The 150th anniversary of the London Underground is a timely reminder of the contribution our Victorian ancestors still make to our lives. In 1858 the Thames river was an open sewer and abnormal weather conditions produced what became known as “the great stink”. The foul smell made much of London virtually uninhabitable. The Houses of Parliament, situated on the river bank, were particularly affected.
The cry went up that something had to be done. Over the next decade an extensive network of sewers was built under the supervision of the engineer Joseph Bazalgette. The project benefited not just the nostrils of Londoners but the face of London itself; most strikingly through the creation of embankments on each side of the Thames. The northern embankment is one of London’s major traffic arteries and supports a series of gardens. Beneath is an underground railway line and the city’s principal sewer. On the south bank, a walkway from County Hall to Tower Bridge atop the sewer offers one of the world’s most spectacular riverscapes.
These sewers have met the needs of the capital for 150 years. Only recently has their capacity come under pressure and work will soon begin on a new Thames tunnel, deep underground. The technology needed for such construction did not exist in Bazalgette’s day: 20 years earlier the Brunels had built the first river tunnel under the Thames, barely a quarter of a mile long, at ruinous cost in financial and human terms.