For centuries, the Thames River was one big run-off of London’s waste and impurities, and in the 19th century the huge amount of pollution in a city of millions led to an environmental disaster. In 1858. “The Great Stink” was making the lives of the metropolis’ inhabitants miserable, not only through an unbearable stench, but also through the proliferation of diseases. Only with the prompt decision to build four pumping stations was London saved. One of the important pumping stations was Crossness Station located on the eastern edge of the city. Interestingly, the neo-Romanesque structure is resplendent with colourful decorations inside, making it a veritable ‘cathedral of sewage’.
The Great Stink
Around 1801, London became the second city in European history with a population of more than one million. Interestingly, the first million-strong metropolis became Rome in 133 BC. However, the growing English metropolis had to dump its waste somewhere. For centuries, the ‘ideal’ place to dispose of rubbish, factory dirt and excrement was the Thames. It is worth noting that the river tends to recede inland, used to freeze solid, and there have been instances in English history where the Thames has dried up. The tragic consequences of this latter feature of the river were witnessed by Londoners in 1858, when high temperatures led to a significant drop in the level of the Thames.
Just a few years before the record temperature of 48 degrees Celsius in the sun, the river’s unimaginable pollution was causing contagious diseases such as cholera and dysentery. However, in June 1858, the waste standing in the almost dried-up river began to ferment under the high temperatures. The monstrous stench was a harbinger of mass infections, and the smell could be felt for several kilometres. The authorities drew attention to the problem when the stench invaded the rooms of the Palace of Westminster, making it impossible for parliament to sit.
Thanks to a bill initiated by the Conservative Party, the budget for the purification work was still passed in August 1858.The project was to be led by engineer Joseph Bazalgette, who was already working on a sewerage system for central London. It is worth noting that earlier individual drainage systems had only made the situation worse, so it was clear that the city needed a well-planned sewerage network. A particular problem arose in the lower-lying districts, from which water could not flow upwards on its own.
Royal pumping station
Bazalgette developed a system of pumping stations, which were built from 1859 onwards. Particularly important in the drainage network was the Crossness station located at the end of the network. Huge engines developed by the company of steam engine inventor James Watt were set in motion in 1865.The machines pumped six tonnes of sewage per minute as the river drained. The pistons were moved by steam gushing from twelve boilers. Interestingly, the engines have their own names, corresponding to members of the royal family of the time.
The Crossness Station pumping station is a fine example of Victorian industrial architecture. The period of Queen Victoria of Hanover’s long reign is considered the height of the British Empire, so in the second half of the 19th century even a sewage pumping station could be a work of art. Crossness Station exudes a wealth of colourful decoration and impressive forms of artistic blacksmithing. It is worth noting that the aforementioned Victorian style is not really a unified style, but a generic name for the neo-Gothic, neo-Romanesque, neo-classical or neo-renaissance orders popular during this period. At the pumping station on the eastern edge of London, architect Charles Henry Driver mixed the Neo-Romanesque style with a historicising industrial interior.
Cathedral of sewage, cathedral of industry
From the outside, two types of brick are noticeable, grey and red. The red bricks emphasise Neo-Romanesque details such as friezes and biforia. The portal with its characteristic full arches and archivolt could not be missed either. In the past, the mansard roof still had dormers and the centrepiece of the structure was a cupola. The now somewhat neglected façade does not foreshadow the opulence that awaits inside.
The interiors impress with the intense colours of the decoration. Every detail from the cast-iron balustrades to the symmetrical designs of the central pumping station emphasises the prestige of the Victorian era. Plant motifs predominate in the decoration, although some elements also refer to classical architecture. The red and green columns have simple shafts and richly ornamented heads with leaves, stems and fruit. Other capitals also feature white flowers that are somewhat reminiscent of the white roses of York, but this detail probably has no connection to Victoria’s disliked city. To some, this accumulation of colourful floral decoration may remind them of the details of Art Nouveau townhouses, but Crossness Station was built more than 25 years before the first buildings in this style.
The most impressive element of the pumping station is the central octagon. The openwork walls are laid out in the plan of a Romanesque or Byzantine octagon – a perfect shape. The ornate servants, spandrels, columns and grilles create a kind of sacred place for the ‘cathedral of sewage’, although perhaps the phrase ‘cathedral of industry’ should be used here. It is the cast-iron details with their floral motifs that symbolise the industrial revolution that allowed Britain to stay ahead of the European competition.
It is still worth looking at an interesting detail left by the founders of the pumping station. The acronym ‘MBW’, standing for Metropolitan Board of Works, can be seen on the grilles and walls. The London institution was established in 1856 and was concerned with the state of the metropolis’ infrastructure. It was the MBW that entrusted Joseph Bazalgette with the task of planning the sewerage network. Interestingly, the success of the engineer’s plan made the MBW a trusted municipal institution. Even more interesting is the fact that after only 30 years of the institution’s establishment, the MBW was dissolved in connection with a gigantic corruption scandal.
The vestiges of empire
Bazalgette’s plan succeeded and, from the mid 1860s, London no longer faced the perennial problem of an inefficient Thames. It is worth noting, however, that efficiency in pumping dirty water did not at all mean success in cleaning it. The problem of sewage in the Thames was only dealt with in the 1990s, when the European Union banned the dumping of waste into the North Sea.
In the decades that followed, Crossness Station underwent several refurbishments and continued to operate smoothly until 1956. Over time, even the new diesel engines proved outdated and inefficient. The pumping station deteriorated for almost 30 years until the facility was taken over by Bazalgette’s great-grandson’s fund. In the 1980s, staff and volunteers managed to restore the rusty and dilapidated interiors of the pumping station. The effort paid off and the refurbished station has also received funding from the ministry, local businesses and organisations. The funds go towards further renovations and the running of a museum telling the story of the ‘Big Stink’.
Crossness Pumping Station is a relic of an era when even sewage pumping stations looked like cathedrals. Every element from the painted balustrades to the ornate boiler platforms was a separate work of art. Of course, such a wealth of ornamentation was made possible by the pinnacle of the British Empire. It was through the conquests of Victoria of Hanover that Britain became the largest empire in the world and London the most important city on the globe. Until the First World War, there was no greater power than Britain, but in the 20th century the kingdom’s wealth and power began to gradually dwindle. Today, in a crisis-ridden Britain, building such an ornate piece of infrastructure is unimaginable. Fortunately, people have been found who are prepared to save the hidden treasures from a period of former power.
Source: Secret London
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