JERICHO ECHO ARTICLE

Why Jericho doesn’t flood

Lucy Sholl investigates Jericho’s watery past.

October 2002

Water will always be a feature of Jericho life thanks to our close proximity to the canal and considerable damp problems. Nevertheless, while other areas of Oxford can experience flooding, Jericho seems to escape. Jericho residents were not always so lucky. After the first houses were built in the 1820s flooding was a recurring problem. When the canal arrived no-one had considered the effects that this might have on the area’s natural drainage. In fact, the ground became so waterlogged that until the late 19th century it was impossible to build on the western side of Jericho near the canal. Flooding was at its height in the mid 1800s, when Jericho was considered by some as a slum area. One book on sanitary conditions reported that Jericho had a ‘drain of the filthiest kind’ running through it. This flooding, and the unclean water supply, was blamed for the many deaths from typhoid and other infectious diseases. Oxford underwent a comprehensive draining programme in 1877 and that year for the first time there were no recorded deaths in Jericho from typhoid or diarrhoea. But the flooding continued well into the twentieth century. One resident recalls sitting on an inverted table top and being pushed through the flood water to get to school. Michael Broadway, organist at St. Barnabas, who grew up here in the 1940s and 1950s remembers that street corners commonly flooded after downpours. But a return to this state of affairs does not seem probable. In the 1970s a new sewage and drainage system was installed, and a pumping station was built in Nelson Street to keep the drains clear. Long-standing Jericho resident Ted Harris remembers a dramatic improvement after this, with the flooding disappearing almost overnight. Ever since then the drains have been pumped regularly and flood management generally has improved significantly. Nowadays, at the first sign of trouble, the River Authority closes the lock gates downstream on the canal. This has the effect of flooding the fields surrounding Oxford rather than the city itself. So the canal, which at first caused the flooding, is now used to prevent it. Philip Turner at Thomas Merrifield estate agents says that flooding is not an issue for house buyers and points out that although we are surrounded by water we also have extensive flood plains like Port Meadow to take up the water. Sue at North Oxford Property Services agrees and says that it is ‘very, very unlikely’ that Jericho will ever flood again. That still doesn’t mean we do not have problems with our elderly drains. One house in Cranham Street has recently been flooded with sewage due to blocked pipes underneath the house. Thames Water contractors trying to clear this spent a long time puzzling the twists and turns of the pipes and one worker jokingly suggested that the street should be demolished to allow a modern system to be put in. A neighbour, whose back garden houses the nearest manhole, had the distressing experience of endless unsuccessful attempts to solve the problem over several weeks, with tankers pumping noxious materials through her home. Aside from individual blocked drains, however, most of the water problems seem under control and it is unlikely that we will again be floating our children to St. Barnabas School on the kitchen table.

---