BDNNM:2014-40

photograph - sepia - photograph dates from 1857 and shows riverside 'extract from a 1859 description of Riverside' - 'Rough flights of steps descend beneath the terrace or towing path which is arched over them, to the stream, at the edge of which, and at the foot of the steps, is generally placed a broad flat stone for the convenience of water getters, who resort here with their pitchers at all hours of the day. ..... a child or woman dipping her pitcher into not the cleanest of founts, the broken wall and uneven terrace, backed by the crowding tenements which swell in every variety of smoking roof up the slope of the hill' - The tow path (enabled horses to replace teams of 6 to 8 bow haulers) completed 1799. To improve access to the Gas Works which began 1838 and Southwell's carpet factory in the 1880's, a road was constructed. Locals nicknamed it 'sugarbag' because hessian sacking was used to stabilise the ground edging the river to support the road. There is now a gap in the house line because in 1895 the collapse of a retaing wall above, behind the houses killed 2 people, injuring others and making 13 familes homeless. The ruins were demolished but it is possible to see still the entrances to their cave kitchens hewn into the rock and from the road below the towpath, the arched entrances to their cellars which went back under the towpath. Note: the water works opened in 1853 but it took time to provide the piping and conduits to obtain this filtered supply widely.