During the early 1930`s a Parish Council Meeting discussed the possibility of bringing mains sewage disposal to the village at a cost of £3976. There was no means of raising this large amount of money and nothing was achieved until two decades later, when the financial outlay increased by ten fold to £30k During the late 1930`s and until the mid 1950`s, the village waste such as Slaughterhouse effluent and Human waste was collected by the "Night Soil" man. The term "Night Soil" was used as this task was carried out late at night. This basically consisted of a horse and cart which would transport the effluent to a site just outside the village centre. A Typical "Tip Cart" is described here >>> This task was not unique to Bures, it would have been carried out throughout the country.

Notes taken from Bures St Mary Parish Council Records 1938.

Three tenders were received to deal with the village waste.

Although the Parish Council dealt with the local issue of contractor and equipment, Long Melford District Council made the ultimate decisions.
Herbet (Bert) Clark was duly granted the contract as "village scavenger"

The contract for "Emptying Cesspits, and pail closets, earth closets and house refuse collection" was very lengthy and precise in its detail such as:-

(a)No excremental refuse to be in the streets between 0800hrs and 2200hrs during April and September or between 0900hrs and 2200hrs from October to March.
(b)The contractor is forbidden to ask for any fee or gratuity
(c) The contractor will be required to collect and dispose of the refuse from the earth closets and pail closets once weekly.
(d)The contractor when requested by a householder will properly empty, discharge and cart away all the excremental refuse contained within the different receptacles
(e)If any waste was to be found on the highway or pavements the contractor had a qtr ton of Chloride of Lime at hand. As we know today this was a very toxic chemical to use, easily burning the skin.

Tenders were received from Brands of Bures, Webbs of Long Melford, Ransomes of Ipswich and Joslins of Colchester to supply a cart suitable for the transportation of wet material.
Brands of the High Street were very adamant, that as a local firm and a large ratepayer they should be awarded the contract.
Letters indicate their great displeasure on hearing others had been asked to tender for the cart.

Finally Long Melford DC granted the contract to Webbs of Long Melford. The tank had a capacity of 150 galls made from 3/16th steel with rubber tyres. The tank was tipped by turning the hand wheel. The lid to be totally sealed to avoid spillage This news could not have been received very favorably by "Brands" in the High Street. They had been quite scathing about their competitors quality of build.

The location of the "Refuse Dump" is described as "plot of land adjoining the Bures to Nayland Rd at Clicket Hill. Access to field by single farm gate for night soil deposit. The material would have been deposited in trenches rather than just spread across the field.
This would have been the field on the right looking towards the river, as you pass along the top of Clicket Hill.

Todays modern sewage plant stands on the same field.

From records it appeared Bert worked on a 2 year rolling contract. Only two years after gaining the contract, he wrote this letter to the Parish Council seeking an increase. The Parish Council thought this was totally justifiable and awarded him £160 per annum just for Bures St Mary. This included a fee of £32.12.3d which was the additional fee for scavenging and the collection of house refuse due to the increase in evacuees. Before starting work, Bert and his helper "Cardy" used to visit "The Swan" for refreshments to see them through the night. Parishioners were always complaining to the Parish Council about excrement left on the pavements after these two passed by. No doubt worse for wear with the drink!
Bert Clarke lived along Cuckoo Hill in the cottage half way up, we now know as "Cuckoos Nest". He generally helped out at Fysh House Farm and gardens during the day. Bert stabled the horse in the black barn along the track, between the Farm and Clickett Hill. It`s not known when Bert retired but it must have been late 40`s or early 50`s. Before the arrival of mains sewage, a Cambridge slurry firm used to visit the village once a week with a tanker. Mains sewage came to the village circa 1955/6
Chris Clarke, Bert Clark and Frank Clark (were they brothers ?)	Bert with his trusty horse "Nelson"

GENERAL NOTES:-

Health
In all the time the Night Soil man was working (1938 to 1955) not one single case of an infectious (reportable) disease was notified.
Does this back up the case whereas today our immune system is so weak, we seem to get ill at the slightest contact with infection - ed.

Disposal of waste before the Night Soil man.
Disposed of locally by the householder !
Thrown into the River !

Extract of School Documents made by Mr Creek Headmaster circa 1933:-

At the far side of the playgrounds was a long narrow building for the lavatories, one end for the girls and infants, and the other for the boys. There were no facilities for washing hands except in the main building. The boys urinals were unroofed. The row of privies, each with its bench-seat, had a bucket beneath, which was emptied from a passage at the back of the building once a week by the man with a horse-drawn nightcart - there was no other sewage system in the village.

A similar scheme to the one detailed above must have been in operation - ed
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Extract of letter from resident of Ropers Cottages to the Chairman of the Parish Council, June 1947
Dear Sir
The Lavatory Pails in this group of cottages have not been attended to for many months. Has this local service been suspended?
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1950 report of the local Medical Officer of Health:
BURES ST. MARY
The sanitary system of Bures in the main consists of pail closets, a few cesspools and open drains, none of which from a health point of view are in any way acceptable.............................
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Bures St Mary Parish Council.
There was also much correspondence in 1937-8 over tenders for a new sanitary cart. At that time emptying of pail closets took place once a week. (Cesspits were emptied as required, and house refuse collected once a month) In the late evening, a carthorse dragged a metal tumbler cart, with clanking buckets behind, stopping and starting, through the village. At the school it would come into the boys' playground, empty the buckets in the girls' and boys' privies, and then go to the far end of the playground, where a little cupboard-like door at ground level was unlatched, and the buckets from the school house outdoor· privy was emptied. One resident who hated the eerie sound of the heavy horse and clanking buckets in the quiet traffic-free evenings, was always afraid the cart would come to empty the pail while she was out for a last visit to the lavatory before bedtime.
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Information supplied by:-
D & K Frost/David Rutt/Ezra/Philip Powell/David Cawdell
Thanks to Pat Creek for the miscellaneous papers kept by her father.