Located within Thames Water’s Bexley treatment plant lies the Grade I listed landmark Crossness Pumping Station.
This impressive structure dates back 160 years to when it was first built sometime around 1861 before opening on April 4, 1865.
Crossness was opened with a grand ceremony that was attended by the then Prince of Wales amongst other dignitaries.
At the time London was facing an epidemic of cholera, which had been brought on due to poor sanitation, with sewage flowing into the Thames and remaining stagnant.
Back in Victorian times The Thames was much wider than it is now, and so a lot of the time sewage would remain stagnant after washing up on the banks, which led to the Thames becoming a river of death and disease with no wildlife being able to survive in it.
It was the infamous summer of 1858 that was the catalyst for change, when temperatures reached 30 degrees and led to what is referred to as The Great Stink, when the stench of London became unbearable.
Parliamentarians at the Houses of Parliament, who were all miasmatists – people who adopted the belief that disease was caused by bad air – began to be affected by this, which led to a bill to be passed allowing for a major project to build the London sewer system.
The person commissioned to build the system was Sir Joseph Bazalgette, who was an esteemed railway engineer known for his work building railway tunnels.
According to a newspaper report from 1864, the building of the pumping station created thousands of jobs.
Crossness Pumping Station served as part of the system and was responsible for helping to pump the sewage further out to the sea, when it reached a point where the river got lower, and is home to four beam engines, which are the largest in the world today.
But this pumping station wasn’t just for practical use, it was also designed to have a decorative aspect, which would play host to the grand opening of the southern part of the sewage system in 1865, which took just six years to build.
Nicknamed ‘The Cathedral of Raw Sewage’ on account of its ornate cast iron work, this landmark welcomed royalty as well as MPs and the wealthy, who celebrated this triumph for London.
The pumping station earned the rare Grade I listing in the 1970s, after it was on the verge of being scrapped in the 1950s but was luckily saved following a grant from Thames Water.
Today this former historical landmark is managed by the The Crossness Engines Trust, who work with the help of volunteers to maintain the pumping station and educate the public about the role it played back when it was first built.
Manned by volunteers, this interesting space is a perfectly preserved part of history, with some of its machinery still in working order, albeit for demonstrative purposes.
With its mix of industrial brickwork and vibrant ironwork, it’s no wonder this hidden south east London gem has appeared in film and TV over the years.
Notably the station has appeared in Netflix’s 2020 Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey and the 2015 Victor Frankenstein film starring Daniel Radcliffe.
If you visit, you’ll see the impressive ironwork as well as the large pumps that were used to pump the sewage further down the Thames.
Alongside the pumping station itself, the site also features a Victorian garden maintained by volunteers, as well as an exhibition about the history of London’s sewer system and a miniature steam train which runs during open days.
Crossness Pumping Station opens monthly for ‘Steam Day’ events, where the station’s working pump will be in action for guests to see, as well as guided tours run by volunteers throughout selected days.
Guests not travelling by car can travel to the pumping station by vintage red bus from Abbey Wood Station, with the next open day taking place on Saturday, April 5.
