Editing Metropolitan Board of Works (section)

==Activities==

===Sewage===
[[File:Cholera in London 1866.gif|thumb|This map of the Metropolis, co-governed by the elected councils of these districts, shows the 1866 cholera epidemic]]
{{main|London sewerage system}}
A major problem was sewage: most of London's waste was allowed to flow into the [[Thames]] resulting in a horrendous smell in the summer months. In 1855 and 1858 there were especially bad summers with the latter being known as "[[The Great Stink]]".<ref name="Stink"/> A notable achievement of the Board was the creation of the core [[London sewerage system]], including {{convert|82|mi|km}} of main and {{convert|1100|mi|km}} of street sewers, which solved the problem.<ref>{{cite news |title=London Sewers - Seven Wonders |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/england/sevenwonders/london/sewers_mm/index.shtml |access-date=18 April 2025 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> A large part of the work of the MBW was under the charge of the Chief Engineer, [[Joseph Bazalgette]], previously engineer with the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers.<ref name="Stink">{{cite news |title=Story of cities #14: London's Great Stink heralds a wonder of the industrial world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/04/story-cities-14-london-great-stink-river-thames-joseph-bazalgette-sewage-system |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> William Dibdin, chief chemist for the MBW, conceived the biological [[Sewage treatment#History|treatment of sewage]] to oxidize the waste.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hamlin |first1=Christopher |title=William Dibdin and the Idea of Biological Sewage Treatment |journal=Technology and Culture|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |date=1988 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=189-218 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/889247}}</ref>

===Streets and bridges===
Activities included [[Slum clearance in the United Kingdom|slum clearance]] and making new streets to relieve traffic congestion. The most important streets built were [[Charing Cross Road]], Garrick Street, [[Southwark Street]] and [[Northumberland Avenue|Northumberland]] and [[Shaftesbury Avenue]]s. 

{{anchor|Metropolis Toll Bridges Act 1877}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Metropolis Toll Bridges Act 1877
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to provide for throwing open for the free use of the Public certain Toll Bridges within the Metropolis.
| year                  = 1877
| citation              = [[40 & 41 Vict.]] c. xcix
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 12 July 1877
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
From 1869 the MBW bought all the private bridges across its section of the [[Tideway]] (Thames) and freed them of tolls. It also rebuilt [[Putney Bridge|Putney]], [[Battersea Bridge|Battersea]], [[Waterloo Bridge|Waterloo]] and [[Hammersmith Bridge]]s. 

;Commons-tabled plans for a bridge serving the role of [[Tower Bridge]]
The board wanted to build a new bridge east of [[London Bridge]], discussed for many years. In 1878 Bazalgette drew up plans which were estimated at £1.25 million ({{Inflation|GBP|1250000|1878|r=-6|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). The Treasury refused to help by upping the coal and wine duties (most of the board's income). The MBW advanced its plans, but saw its [[private bill]] which included negotiated payments and similar rejected by the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] for lack of headroom for light shipping.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bracken |first=G. Byrne |page=56|title=Walking Tour London: Sketches of the city's architectural treasures... Journey Through London's Urban Landscapes |publisher=Marshall Cavendish|year=2011|isbn=978-9-814-43536-9}}</ref>

===Embankment===
The Board funded the tree-studded surface in the three sections of its contractor-designer [[Joseph Bazalgette]]'s [[Thames Embankment]] from 1864.

===Fire brigade===

From 1865 the MBW became responsible for administering the [[London Fire Brigade#History|Metropolitan Fire Brigade]].<ref>[http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/about_us/our_history/key_dates.asp London Fire Brigade | History, key dates (Our history)<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618055617/http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/about_us/our_history/key_dates.asp |date=18 June 2008 }}</ref> Architects employed by the MBW who specialised in fire stations included [[Robert Pearsall (architect)|Robert Pearsall]], responsible for [[Fulham Fire Station]]<ref name="EH_01">{{NHLE|desc=FULHAM FIRE STATION, 685, FULHAM ROAD|num=1079761|access-date=23 December 2013}}</ref> and Woolwich Fire Station.

===Parks and open spaces===
[[File:Metropolitan Board of Works meeting Jan 1856.png|thumb|260px|The Board in [[Burlington House]], London, 1856]]
In 1856 the MBW obtained an amending act of parliament giving them the power to provide "parks, pleasure-grounds and open spaces", subject to parliamentary approval. Among the parks and open spaces acquired or laid by the board were:<ref>{{cite book|title=The Municipal Parks, Gardens, and Open Spaces of London; their history and associations|author=JJ Sexby|author-link=JJ Sexby|publisher=Eliot Stock |location=London|year=1905|url=https://archive.org/stream/municipalparksga00sexbrich#page/n7/mode/2up}}</ref>
*[[Finsbury Park]] (acquired 1857, formally opened 1869)
*[[Southwark Park]] (acquired 1864, opened 1869)
*[[Victoria Embankment Gardens]] (opened in 1870)
*[[Leicester Square]] (opened in 1874)
*[[Wormwood Scrubs]] (vested in the MBW in 1879)
*[[Hampstead Heath]] (acquired in 1886)
*[[Battersea Park]], [[Kennington Park]], [[Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets|Victoria Park]] and the gardens surrounding [[V&A Museum of Childhood|Bethnal Green Museum]] (taken over from the [[Office of Works]] in 1887)
*[[Clapham Common]] (transferred to the board's ownership in 1887)
*[[Wandsworth Common]] (duties of the conservators transferred to the board in 1887)
*[[Ravenscourt Park]] in 1888 and [[Clissold Park]] in 1889
*[[Dulwich Park]] laid out by the MBW but opened by the successor London County Council in 1890.

Under the [[Metropolitan Commons Act 1878]] the MBW obtained the right to purchase and hold saleable rights in [[commons|common lands]] in the Metropolis, in order to preserve the right of public access. The board also purchased the manorial rights in [[Streatham Common]] and [[Tooting Common]].