The Steam Pumping Stations of the London Main Drainage, 1858–75

ABSTRACT London’s Main Drainage was one of a number of projects in Europe and North America in the mid-19th century to design and retro-fit a sewage network in cities struggling to cope with unprecedented health, sanitary and environmental problems caused by industrialisation. The Main Drainage was both the most ambitious of these, and the first in the world to be based around steam-powered pumps. They were used to lift very large volumes of human sewage, storm water and manufacturers’ waste so it would flow under gravity to beyond the limits of the metropolis. Once the plan had been approved, the Metropolitan Board of Works, led by its Chief Engineer J.W. Bazalgette, solicited proposals from leading foundries for how to pump the sewage, and the optimal size and configuration for the steam engines. Their suggestions formed the basis for the four pumping stations that were built. The largest, Crossness and Abbey Mills, were commissioned from a railway-station architect whose designs, despite the isolated locations, were highly expressive. Their construction and inauguration attracted enormous public attention, reflecting the high expectations of their sanitary and environmental benefits. These sites trialled the use of steam-powered pumps to raise sewage, a critical technological step in the history of urban systems, while their contribution to solving the Victorian sanitary crisis makes them of particular historical interest.