London’s Main Drainage Booklets

I thought I’d share some front cover images from a few variations of booklet on the theme of London’s Main Drainage, produced by a mix of London administrative bodies. I’m unsure how many incarnations of these booklets were published over the years, though I expect it is greater than the five I have.
Drain0r Magazine – It’s Miasmic

Back in the heady days of 2008, in days of frivolity and disposable income, I was the co-editor of a short print run fanzine type publication named Section61. The third issue of said zine was drain & sewer themed and as it was being taken on as a solo effort
Anatomy of a Junction: Two

North Western Storm Relief Sewer: Notting Hill After years of dispute and deliberation Joseph Bazalgette (Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works) was given a little short of carte blanche to reform London’s piecemeal drainage system, the clincher being the much documented ‘Great Stink‘ of 1858. Bazalgtte’s intercepting sewers constituted the lion’s
Lost Bagnigge

With a map of central London fixed over a dartboard, if you were to launch a handful of darts at the board, for as long as you were hitting the board you’d be hitting a spot with multifarious history; every geographic puncture marking a location where the social strata is as varied and transformed as […]

to the site. Presumably you've arrived here out of some interest in London's sewerage and drainage network? It is a subject that scholars, historians and enthusiasts have dedicated many hours of study to. Relatively few of these hours however have been given over to practical studies of the infrastructure itself. Having a keen interest in London history and a penchant for underground escapades we hope to redress the balance a little in that regard. Site content is somewhat slim at the moment, but with time that will change. Take a look around, a quick search is probably a good place to start.

Run this by me again

Yes, that is a part of what we do in the course of our study of London’s main drainage network. Alongside more traditional study and research practices, such as access to archival materials and the use of other historic and literary resources, we apportion equal importance to the hands on scrutiny of our subject matter. Taking time to explore, investigate and photograph London’s sewers affords us a greater understanding of the often complex architecture and gives practical insight and knowledge that cannot be gained from any amount of time spent thumbing through books and documents.

The exploratory aspect of our study is undertaken with assessment of the personal risks involved. Although we are not wastewater professionals we utilise appropriate PPE, PGD and observe safe practice as necessary.

Sir Joseph William Bazalgette

This website is dedicated to the memory of Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, Chief Engineer to the Metropolitan Board of Works (1856 – 1889) and mastermind of a unified system of main drainage for London. The city owes much to his vision and foresight in planning and executing a complex and colossal public work that endures still as the backbone of London’s sewer network.

Fleet Sewer

Close encounters of the turd kind

For a period of four years, since our first ventures into the Fleet Sewer, all exploration outings on the part of ourselves and others had been concentrated on its downstream stretch; being the approx 2km run from the area close to the northern end of Farringdon Road down to the Thames in the vicinity of […]

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Lost Bagnigge

With a map of central London fixed over a dartboard, if you were to launch a handful of darts at the board, for as long as you were hitting the board you’d be hitting a spot with multifarious history; every geographic puncture marking a location where the social strata is as varied and transformed as […]

Read More