Explored with Tallginge.
The Brook Green SR is one of London’s shorter Storm Relief Sewers. I wasn’t really sure how large this sewer would be when I first considered checking it out, but a quick inspection part way along its length proved it to be worth a closer look.
We descended into the dark, late on the hot summer’s evening; the cooler air slightly refreshing apart from the rather ripe stink of poop.
As we have discovered in a number of London’s Storm Relief sewers, they are quite often far from empty, even during long dry spells. The Brook Green SR is no exception and was sporting a steady flow of exceptionally turdy feculence.
In theory the pipe should have next to no water flowing on a hot dry day after no rain for several days previously, but instead the constant flow was filthier than you would generally see in a combined sewer, lacking the usual odour neutralising supplement of washing up water, laundry detergent and bubble bath etc.
The first photo shows our start point where the round brick sewer increases from 5.5ft to 6.5ft in diameter.
Just a short distance from this size increase, is this side passage leading to a drop shaft which is the overflow from the nearby Brook Green Sewer (Grove Road Branch).
Looking up the drop shaft into the overflow chamber above:
Looking back from the side passage into the Storm Relief:
We walked for a couple of minutes downstream until the tunnel curved a little to the left and this came into view. At first it looked like the tunnel simply reduces in height by a couple of feet for a short distance. However, what actually happens it the tunnel floor also dips down the same amount as the ceiling, creating a sump, or partial U bend. This deep depression in the course of the brick tunnel is filled with nasty thick ‘mud’ for want of a better word. Wading through the quagmire was unpleasant and quite close to wader breach. Tallginge thankfully gave me a hand here when my waders got stuck in the muck here!
It was clear that this sump section was not a new addition, and was presumably designed like this from the start as was evident from the chamfered brickwork.
After studying the maps of the area, I could only conclude that the reason for this reduction of headroom was to allow the much bigger North Western Storm Relief Sewer to pass overhead.
Just a few feet beyond the sump was a passage way which lead up to a manhole. A nice feature was this little iron penstock.
The tunnel headed in a straight line for a while until we came to this large and much more modern concrete chamber below Brook Green itself.
This chamber intersects the original round brick pipe of the Brook Green SR (left). As you can see, the SR continues beyond the chamber but is filled almost halfway up with an earthy poop in which little seedlings are growing! From here the tunnel continues south east to join the Hammersmith Storm Relief Sewer at St. Paul’s Gardens.
To the right is the more modern Hammersmith Storm Relief Duplication Branch which takes the flow from here all the way down to the Hammersmith Pumping Station via the Hammersmith Storm Relief Sewer.
The photo below was taken looking back up the SR from where we came (left) and on the right is the upstream stretch of the Hammersmith Storm Relief Duplication Branch which begins in White City and takes excess flow from the Counters Creek.
The final shot is similar, looking back upstream, but from within the original brick tunnel that is filled with the earthy poop.
Another little bit of London's Main Drainage system seen in all its filthy glory!
The Brook Green SR is one of London’s shorter Storm Relief Sewers. I wasn’t really sure how large this sewer would be when I first considered checking it out, but a quick inspection part way along its length proved it to be worth a closer look.
We descended into the dark, late on the hot summer’s evening; the cooler air slightly refreshing apart from the rather ripe stink of poop.
As we have discovered in a number of London’s Storm Relief sewers, they are quite often far from empty, even during long dry spells. The Brook Green SR is no exception and was sporting a steady flow of exceptionally turdy feculence.
In theory the pipe should have next to no water flowing on a hot dry day after no rain for several days previously, but instead the constant flow was filthier than you would generally see in a combined sewer, lacking the usual odour neutralising supplement of washing up water, laundry detergent and bubble bath etc.
The first photo shows our start point where the round brick sewer increases from 5.5ft to 6.5ft in diameter.
Just a short distance from this size increase, is this side passage leading to a drop shaft which is the overflow from the nearby Brook Green Sewer (Grove Road Branch).
Looking up the drop shaft into the overflow chamber above:
Looking back from the side passage into the Storm Relief:
We walked for a couple of minutes downstream until the tunnel curved a little to the left and this came into view. At first it looked like the tunnel simply reduces in height by a couple of feet for a short distance. However, what actually happens it the tunnel floor also dips down the same amount as the ceiling, creating a sump, or partial U bend. This deep depression in the course of the brick tunnel is filled with nasty thick ‘mud’ for want of a better word. Wading through the quagmire was unpleasant and quite close to wader breach. Tallginge thankfully gave me a hand here when my waders got stuck in the muck here!
It was clear that this sump section was not a new addition, and was presumably designed like this from the start as was evident from the chamfered brickwork.
After studying the maps of the area, I could only conclude that the reason for this reduction of headroom was to allow the much bigger North Western Storm Relief Sewer to pass overhead.
Just a few feet beyond the sump was a passage way which lead up to a manhole. A nice feature was this little iron penstock.
The tunnel headed in a straight line for a while until we came to this large and much more modern concrete chamber below Brook Green itself.
This chamber intersects the original round brick pipe of the Brook Green SR (left). As you can see, the SR continues beyond the chamber but is filled almost halfway up with an earthy poop in which little seedlings are growing! From here the tunnel continues south east to join the Hammersmith Storm Relief Sewer at St. Paul’s Gardens.
To the right is the more modern Hammersmith Storm Relief Duplication Branch which takes the flow from here all the way down to the Hammersmith Pumping Station via the Hammersmith Storm Relief Sewer.
The photo below was taken looking back up the SR from where we came (left) and on the right is the upstream stretch of the Hammersmith Storm Relief Duplication Branch which begins in White City and takes excess flow from the Counters Creek.
The final shot is similar, looking back upstream, but from within the original brick tunnel that is filled with the earthy poop.
Another little bit of London's Main Drainage system seen in all its filthy glory!
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