Crossness Pumping Station: London’s Mind-blowing “Cathedral of Sewage”

The Crossness Pumping Station, aka the “Cathedral of Sewage”, is undeniably one of London’s best hidden gems. Shockingly, it was very nearly lost to us: dismantled, forgotten and left to rust, but thankfully was saved by an unbelievably dedicated group of volunteers.

Read on to find out the amazing story behind this unique piece of London history.

“The Great Stink”

London’s population grew rapidly in the first half of the 19th century, from roughly 1 million in 1800 to 2.5 million in 1850.

This caused numerous problems including, of course, with sewage. Up until the 1860’s London’s sewage system was very rudimentary: it was called the Thames. Plans and solutions were proposed and discussed for decades but nothing could ever be agreed upon in Parliament.

In 1858 the issue came to a very smelly head in “the Great Stink”, when a particularly hot summer exacerbated the horrific stench from the river.

It was generally believed at the time that diseases were spread through foul air, known as the ‘miasma’ theory. The House of Commons, being right next to the river, tried to combat the smell by soaking their curtains in lime chloride but very nearly had to evacuate and move business elsewhere.

This was what finally gave the politicians the kick up the proverbial to actually do something.

Thankfully a man named Joseph Bazalgette, the chief engineer at the newly formed Metropolitan Board of Works, had a plan: a brand spanking new sewage system for London, which was swiftly put into action.

A network of pipes would run beneath the city sending waste into two huge sewers either side of the Thames. These sewers would then take the waste Eastwards and away from central London

The whole system was gravity fed, meaning the sewers needed to get deeper and deeper underground. Initially the raw sewage was just dumped into the Thames further downstream, therefore, a point came when the sewage needed to be brought back to the surface.

Crossness Pumping Station

Crossness Pumping Station in the South and Abbey Mills in the North fulfilled this purpose. In 1888, the system was tweaked and the ‘solid’ waste was filtered out and transported out to sea on barges, with only liquid waste released into the Thames.

Crossness was designed by Charles Henry Driver in a Romanesque style with beautiful rounded arches over the windows.

Crossness was officially opened on the 4th April 1865 by Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII). Other members of the royal family attended along with the Archbishop of Canterbury, York and the Lord Mayor of London.

Bazalgette gave a speech, the Prince turned a wheel and Crossness’ engines whirred into action.

The four huge pumps were operated by four beam engines, named after the royal family: Victoria, Prince Consort, Alexandra and Albert Edward.

As I am sure you can see, the building was not just built for functionality but also, in true Victorian style, to impress.

The central area of the pumping room, known as ‘the Octagon’, is the most spectacular part of the pumping station. The ironwork is intricate, painted in bright colours and the initials of the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) can be seen all over it.

There are also these ornamental gardens out the back.

Due to the site’s isolation and the necessity to keep it running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the workers lived in a small community near the pumping station. The building you can see at the end of the gardens acted as the school house for the worker’s children.

Dilapidation and Decline

Crossness was decommissioned in the 1950’s and left to decay and rust.

A section of the building today has been left unrestored to show how it looked during its abandonment. I actually really like the untouched section: the history here felt more palpable in a way.

The building had been vandalised, the ironwork had rusted and much of the metal had been salvaged for other purposes. Luckily the engines and pumps were simply too bulky to be removed, so lay unused.

Saved!

In 1984, an amazing group of people found and explored the forgotten Crossness Pumping Station. The volunteers formed the Crossness Engines Trust in 1987 and made it their mission to bring it back to life and not let this incredible piece of history disintegrate forever.

They restored much of Crossness to its former glory and even revived one of the beam engines (Prince Consort).

This is a project decades in the making and the attention to detail is amazing.

Visiting

Crossness is well worth a visit to. It is an integral and fascinating part of London history and the team there are so enthusiastic about what they do.

As well as the engine room there is also a very interesting museum section.

They have many guided tours and open days coming up. Click here to find out more.

Due to the location, driving is easiest, but Crossness is also 2 miles from Abbey Wood station (see their website).

A day out at an old sewage pumping station may sound like an odd use of your time but hopefully I have persuaded you otherwise!