|| Burnside District

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Location
North of the river, spreading over gentle fields and slopes. It starts just beyond the industrial zone, extending into formerly rural farmland.
  Land Use
Primarily dense residential. This was once fields and farm pastures now covered by new housing for workers. A small market and chapel exist, but there are few shops.
  Socioeconomic Profile
Very working-class and poor. Large numbers of laborers (steelworkers, colliers, canal men) and recent migrants (including many Irish) live here. Unemployment and hardship are common among families.
  Built Environment:
A warren of back-to-back cottages and tiny cottages with single yards dominates. Most houses have one small “living” room on the ground floor (~12 ft square) and one upstairs bedroom of similar size. Attics are cramped if present. Overcrowding is severe in some courts. Many new brick blocks were hastily erected without amenities. Streets are narrow, unpaved in places, and smell of open drains. Poor sanitation (open sewers or none) makes these streets filthy. Indeed, lack of sewerage contributed to Cabinet’s cholera outbreak in 1832 (which killed over 400).   Infrastructure
A modest parish church (St. Agatha’s) and a grim workhouse are here. A handful of water troughs and a single pump serve the area; no gas lamps reach these streets yet. A toll bars on the Our Lady Agatha's Bridge collects an intentionally restrictive passage fee into town.
  Key Industries
Very little manufacturing here; it primarily feeds workers into other districts. A few street-corner smithies or carriage workshops exist, as well as beer-selling grocers. Families do piecework at home (e.g. needle or file finishing).   Vice Economy
Burnside District is notorious for slum conditions. Hundreds of small beerhouses cater to laborers. Occasional brothels operate discreetly in back courts. Pickpocketing and petty theft are common, as desperate families struggle to survive in this overcrowded quarter. A recent poliferation of opium dens has resulted in an addiction epidemic.