Ian Handford on the Paignton Pioneer

The Stench & Perfume of & Perfume of

Old Torquay

When we look at a picture of Victorian Torquay there’s one thing that we can’t see. at’s what the town actually smelled like. And it stank. Kevin Dixon gives us a whi of the lost scents of our seaside town.

The smell would have hit you instantly- a mixture of neighbouring houses. ere was also a water tank at animal dung, human waste, body odour, coal and Torre, two in St Marychurch, two in Torwood and a wood smoke. While this is true of other Victorian towns, spring at the Braddons. While the availability of water Torquay experienced exceptional growth, much of which, increased with the construction of Chapel Hill reservoir in the early days, was crammed into a narrow valley. In in 1856 and a second reservoir in the Warberries in 1872, 1800 there were only around 800 people in Torquay; by there was still restricted access for many. 1841 the population had risen to 5,982; a decade later to en there was body odour. It was common to go for 11,474; and by 1901 had reached 33,625. weeks without washing the body, though hands, feet and

First of all, there was the ever-present coal and wood faces were still washed regularly. Men and women with smoke. Every home and business needed energy and money covered any unpleasantness with perfume; it wasn’t had to burn something; the result would be soot and the until 1888 that we saw the invention of the rst successful smoke of hundreds of res saturating the sky. brand of commercial deodorant called ‘Mum’ (believed to ere would be horses everywhere drawing coaches have derived from “Mum’s the word” indicating keeping and atbed delivery carts. something quiet). ey worked all day and were constantly hungry and thirsty. With few places to dispose of animal waste, “ is was a town claiming to be the richest in England where women in sumptuous owing gowns and men in tailored suits carved a path A real challenge was the increasing amounts of human waste. Every home had a cesspool. Ideally this it was found all over the through people dressed in rags. was located in the back streets. ere were no public garden away from the house, toilets and the river Fleet was e ectively an open sewer - it but in more congested areas it was in the basement. was also a source of drinking water. Perhaps surprisingly, Cesspools were built to be porous so the liquid part of the everyday household waste wasn’t a great problem. Refuse waste could seep away into the ground - and often into was valuable and as much as possible was recycled, dust- the nearby river Fleet. ‘Night soil men’ then removed the yards being driven by pro t rather than any legislation or residue. Torquay was a deeply divided society with the public health concerns. rich living in the villas on the hills while the poor lived in

Today we take the availability of water for granted deep valleys. Consequently, the smell could often inform but it was once far less accessible, for both washing and you of your location – the a uent Warberries or working drinking. At rst Torquay derived its water from springs, class Torre. wells and rainwater tanks, and from 1826, the Palk When the Canadian visitor Isabella Cowen visited in Water Works. Water was then collected at a reservoir 1892 she recorded, “I have seen more luxury since being at Ellacombe, fed by its own springs, which supplied in Torquay than in all my previous life.” is was a town

claiming to be the richest in England where women Households were then obliged to store their waste in in sumptuous owing gowns and men in tailored suits ‘a movable receptacle’. And so the modern dustbin was carved a path through people dressed in rags. born. ough the authorities were taking action to

Visitors to the town had guidebooks giving information tackle overcrowding and disease, it still took decades for on which places to visit and which places to avoid. Other people to accept that local government had a role in how clues would be found in local names. Clearly, Belgravia they managed their household, their rubbish, and their would be suitable for the wealthy visitor, while Pimlico toilet facilities. less so. e aroma of a neighbourhood would further Progress was nonetheless being made. One technological inform of the social advance was the invention of standing of its inhabitants. the water closet with its wallSeveral developments made local folk accept that The night soil men mounted cistern. Becoming popular in the 1870s, these change had to be made. were initially connected to e most important was the old cesspools. However, the realisation that poor the extra volume of ushing sanitation caused disease. water was overwhelming In 1849 sixty-six people and caused an escalating died from cholera and stench in the home. New dysentery. Many of the dead sewer systems were already in were buried in Cholera place but were designed just Corner in the churchyard for rainwater. e need to of what is now the Greek remove human waste from Orthodox Church of St. the household quickly gave them a new function. Andrew. As was to be expected, the cases occurred mainly e upper classes were rst to install elegant baths in in those oldest and poorest districts. their villas. However, even after indoor plumbing became

In response, Torquay adopted the Public Health Act and a necessity instead of a novelty, it still took some time the rst meeting of the Local Board of Health took place before people thought of bathing as something to do in September 1850. Conditions then gradually began to every day. Motorcars replaced horses, and we adopted improve. In 1865 the Local Board of Health made “a good new cleaning devices such as showers and toothbrushes. wide street between the bottom of Union Street and the As better hygiene took hold, strong perfumes for both Strand.” is replaced the narrow alleyways on both sides men and women were no longer essential to combat of the River Fleet. At the same time, the odoriferous Fleet personal aromas, and so the industry aligned itself more was con ned to a tunnel - and it’s still there. with fashion and with women.

In 1848 the Public Health Act began waste regulation, And gradually, the stench would diminish, and there while a second act in 1875 put an end to scavenging. would be new fragrances in Torquay’s streets. 

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