Crossness Pumping Station
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Crossness Pumping Station was a sewage pumping station designed by engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette and architect Charles Henry Driver. It was constructed between 1859 and 1865 as part of his redevelopment of the London sewerage system. It is located at Crossness, at the eastern end of the Southern Outfall Sewer.
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The sewage was pumped up into a 27 million gallon reservoir, and was released into the Thames at high tide.
The station contains the four original pumping engines, which are thought to be the largest remaining rotative beam engines in the world, with 52 ton flywheels and 47 ton beams. The engines are named: Prince Consort, Victoria, Albert Edward, and Alexandra. Prince Consort was returned to steam in 2003 and now runs on Trust Open Days. The other engines are not in working order, although work has begun on the restoration of Victoria.
It is adjacent to Erith Marshes, a grazing marsh, the northern part of which is designated as Crossness Nature Reserve.[1] This provides a valuable habitat for creatures ranging from moths to small amphibians and water voles.
[edit] History
The Crossness Pumping Station was officially opened by the Prince of Wales in April 1865 and the Beam Engine House is now a Grade I Listed building featuring spectacular ornamental cast ironwork – it has been described as "A masterpiece of engineering – a Victorian cathedral of ironwork" by Nikolaus Pevsner.
The pumping station was abandoned in the 1950s, and the building and engines were left to suffer considerable vandalism and decay.
Today the pumping station is managed by the Crossness Engines Trust, a registered charity set up in 1987 to oversee the restoration project.
[edit] Restoration
Prince Consort was thought to be the last engine to run, in 1953, and it is this engine on which the restoration activity has concentrated. After some fifteen years of effort the engine is now working again and is run on the open days organised by the Trust.
When the buildings were abandoned, the pumps and culverts below the Beam Engine House were filled with sand to reduce the risks from methane. This has meant that some 100 tons of this sand has had to be excavated from around and underneath the pumps before there was any hope of moving the beam and flywheel. Further, there was a considerable ingress of rain water which has resulted in serious rusting of the engine parts.
[edit] Museum
It is the intention of the Trust to establish a Museum of Sanitation Engineering at the site. However, the site's Grade I and Grade II listed buildings are on the English Heritage "Buildings at Risk Register" and repairs and maintenance work is needed to protect the buildings in the long term. The Trust has submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund in order to raise the finance to safeguard the fabric of the buildings and to develop improved visitor facilities. Currently the Trust is working on securing matching funding from other sources.
The pumping station is open to the public, by appointment only, on certain Tuesdays and Sundays for a guided tour.
The site is also fully open to the public on five "Public Steaming Days" each year, as detailed on the official website.
[edit] See also
- Abbey Mills Pumping Stations — the equivalent pumping station for the Northern Outfall Sewer, the "twin" of Crossness
[edit] References
- ^ Erith Marshes at London WildWeb
[edit] External links
- Crossness Pumping Station - official website
- Entry number 5885 on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register
- Images of England — details from listed building database (198633) (pumping house, grade I)
- Images of England — details from listed building database (198747) (south east workshops, grade II)
- Images of England — details from listed building database (432966) (south west workshops, grade II)
- Profile from Hidden London
- Pictures of Crossness Pumping Station
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