ORBIT-OnlineRepository ofBirkbeckInstitutionalTheses Enabling Open Access to Birkbeck’s Research Degree output The building pathology of early modern London https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40131/ Version: Full Version Citation: Cornish, Stephen Michael (2015) The building pathology of early modern London. [Thesis] (Unpublished) c 2020 The Author(s) All material available through ORBIT is protected by intellectual property law, including copy- right law. Any use made of the contents should comply with the relevant law. Deposit Guide Contact: email The Building Pathology of Early Modern London Stephen Michael Cornish Department of History, Classics, and Archaeology, Birkbeck College, University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Birkbeck College, University of London March 2015 1 Abstract This thesis is an exploratory study into enteric complaints and respiratory ailments in early modern London between 1500 and 1720. These two diseases are closely associated with urban environments, especially domestic housing, and they killed significant numbers during the study period. Unlike the plague, these diseases were comparatively stable from year to year and this thesis argues that this was largely related to constant exposure to defective buildings. While research into the relationship between housing and health is problematic, mainly because the inadequacy of housing is invariably associated with other hardships, such as poor nutrition and hygiene, this thesis aims to overcome this obstacle by applying new tools borrowed from the modern discipline of building pathology. This offers a contextual definition of a building defect and identifies the fundamental requirements of healthful housing. Building pathology also draws attention to the interaction of the external environment with buildings; the climate of the study period imposed extreme demands on vulnerable buildings and their services. Although there were variations in the quality of buildings occupied by different sectors of the population, the demands of the climate were largely exogenous to economy and society. Applying building pathology analysis to early modern London identifies conditions that were conducive to the spread of enteric and respiratory diseases amongst the wealthy as well as the poor. The final part of the thesis considers the social epidemiology of enteric and respiratory diseases, that is locating them within communities, spatially and residentially defined and questions whether the study of economic or social groups in the context of these two specific diseases helps or hinders epidemiology. Acknowledgements This thesis is the result of diverse group of historians, librarians, archivist, fellow chartered surveyors, friends and family. I am particularly indebted to Vanessa Harding who has supervised me over the last seven years and from whom I have learnt a great deal in terms of research, formulating ideas and writing a thesis. Janet Loengard, John Schofield, Hazel Forsyth, Dave Saxby, David Marsh and Daniel Antoine all gave time generously and directed me towards significant sources. I am very grateful to Canon Martin Warner, treasurer of St Paul’s Cathedral who allowed me to survey the residences at 3 Amen Court, an important source for my thesis. Martin’s colleagues, the Cathedral’s librarian Joe Wisdom and archivist Catherine Angerson, provided access to manuscripts and drawings of buildings constructed in the aftermath of the Great Fire. My research was also greatly assisted by the archivist at the London Metropolitan Archives. Thank you to David Beasley, librarian at the Goldsmiths’ who helped greatly in refining my research into the Company’s extensive property portfolio archives and provided invaluable assistance in interpreting the property management policy. Lastly, the past seven years would have been immeasurably harder without the unwavering support of my wife Maggie, our son Peter, particularly in his innovative construction of the on-line database used in my research, and my friend Julia Smith in reading the draft. Contents Figures ........................................................................................................................... 5 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ 9 PART I: Concepts, Methods and Sources ................................................................... 10 Chapter 1 ..................................................................................................................... 10 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 10 1.1 The urban ecology ......................................................................................... 13 1.2 Modern writers on building policy and practice ........................................... 22 1.3 Building pathology and its application.......................................................... 28 1.4 Defining a building defect in early modern London ..................................... 32 1.5 The fundamentals of healthful housing ......................................................... 37 1.6 The relationship between defective housing and ill-health ........................... 45 Chapter 2 ..................................................................................................................... 50 Addressing the Problems of Housing and Health Research .................................... 50 2.1 The Approach: public health or private illness ............................................. 50 2.2 Identifying the parameters pertaining to the health hazards of housing. ...... 65 2.3 The investigation method .............................................................................. 73 2.4 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 79 Chapter 3 ..................................................................................................................... 82 Reconstructing the built Environment..................................................................... 82 3.1 Panoramas and maps ..................................................................................... 83 3.2 Pictorial and photographic ............................................................................ 93 3.3 Remaining buildings ................................................................................... 100 3.4 Archaeological excavations......................................................................... 106 3.5 Records of property holding and management ........................................... 110 3.6 Viewers and Surveyors................................................................................ 117 3.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 127 PART II: Building Pathology Analysis ..................................................................... 129 Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................... 129 Building policies: An Intervention Study.............................................................. 129 4.1 The sources and administration of building policy ..................................... 130 4.2 Building policies and enteric disease .......................................................... 134 4.3 Population growth and the spread of airborne infections ............................ 152 4.4 Fundamental physiological requirements.................................................... 164 4.5 Rising and penetrating damp ....................................................................... 172 4.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 178 Chapter 5 ................................................................................................................... 181 Failures in the structure and fabric of London’s housing...................................... 181 5.1 The manifestation of defects in the structure and fabric ............................. 183 5.2 The conduction of damp into the buildings ................................................. 189 5.3 Damp retention in dwellings and ill-health ................................................. 226 5.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 230 Chapter 6 ................................................................................................................... 232 Building services and the internal environment .................................................... 232 6.1 The transmission and storage of water within the dwelling ........................ 233 6.2 The removal of excrement from the buildings ............................................ 241 6.3 The indoor environment .............................................................................. 252 6.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 276 PART III: Social Epidemiology ................................................................................ 278 Chapter 7 ................................................................................................................... 278 The social relationship between housing and health ............................................