Today - Victorian magnificence - Crossness

[Ian Bull]

Hullo everyone,

Sorry for the last minute notification. This isn't in Sydenham but there'd be no Sydenham without it. In fact, the whole of South London's development depended on just one building. Crossness pumping station.

If you'd like to see one of the finest Victorian industrial buildings in the World you can do so today between 10.30 and 16.00. It's a secular Cathedral and contains the finest decorative ironwork in Southern England. It also has some of the largest steam engines ever built and one of them will be working.

The Crossness Engines Trust
The Old Works
Thames Water S.T.W.
Belvedere Road
Abbey Wood London
SE2 9AQ
Tel: 0208 311 3711

crossness@btconnect.com

A mini-bus will be operating from Abbey Wood railway station from about 10.15. I suggest you visit after 14.00 to avoid crowds. Admission is £5 and you won't regret a penny of it.

All the best

Ian Bull

[sydeman]

Thanks for letting me know. Always wanted to go and just back from visiting it. An excellent day out and some amazing Victorian industrial machinery!

[leenewham]

I've wanted to go there for years. We finally went today, and despite the smell (it was a sewage works after all) it's is stunning.

The victorians really do show us a thing or two in 'pride in what you do'. No wonder their buildings and architecture are among the most loved even today. Everywhere you looked in Crossness there was evidence of skill and beauty. It is a truely remarkable building.

Interms of design, history and saving lives it's possibly one of the most important buildings in the history of London. Good Old Sir Joseph Bazalgette (one of the most important and influential people in the history of London, probably second in my book to Mr Brunel).

More info:
http://www.crossness.org.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossness_Pumping_Station

It really is worth a visit. I think it should be a world heritage site.

[leenewham]

Some pics from today (not very good quality ones I'm afraid).

[CaptainCarCrash]

Years ago I worked in a metal shop and also later tried my hand at a firm who installed fire escapes balconies balustrades and railings. I set fire to my self a few times because of cutting causing sparks etc

I remember one time I was working on some supporting beams for a project and the boss handed me a drill and a box of taps and told me that I would break all of the taps when I hit a piece of carbon and to get more from him when I ran out, because I have quite a lot of experience working with metal from my machine shop days I got myself a can of WD40 to lubricate the holes I drilled and to stop friction. by the end of the day I had only used one tap

Another job they gave to me was to dip all of the castings in to vats of undercoat primer in an room with zero ventilation, I was as high as a kite wobbling around in there for hours on end buzzing like a wasps nest

There was another time we were working on an ornate balcony and the boss had installed the figured centre pieces upside down, when I pointed this out he told me that the drawing was wrong

Crossness photos remind me of those days int metal shop and working wit cast iron for 14 hours a day for tuppence a week and when I got home dad would thrash me to sleep wit broken bottle if I were lucky, marvelous

I am amazed at what was achieved during the industrial revolution, twas our finest hour in engineering.

[leenewham]

I love stories like this Mike. I want to go to Abbey Mills too.

[CaptainCarCrash]

I love stories like this Mike. I want to go to Abbey Mills too.

The Cathedral of Sewage

[leenewham]

Proof that you can add polish to a turd.

Funnily enough they did refer to it as a cathedral of Sewage on my trip. Without it we would still have the big stink, people would pay to live as far from the Thames as possible and thousands and thousands of Londoners would have died from Cholera.

Aside from the pumping stations and 1,100 miles of Sewers (that are still used today, he checked every joint personally) Bazalgette was also responsible for:
Albert Embankment (1869)
Victoria Embankment (1870)
Chelsea Embankment (1874)
Maidstone Bridge (1879)
Albert Bridge (1884; modifications)
Putney Bridge (1886)
Hammersmith Bridge (1887)
The Woolwich Free Ferry (1889)
Battersea Bridge (1890)
Charing Cross Road
Garrick Street
Northumberland Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue

[CaptainCarCrash]

What a splendid fellow he was, a civil engineering master.

[sydeman]

Its a shame engineering, industry and manufacturing are not put as high on youngsters aspirations as they used to be, when compared with the crap Xfactor they all follow.