London’s Sewers: A Photo Journey Below The Filth

IN Subterranean London, Bradley L. Garrett takes us below the metropolis.

Many rivers were built over as London grew, and some, like the Tyburn, were converted into sewers in the 19th century by Sir Joseph Bazalgette.

Memorial on London’s Victoria Embankment to Joseph Bazalgette, 1819 – 1891, engineer of the London main drainage system and Victoria Embankment.

Rob Smith,left, a ‘flusher’ with Thames Water clears away a mixture of water and fat, that builds up in the sewers under London due to cooking fat being poured down drains. 2008.

Rob Smith,left, a ‘flusher’ with Thames Water clears away a mixture of water and fat, that builds up in the sewers under London due to cooking fat being poured down drains

A sewage worker in the victorian sewers under Knightsbridge, west London.

After viewing damage to Polish subways caused by German Air bombs, British have constructed great steel doors in the tunnels of LondonÂs tube railways, deep below the city, to prevent flooding caused by possible bomb damage to sewers, water mains and river culverts on Oct. 11, 1939. (AP Photo)

After viewing damage to Polish subways caused by German Air bombs, British have constructed great steel doors in the tunnels of London’s tube railways, deep below the city, to prevent flooding caused by possible bomb damage to sewers, water mains and river culverts on Oct. 11, 1939. (AP Photo)

Clapham Storm Relief sewer.

A sewage worker by the entrance to the sewer by the Serpentine in Hyde Park, west London.
2004.

ndated handout photo of a Punch magazine cartoon from July 21, 1855 showing the British chemist and physicist Michael Faraday meeting Father Thames. 150 years on from the “Great Stink