We
had to check the quality of the drinking water. The supply was owned
then by Marquess of Exeter, Burghley Estate, and was taken over in 1974.
It came from several sources, springs, boreholes, wells, and there was
an artesian well in Ryhall Road, Stamford. All souces are clean now,
Stamford water comes from a well six miles away. In Ketton a Mr Borroughs,
the local squire- has his own private supply which came from a spring
near Collyweston and generously gave for the village use. In 1948 mains
water was installed. Sewage disposal was primitive, a few had cesspools,
but most had pail toilets, these had to be collected weekly by a refuse
team. This was called night soil collection. Main sewage was eventually
installed, which personally I found very rewarding to see happening.
In the 1950s to the 1960s, these places had to maintained by very few
staff, it was a great responsibility to keep them running all the time.
It's different now, they've got more staff and more money...Once the
drainage system was installed people wanted to improve their homes and
grants were available to put in bathrooms, also repair grants. I think
one year we gave over two million pounds in repair grants. It was a
great achievement and you can see the result in the area.
