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| Abbey Mills Pumping Station |
This week I attended a official guided tour of Abbey Mills Pumping Station, this was arranged by Kent Underground Research Group and the owners of the property Thames Water. I have to say I have no real interest in underground but I have seen images of the inside of this property and was very keen to tag along when the offer came around.
From Wikipedia,
The original Abbey Mills Pumping Station, in Abbey Lane, London E15, is a sewage pumping station, designed by engineer Joseph Bazalgette, Edmund Cooper, and architect Charles Driver. It was built between 1865 and 1868. It was designed in a cruciform plan, with an elaborate Byzantine style, described as The Cathedral of Sewage. Another of Bazalgette's designs, Crossness Pumping Station, is located south of the River Thames at Crossness, at the end of the Southern Outfall Sewer.
History
The pumping station was built at the site of an earlier watermill owned by the local Abbey, from which it gained its name[
Purpose
The pumps raised the sewage in the London sewerage system between the two Low Level Sewers and the Northern Outfall Sewer, which was built in the 1860s to carry the increasing amount of sewage produced in London away from the centre of the city.
Two Moorish styled chimneys – unused since steam power had been replaced by electric motors in 1933 – were demolished in 1941, as it was feared that a bomb strike from German bombs might topple them on to the pumping station.
The building still houses electric pumps – to be used in reserve for the new facility next door.
The main building is grade II* listed and there are many grade II listed ancillary buildings, including the stumps of the demolished chimneys
This usually is part of the London Open House Weekend every September so if you get a change it is possible to get a free look around. This year it is September the 21st and 22nd. Apply for your guide to visit loads of properties not usually accessible to the public
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| Abbey Mills Pumping Station Roof |
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| Doorway to "A" Station Abbey Mills |
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| Upper Level Abbey Mills |
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| Inside Abby Mills |
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| Old Machinery Abbey Mills |
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| Abbey Mills Dalek |
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| Abbey Mills Roof Mono |
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| Upper Level Abbey Mills 32bit |
