View of the "cathedral of ironwork" a Victorian ornamental cast ironwork Octagon, at Crossness Pumping Station
The Crossness Pumping Station is a former sewage pumping station designed by the Metropolitan Board of Works's chief engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette and architect Charles Henry Driver at the eastern end of the Southern Outfall Sewer and the Ridgeway path in the London Borough of Bexley. Constructed between 1859 and 1865 by William Webster, as part of Bazalgette's redevelopment of the London sewerage system, it features spectacular ornamental cast ironwork, that Nikolaus Pevsner described as "a masterpiece of engineering – a Victorian cathedral of ironwork". The pumping station became a Grade I listed building[8] in 1970 and will remain on the Heritage at Risk Register until the restoration is completed.[9] The Crossness Engines Trust, a registered charity, was formed in 1987 to oversee the restoration project[10] which was due to be completed in 2013. When the pumping station was decommissioned in the 1950s, it was not considered economic to dismantle the engines, as the cost of doing so far exceeded any scrap value. The more valuable metal items (made from brass), such as the engine oilers, much pipework, and even the handrails from the stairs, were removed. The remaining building and engines were left to suffer considerable vandalism and decay. As Prince Consort was the last steam engine decommissioned, in 1953, it is this engine on which the restoration activity has been 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 and all the subterranean areas 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 resulted in serious rusting of the engine parts.
Size: 3072px × 2048px
Location: Thames Path, Crossness, Thamesmead East, SE2 9AQ
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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