, the Earl of Orford, Lord W. Powlett, Lord Stanley, Lord Walsingham, Lord Wodehouse, and many others of the nobility. The committee of management have included the Lord Lieutenant of the county, the Earl of Albemarle, Lord Ranelagh, Lord Sondes, Lord Hastings, Lord Stafford, Lord Suffield, Lord Bayning, Hon. W. C. W. Coke, Hon. H. Walpole, Hon. W. Jerningham, Sir J. P. Boileau, Bart., Sir W. Foster, Bart., Sir S. Bignold, and others.
The first musical performance for charitable purposes is said to have been on the anniversary of the Sons of the Clergy, in 1709; some fifteen years after which period, the meeting of the three choirs of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester, was instituted, those cathedral cities sending their choristers to each place in alternate years. These early music meetings, however, were held in the evening, and seem to have been limited to the performance of Anthems and the Te Deum. The first occasion of an Oratorio having been performed in the morning appears to have been at Hereford in 1759, when the Messiah was given.
The Birmingham Triennial Festival was instituted about the year 1778, and that of Norwich, as now held in St. Andrew’s Hall, in 1824, previously to which the Norwich festival consisted of the yearly performance of an Oratorio in the cathedral for the benefit of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. The performances of later years have been on a much grander scale. The festivals at Birmingham and Norwich now stand pre-eminent among provincial musical meetings, both for the excellence of the performances, and for the special interest given to the programmes by the first production of new or little-known works. Among other claims to honourable distinction in this respect, it is the chief and will be the lasting honour to Norwich that Dr. Spohr’s sacred Oratorios were first performed here, his earliest production being conducted by himself in person before a large audience.
The selection of works and music to be performed has always occupied a great deal of the time and attention of the committees, who have made it an object to bring out some new work at every festival. Most of Handel’s best Oratorios have also been performed, including, of course, the “Messiah,” which is never omitted from the programme. Haydn’s “Creation” and “Seasons” have also been frequently given, while Dr. Spohr’s “Calvary,” “Fall of Babylon,” and “The Last Judgment.” Dr. Bexfield’s “Israel Restored,” Pierson’s “Jerusalem,” and Molique’s “Abraham” were first performed in this city. The programmes have also included Sterndale Bennett’s “May Queen,” which won all hearts; Benedict’s brilliant “Undine,” and many other approved compositions.