I thought I'd write about something completely different I did when in London. I visited this amazing place down river to view a gem of Victorian engineering design and heritage.
The CROSSNESS PUMPING STATION is a heritage site most people have never heard of. I knew about it from watching programmes like “Seven Industrial Wonders of the World” which include Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s intercepting sewer system, installed in the 1850’s, encompassing a network of new drains throughout London, feeding effluent into vast sewers made of bricks. Sewage ran through these large tunnels with the aid of gravity, along both sides of the Thames, travelling eastwards to Crossness on the south bank, and to Barking on the north. The banks of the Thames were reclaimed and enclosed by these engineering works, creating today’s Embankment and South Bank areas.
This massive engineering project converted London from a filthy, stinking, disease ridden cesspit, and contributed a great deal to cleaning the Thames, which had until then been used as an open sewer for all the waste flowing out of London.
At Crossness, on the Erith Marshes, about 15 kilometres downriver from Westminster, the two-storey (3-level) brick building dominates the flat countryside around. Although the building itself is a splendid example of the engineering design and the brick builders skills, it is the restoration work inside that is stunning.
The whole complex comprised an engine house 150 feet long with a boiler room housing 12 boilers to raise the necessary steam power. There was also an engineering workshop and a valve house to control the flow of effluent through the site. A detached chimney, 208 feet high, sadly, was long ago demolished.
The four giant engines were built in Birmingham and transported in sections to London by canal. They were each given a royal name – Victoria, Prince Consort, Albert Edward, and Alexandra.
The pumping station was designed to receive up to 17 million gallons of sewage each day, which was pumped into an adjacent reservoir with a storage capacity of 25 million gallons. When the tide was flowing out to sea, the effluent was discharged from the reservoir into the Thames, to be carried a safe distance from the city. The reservoir is subterranean, and covered in soil and turf. 28 houses for workers were built around the edges of the reservoir, as well as a slightly grander one for the Works Superintendent, and there was also a school which catered for other children in the area. None of these are evident today.
To the uninformed, non-technical visitor such as myself, the engines are works of beauty, awesome in their size and impressive in scale. The beams above capture this sense, providing a useful measure of scale. The cast-iron work surrounding the octagonal area between the four engines has also been painstakingly restored, and the paintwork reveals a strong colour palette favoured by the Victorians.
More information about the site, the Crossness Engines Trust, visiting hours, steaming days etc. is available here.
The CROSSNESS PUMPING STATION is a heritage site most people have never heard of. I knew about it from watching programmes like “Seven Industrial Wonders of the World” which include Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s intercepting sewer system, installed in the 1850’s, encompassing a network of new drains throughout London, feeding effluent into vast sewers made of bricks. Sewage ran through these large tunnels with the aid of gravity, along both sides of the Thames, travelling eastwards to Crossness on the south bank, and to Barking on the north. The banks of the Thames were reclaimed and enclosed by these engineering works, creating today’s Embankment and South Bank areas.
This massive engineering project converted London from a filthy, stinking, disease ridden cesspit, and contributed a great deal to cleaning the Thames, which had until then been used as an open sewer for all the waste flowing out of London.
At Crossness, on the Erith Marshes, about 15 kilometres downriver from Westminster, the two-storey (3-level) brick building dominates the flat countryside around. Although the building itself is a splendid example of the engineering design and the brick builders skills, it is the restoration work inside that is stunning.
The whole complex comprised an engine house 150 feet long with a boiler room housing 12 boilers to raise the necessary steam power. There was also an engineering workshop and a valve house to control the flow of effluent through the site. A detached chimney, 208 feet high, sadly, was long ago demolished.
The four giant engines were built in Birmingham and transported in sections to London by canal. They were each given a royal name – Victoria, Prince Consort, Albert Edward, and Alexandra.
The pumping station was designed to receive up to 17 million gallons of sewage each day, which was pumped into an adjacent reservoir with a storage capacity of 25 million gallons. When the tide was flowing out to sea, the effluent was discharged from the reservoir into the Thames, to be carried a safe distance from the city. The reservoir is subterranean, and covered in soil and turf. 28 houses for workers were built around the edges of the reservoir, as well as a slightly grander one for the Works Superintendent, and there was also a school which catered for other children in the area. None of these are evident today.
To the uninformed, non-technical visitor such as myself, the engines are works of beauty, awesome in their size and impressive in scale. The beams above capture this sense, providing a useful measure of scale. The cast-iron work surrounding the octagonal area between the four engines has also been painstakingly restored, and the paintwork reveals a strong colour palette favoured by the Victorians.
More information about the site, the Crossness Engines Trust, visiting hours, steaming days etc. is available here.
