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stink pipes

M

Major Tom

Mentalist Wierdo RIP
Has anyone else noticed these things on South London Streets? So far I've seen a few round Camberwell, Mottingham, Lewisham, Dulwich, and in Bromley.

Have you got one of these things near you?

I believe that they allow a vent to the build up of noxious gasses in the sewage system - but that's about all.

Are there any in North London?
DSCF1372.jpg
 
IIRC some of them follow the line of culverted waterways that are now part of the storm drain network rather than sewers.
 
We've had this question before and not really got to the bottom of it. They are almost certainly vents. Perhaps they are just in places where there is a low gradient on the sewers/culverts and gas more likely to collect in pockets.
 
pooka said:
We've had this question before and not really got to the bottom of it. They are almost certainly vents. Perhaps they are just in places where there is a low gradient on the sewers/culverts and gas more likely to collect in pockets.
Click to expand...

I've started marking them on my A to Z in attempt to work out what they might be for. I tend to fidn them in clusters, three in a line across Dulwich, a triangle of them in Camberwell, and another line in Mottigham. I was wondering if they followed the routes of the old now enclosed rivers, in Dulwich they seem to follow the route of the Effra (I think) and the Quaggy in Mottingham.
 
Sewers

They probably follow the line of the Southern High and Low Level Sewers towards Deptford Pumping station.

The vents are probably to stop sewer workers from choking on the knoxious gasses and the build up of methane.
 
I've been told they are vents for the sewers. There's one in the middle of the junction between Lilford, Minet and Knatchbull Road in Brixton
 
There's one at the top of Julian's Farm Road off Leigham Court Road, which is kind of on the way down from Beulah Hill, which is where the Effra rises, but I can't help thinking that it's too much on the brow of the hill - the river goes down through West Norwood.

More inclined to think it's sewers to be honest - though logically, culverted streams did become sewers, so a bit of both.

Another note though: They'd never build em like that these days, would they, eh?
 
Mrs Magpie said:
I've been told they are vents for the sewers. There's one in the middle of the junction between Lilford, Minet and Knatchbull Road in Brixton
Click to expand...

I was staring at that particularly splendid example this afternoon on the way to the Lambeth Archives open day, and trying to work out how the culverts flow - is there another one just north of Myatts Fields Park (Flodden Road???).
 
dogmatique said:
There's one at the top of Julian's Farm Road off Leigham Avenue [ :confused: Leigham Court Road - LR ], which is kind of on the way down from Beulah Hill, which is where the Effra rises, but I can't help thinking that it's too much on the brow of the hill - the river goes down through West Norwood.
Click to expand...

Dusting off my copy of Effra: Lambeth's Underground River (Ken Dixon, 1993,The Brixton Society) that could be something to do with a tributary of the Effra that starts somewhere near Casewick Road.
 
There's one at the junction of Hazzlerigg and Bedford Road (Clapham North). I'm not aware of a culverted river round there.
 
Looks to me as if its' an old victorian gas lamp....I mean if its' a vent from a sewer of oulet for methane then the street would stink and it would be dangerous and contrary to enviromental regs ! Sorry SS reckons your taking about the little black post....if you are I haven't got a clue but still would think that as an outlet it would need to be closed off.
 
Pot-Bellied Pig said:
Looks to me as if its' an old victorian gas lamp....I mean if its' a vent from a sewer of oulet for methane then the street would stink and it would be dangerous and contrary to enviromental regs ! Sorry SS reckons your taking about the little black post....if you are I haven't got a clue but still would think that as an outlet it would need to be closed off.
Click to expand...


Iirc in the past some street lighting was run on gas from sewers below!
 
There was a thread about these recently (as in since I joined) in general chat I think.
I havent spotted any in north london (but I'm not too observant). Parents live by the minet/knatchbull/lilford one tho.
 
Well, I found another one mear Kennington Park, and this is definitely where the Effra flows.

So far every one I have found is above a subterranean river.

I think that at one time they would have allowed certain gases to escape from the enclosed rivers, being used as sewage outlets. More recently though, the rivers have been cleaned up, so the pipes are now redundant.
 
pooka said:
There's one at the junction of Hazzlerigg and Bedford Road (Clapham North). I'm not aware of a culverted river round there.
Click to expand...

It's possible that they were also used with the sewage system. doesn't the main sewage system run through clapham?
 
poster342002 said:
If so, I wonder why sewer-gas isn't "re-cycled" somehow to provide extra fuel? :confused:
Click to expand...

Don't know if they're doing it here but downunder there were a few schemes extracting methane from rubbish tips and composting sewage sludge. They were running council trucks on the methane (or methanol, something like that.)
 
Yes, we've discussed this on a thread already. They're to let gas escape so there won't be explosions
One in Bromley-by-Bow, where I live is a fine specimen
 
Which reminds me of the lamps powered by sewer gas. There's still a survivor of these down Carting Lane just off Strand by Coal Hole Bar - it was on when I went by at 4pm yesterday afternoon. It made an appearance in the London Nobody Knows presented by James Mason, which I'd seen a coupla hours earlier at ICA
 
charlie mowbray said:
Yes, we've discussed this on a thread already. They're to let gas escape so there won't be explosions
One in Bromley-by-Bow, where I live is a fine specimen
Click to expand...

Ahh - there is one north of the river. :cool:

Wherabouts, I can check it on the way home from work.
 
Some of them are quite ornate, too (there's one at the junction between Kennington Lane and Kennington Road with a "crown" shaped vent at the top, for example). I wonder if they're listed structures?
 
I was wondering if they were listed.

There are lots with crowns - about half that I've seen.

The ones in Bromley have a leaf design on them, which is quite nice.
 
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