It will be obvious that though so much has been done, much yet remains to be accomplished ere the Thames Northern Embankment is regularly completed. The carriage-way, for the present, has only been gravelled and macadamized. The reason is, that in newly-made rotten earth its sinking down must be allowed for, for some time, ere it can all be paved, like London Bridge, with “granite pitching.” Four regular approaches into the Strand—by way of Villiers, Norfolk, Surrey, and Arundel Streets—have been made; and there are three other ways which go from Westminster, Whitehall, and Blackfriars; another is in progress from Charing Cross.
Starting from the western end, the Metropolitan District Railway has already open, along this embankment, five stations, called Westminster, Charing Cross, Temple, Blackfriars, and Mansion House.
The wall of the Thames Northern Embankment just alluded to is, to quote once more, “constructed generally of brickwork faced with granite, and is carried down to a depth of 32½ feet below Trinity high-water mark, the foundation being of Portland cement concrete. The level of the roadway generally is four feet above Trinity high-water mark, except at the two extremities, where it rises to Westminster and Blackfriars Bridges to an extreme height of about 20 feet above high-water. The rising ground for both these approaches is retained by a granite faced wall, similar in character to the general Embankment wall.
“The face of the Embankment forms a graceful curve, having a plane face to about mean high-water level, and being ornamented above that level with mouldings, which are stopped at intervals of about seventy feet with plain blocks of granite, intended to carry lamp standards of cast-iron, and relieved on the river face by bronze lions’ heads carrying mooring rings. The uniform line of the Embankment is broken at intervals by massive piers of granite, flanking recesses for pontoons or landing stages for steamboats, and at other places by stairs projecting into the river, and intended as landing-piers for small craft. The steamboat piers occur at Westminster, Charing Cross, and Waterloo Bridges; and those for boats midway between Westminster and Charing Cross, and between Charing Cross and Waterloo Bridge; and both are combined opposite Essex Street. It is intended eventually to surmount the several blocks and pedestals with groups of statuary.”
FOOD SUPPLY; MARKETS; BAZAARS; SHOPS.
Food Supply.—The Quarterly Review, on one occasion, illustrated, in a whimsical way, the vastness of the system. The following is described as the supply of meat, poultry, bread, and beer, for one year:—72 miles of oxen, 10 abreast; 120 miles of sheep, do.; 7 miles of calves, do.; 9 miles of pigs, do.; 50 acres of poultry, close together; 20 miles of hares and rabbits, 100 abreast; a pyramid of loaves of bread, 600 feet square, and thrice the height of St. Paul’s; 1000 columns of hogsheads of beer, each 1 mile high.
Water and Coal Supply.—The water used in the metropolis is chiefly supplied by the Thames, and by an artificial channel called the New River, which enters on the north side of the metropolis. The water is naturally good and soft. The spots at which it is raised from the Thames used to be within the bounds of the metropolis, at no great distance from the mouths of common sewers; but it is now obtained from parts of the river much higher up, and undergoes a very extensive filtration. Nine companies are concerned in the supply of water,—viz., the New River, East London, Southwark and Vauxhall, West Middlesex, Lambeth, Chelsea, Grand Junction, Kent, and Hampstead Water Companies. Some of the works, within the last few years, constructed by these companies, up the river, are very fine. Returns furnished to the Registrar-General by the London Water Companies shewed that the average daily supply of water for all purposes to the London population, during the month of May, 1870, was 107,540,811 gallons, of which it is estimated the supply for domestic purposes amounted to about 88,381,700 gallons, or 26 gallons per day per head of population. The metropolis is supplied with coal principally from the neighbourhood of Newcastle, but partly also from certain inland counties; the import from the latter being by railway. Newcastle coal is preferred. It arrives in vessels devoted exclusively to the trade; and so many and so excessive are the duties and profits affecting the article, that a ton of coal, which can be purchased at Newcastle for 6s. or 7s., costs, to a consumer in London, from 22s. to 27s. The quantity of coal brought to London annually much exceeds 5,000,000 tons, of which considerably more than 2,000,000 come by railway. The wholesale dealings in this commodity are managed chiefly at the Coal Exchange, a remarkable building just opposite Billingsgate.
Markets.—London contains nearly 40 markets for cattle, meat, corn, coal, hay, vegetables, fish, and other principal articles of consumption. The meat-markets are of various kinds—one for live animals, others for carcases in bulk, and others for the retail of meat; some, also, are for pork, and others principally for fowls. The New Cattle Market, Copenhagen Fields, near Pentonville, built, in 1854, to replace old Smithfield Market, covers nearly 30 acres, and, with outbuildings, slaughterhouses, &c., cost the City Corporation about £400,000. It is the finest live stock market in the kingdom. The present Smithfield Market, near the Holborn Viaduct, for dead meat and poultry, is a splendid building, 625 feet long, 240 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Wide roads on its north, east, and west sides, accommodate its special traffic. A carriage road runs right through it from north to south, with spacious and well ventilating avenues radiating from it. There are in this market no less than 100,000 feet of available space. It has cost upwards of £180,000 already. There are underground communication with several railways, to bring in, right under the market, meat and poultry from the country, and meat from the slaughterhouses of the Copenhagen Fields Cattle Market. Newgate Market, as a market, no longer exists. Leadenhall Market is a depôt for meat and poultry. At Whitechapel there is a meat market also. The minor meat markets require no special note here. Billingsgate, the principal fish market of London, near the Custom House, was greatly extended and improved in 1849. It is well worth visiting any morning throughout the year, save Sunday, at five o’clock. Ladies, however, will not care to encounter its noise, bustle, and unsavoury odours. The fish arriving in steamers, smacks, and boats from the coast or more distant seas, are consigned to salesmen who, during the early market hours, deal extensively with the retail fishmongers from all parts of London. The inferior fish are bought by the costermongers, or street-dealers. When particular fish are in a prime state, or very scarce, there are wealthy persons who will pay enormously for the rarity; hence a struggle between the boats to reach the market early. At times, so many boats come laden with the same kind of fish as to produce a glut; and instead of being sold at a high price, as is usually the case, the fish are then retailed for a mere trifle. Fish is now brought largely to London by railway, from various ports on the east and south coasts. The yearly sale of fish at Billingsgate has been estimated at so high a sum as £2,000,000.
Covent Garden Market (connected by Southampton Street with the Strand) is the great vegetable, fruit, and flower market. This spot, which is exceedingly central to the metropolis, was once the garden to the abbey and convent of Westminster: hence the name Convent or Covent. At the suppression of the religious houses in Henry VIII.’s reign, it devolved to the Crown. Edward VI. gave it to the Duke of Somerset; on his attainder it was granted to the Earl of Bedford; and in the Russell family it has since remained. From a design of Inigo Jones, it was intended to have surrounded it with a colonnade; but the north and a part of the east sides only were completed. The fruit and vegetable markets were rebuilt in 1829–30. The west side is occupied by the parish church of St. Paul’s, noticeable for its massive roof and portico. Butler, author of Hudibras, lies in its graveyard, without a stone to mark the spot. In 1721, however, a cenotaph was erected in his honour in Westminster Abbey. The election of members to serve in Parliament for the city of Westminster was held in front of this church: the hustings for receiving the votes being temporary buildings. The south side is occupied by a row of brick dwellings. Within the square thus enclosed fruit and vegetables of the best quality are exposed for sale. A large paved space surrounding the interior square is occupied by the market-gardeners, who, as early as four or five in the morning, have carted the produce of their grounds, and wait to dispose of it to dealers in fruit and vegetables residing in different parts of London; any remainder is sold to persons who have standings in the market, and they retail it to such individuals as choose to attend to purchase in smaller quantities. Within this paved space rows of shops are conveniently arranged for the display of the choicest fruits of the season: the productions of the forcing-house, and the results of horticultural skill, appear in all their beauty. There are also conservatories, in which every beauty of the flower-garden may be obtained, from the rare exotic to the simplest native flower. The Floral Hall, close to Covent Garden Opera House, has an entrance from the north-east corner of the market, to which it is a sort of appendage as a Flower Market. Balls, concerts, &c., are occasionally given here. The Farringdon, Borough, Portman, Spitalfields, and other vegetable markets, are small imitations of that at Covent Garden.