PENRITH HERALD, October 17, 1874 / WEST WARD UNION.......Part III

[Barb Ontario Canada]

 

 

WEST WARD UNION........Part III

 

(continued).......The CLERK then read the following letter: ......

 

“Vicarage, Crosby Ravensworth,

“Shap, October 13th, 1874.

 

“Dear MR. ATKINSON: – Fearing that I may not be able to attend the Board meeting to-morrow, and take part in the discussion which will no doubt arise relative to the purchase of the site for the workhouse at Shap, I write to say that I could not in consistency sign the memorial which, I believe is in course of signature to the Local Government Board in favour of that site.

 

“I have on many occasions stated openly before the Board my opinion that Shap was not a proper place for the workhouse, on account  of the severity of its winter climate.

 

This opinion is based on the experience of 26 years in the immediate neighbourhood.  I still retain that opinion; and could I be present at the Board to-morrow, I should certainly, as a matter of duty, again express it.  If absent, I should be glad to do so through you.

 

The site selected for the workhouse cannot be less than 800 feet above the sea level, – that of the railway station is 860 – and, exposed as it is to the full violence of the south west gales, which blow with such fury over the well-known Shap Fells, accompanied with torrents of driving rain, it would be impossible to erect the building with any windows having a southern exposure.

 

“The exact rainfall of Shap is perhaps not ascertainable, but that of Mardale, about some five miles to the west, on the average of the last 5 years, is 92-1/2 inches; while that of Crosby Ravensworth, 4 miles to the east, is 52 inches.  the rainfall of Shap is, therefore, probably something between those two figures.

 

“Healthy enough in the summer, and perhaps at all times for those born and bred up in it, the climate of Shap in the winter cannot fail, from the combined influence of cold and wet, to prove very severe and very trying to young children, and also to aged and infirm persons who have been accustomed all their lives to the milder climate of the lower-lying parishes of the Union.

 

These are the reasons which make me think that, of all places in the Union, Shap is perhaps the most unfavourable as a site for the workhouse.

 

“I hold the opinion very strongly.  I have expressed it publicly, and I desire to do so again; solely, I may add, in the interest of the poor, for no site could be more convenient than Shap for my own parish;  but the welfare of the poor should be paramount with us.

 

“I think the objections to the site should be clearly laid before the Local Government Board, and probably some of my brother guardians will be of the same opinion.

 

“Believe me, dear MR. ATKINSON,

“Very truly yours,

“G. F. WESTON.

 

“JAS. ATKINSON, Esq., chairman, &c.”

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Part IV will follow.......................

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barb, ontario, canada