Holt Town Sanitary Works
in Holt Town, Manchester.
1882 Article [1]
'THE DISPOSAL OF REFUSE.
THE MANCHESTER PLAN. (From Land.)
'The question how to dispose of the sewage and refuse of large towns has been for long a very serious one. When the Health Committee of Manchester Corporation was first appointed it was estimated that the cesspools and ashpits in that city, if gathered together, would have formed a lake sixteen acres in extent, and four feet deep.
'Some few years ago the Manchester Corporation was compelled to boldly face this question of the disposal of refuse. The death rate in 1868 was 32.55, which clearly showed that there was something wrong, and a Health Committee was appointed to deal with the question. This body has worked the most careful manner upon a scientific basis, and as a result Manchester is managed in the best possible manner as far as its sanitary arrangements are concerned. Large works have been erected at Holt Town, within two miles of the centre of the city, which have cost upwards of £100,000. Here there are two engines of 100 horse-power, ten boilers, and fifteen dryers, and here it is that the refuse and sewage from half the city is taken to be dealt with. These works cover about six acres, and contain every appliance necessary for their purpose. A large laboratory is fitted up where analyses are made daily, reports upon which are submitted to the committee fortnightly. In Manchester there are 60,000 dry ash closets, worked on the pail system. The pails are removed least once, and in some cases twice, a week in closed vans. Each van, to which there are two men, is expected to make five journeys a day, and thus over 700 pails can be removed weekly by one horse and van and a couple of men, No less than 1600 tons of refuse are thus collected every week. On the arrival of the vans at the works the pails and dry refuse are removed and dealt with at once. This extracta is poured down a well, where it is mixed with vitrol, and in a few minutes becomes almost free from smell, but at the same time its manurial virtue is not affected in the least. It is unnecessary to describe the entire process, to which the refuse is subjected, but the result is that when it is completed powder remains, which can be handled just as easily as guano and shows no trace of its constituents. To prevent any danger of fouling of the atmosphere the steam arising from the dryers is allowed to escape through a flue where is a constant stream of water which completely purifies it. Everything, indeed, is done to prevent a nuisance, and so far there has never been a single complaint. Carbolic acid is freely used all over the works, and its use is attended with the most complete success.
'The ordinary refuse from the dust-bins is first sorted out and dealt with according to its nature. Two tanks are provided in which fish, dogs, cats, bones, and slaughterhouse refuse are boiled down. The fat is skimmed of the top and then put into a canvas squeezer, from which oil is obtained which sells at £24 a ton, the remaining cake being mixed among the other manure. In one year 141 tons of fish and tripe refuse, 13 tons of cats, and 7 tons of dogs have been dealt with in this way, all of which would otherwise have been thrown to rot upon the ashpits in open spaces, or to pollute the river or canals. A contractor pays a regular sum for the privilege of picking out rags, paper, tins, bottles, &c, finding his own men. The old shoes are allowed to accumulate until there are some tons of them, when they were placed in a furnace and after a proper manipulation, make a manure of tested value £10 a ton ; but this is mixed with the ordinary manure. The other refuse is used for the furnaces which work the boilers and other apparatus, the clinkers from which are made with lime, and ground by machinery into mortar, which has a ready sale to builders when trade is good.
'The question may be asked whether there is any difficulty in disposing of the manure when it is manufactured? This manure, as we have said, takes the form of a fine powder, very similar in appearance to guano, and is packed in bags for distribution. It can be easily mixed with the land, and is altogether different to the disgusting and foul smelling refuse mixed with all the usual contents of the dust-bins, which has been ordinarily sold to farmers by the Corporations of large towns. We cannot wonder at the fact that the half of Manchester's town refuse, which is not yet disposed of at Holt Town, cannot even be given away, and this is the experience of many other places. The manufactured article, however gives no trouble, and although it accumulates during the first half of the year, it is generally all cleared out by the beginning of May. At the present time there is scarcely a bagful in the place and there are quite as many orders in as can be supplied during the next month. Upwards of 10,000 tons are disposed of every year, and more than 2000 customers are now upon the books. The price is low, and although from the analysis it is estimated to be worth £4 a ton, yet, as the object of the Health Committee is not to make a profit but to get rid of the manure as rapidly as possible, it is sold at a uniform price of £3 per ton.'
1890 Report [2]
'THE MANCHESTER CORPORATION TOWN REFUSE.
In his annual report Mr. Alfred E. Fletcher, the Chief Inspector, makes the following observations in reference to the Manchester cremator for fetid gases :—
'At the town refuse works of the Manchester Corporation at Holt Town, the liquid portion of the material collected from the houses the pail system boiled down to dryness in closed steam-jacketed pans The fetid steam from this was brought to a shower bath wash-tower, which it was hoped would, on condensing the steam, remove also the nauseous smell which accompanied it. I had some difficulty in proving to the Health Committee that the cleansing effect of the wash water was not sufficient, for the vapour when discharged into the chimney was so masked the smoke and gases found there that its detection was difficult. At a distance of mile from the works, however, when the wind brought the smoke of this chimney over a district the offensive smell traceable to the evaporation referred to was painfully apparent. Although continued efforts were necessary to convince the committee of the existence of the nuisance, and of its connection with their operations at Holt Town, I am happy to report that when conviction was reached very, efficient action followed under the guidance of their able engineer, H. Whiley, Esq. From his designs a very effective cremator or burning chamber has been erected through which the fetid gases are made to pass before they are allowed to escape the chimney of the works. The cremator is a brick chamber of 8ft. width, 5ft. in height, and 52ft. in length. The walls are thick, and it is traversed by baffling walls so that the air in passing through it makes a serpentine course of about 112 feet. At one end of the chamber is a furnace where the waste cinders of the house refuse are burned, developing, with occasional help of better fuel, heat sufficient to raise to redness the whole of the interior. A thermometer at the end furthest from the furnace shows a temperature of 1,100 deg. to 1,200 deg. Fahr. So satisfied is the committee of the successful working of this apparatus, that they have now without further urging on my part erected a second cremator to deal with further portions of fetid gas in similar manner. It should be noted that a cremator for a similar purpose was erected several years ago by the Rochdale Corporation at the instigation of Mr. G. E. Davis, then inspector under the Alkali Act, and has been maintained in successful work ever since.'
Location
Holt Town is a small area to the east of Ancoats. The 1893 15" map shows the Sanitary Works immediately adjacent to both the Ashton Canal and the River Medlock (the Medlock emerged from a long culvert, passing under the canal at this point). The L&YR Ardwick branch and New Viaduct Street together crossed both waterways at this point. See 1901 photograph here. Rails and a road branched off to cross the Medlock and enter the works at a high level. Immediately to the north, the scene was dominated by the large Bradford Road Gas Works. To the south were two cotton mills, Beswick Cotton Works and Reservoir Mill. Immediately west were an iron works and an oil works (probably Smith and Forrest), and a small group of houses on Upper Cyrus Street and Alfred Street (later Adswood Street). The 1915 map shows little change, other than the enlargement of the Sanitary Works, the oil works, and the gas works, and, surprisingly, the introduction of a few new houses.
This 1928 aerial photograph shows the area, dominated by the gas works, with the sanitary works at the lower left of the picture. The wide road entrance can be clearly seen.[3]