Report - Regent Street Sewer "SUPER SOAKER", London 2018.

[Ojay]

Regent Street Sewer "SUPER SOAKER", London.


It's that time of year for another self indulgent drain related thread, look away now

Frustratingly there is very little information available online about the Regent St Sewer, I suppose largely down to the actual age of it, and most of it is buried in the archives

Below, is John Nash's original (final) design for Regent Street dated 1814. The course of the street highlighted in yellow, Crown property highlighted in blue and the sewer in red

This from Wiki -

By 1819, the Crown was receiving regular rent and the street was becoming established

Also a later extract from the archives which alludes to the upkeep of the sewer

ANNO QUINTO GEORGII lV. REGIS. An Act for more effectually paving, lighting, watching, cleansing, and regulating Regent's Park, together with the New Street from the Regent's Park to Pall Mall, and the new Streets and improvements in the neighborhood of Parliament Street and Privy Gardens; and for maintaining a convenient Sewage for the same. [21st June 1824.]

Penning an exact date is proving difficult without a trip to the archives

I do like to be bob on with my facts, but in this instance I'm going to have to settle with somewhere circa. 1819 until I can dig something more exact out...


I also try to avoid stooping these day's, let alone bent double in shit pipes of this variety, but sometimes needs must
I'd always had this place on a back-burner owing to the fact I'd been on with other stuff and also was putting off the inevitable stooping and complete soaking to be expected here

We'd recently walked the line above ground checking the accuracy of my homework for a suitable way to tackle this lot when the time came

The following weekend, Ginge couldn't keep his knickers on and decided to go for a paddle alone and report back it was indeed a stoopfest for some distance

Bear in mind he's a tall mofo and he tried his best to convince me it wasn't too stoopy, quite easy to visualise almost 7ft into 4ft

I spent the rest of the week talking myself out of something I'd actually wanted to see for years..

Despite our best efforts with this lot, it wasn't a pleasant experience!

Unfortunately a good chunk of pics were taken on the dog & bone as it was far too wet and confined to be arsing about with bags/tripods and torches whilst focusing on NOT ending up down the Mid Level

My convenient way in, involved a bit less stooping than Ginge had to endure, you can pull yer knickers back up now

A long staircase drops to a passage way that allows access into the upstream 'Western Branch' of the sewer

It's under 4ft immediately!

Here, a quick pic taken on the dslr before I packed it away, looks almost inviting doesn't it

As you can see it quickly takes a sharp right turn as it heads down towards Marylebone Road

The next we see of it, is an iPhone special as we took a quick back stretch within a manhole chamber

Further down, we were afforded the luxury of 5ft for no more than 300 yards

pic c/o Ginge


The only worthwhile features along the way were a couple of these

Now capped, presumably these domed shafts once served as ventilation before the entire area had since been redeveloped


Further down, 4ft becomes 7ft; almost too good to be true this as I already knew it doesn't become bigger until much further down

(pic looking back upstream to show change in pipe diameter)

In the distance you could hear the sound of cascading water, the next feature was also to be expected

That's right, this is where this drain get's its deserved name "Super Soaker"

The time came to get, err a soaking and by George we did, despite the pack-a-mac

Previously described as a wall of water, a sewer joins just below the crown of the tunnel, golden shower time

There were a couple of smaller 'showers' heading downstream, however we just about managed to avoid further soakings that night

"We're not coming back this way, I don't care where we come out" AMEN.


No sooner had we endured that lot, the back breaking 4ft stoopfest returned

Eventually we ended up at a junction somewhere under Marylebone Road, it was already shaping up to be the shittiest game of drain Monopoly

Here, both Western & Eastern Branches of the Regent Street Sewer converge, heading downstream via a welcomed 7ft rounded brick pipe

It's a terrible pic I know!

Around 150m downstream, we found a 4ft Egg (side pipe) with some temporary lighting below the new build @Regent's Crescent (formerly Park Crescent)

It snakes down Portland Place (and eventually Regent Street) in places, considering it's a straight road it's presumably because it was constructed in different sections

Apologies for the steamy pics, it was a fighting battle keeping moisture off the glass in here

The few manholes along the way give a rough idea of depth

Within these shafts, vertical gully's had since been carved out and re-bricked to incorporate surface drains serving the streets above

You can bet stuff like this goes un-noticed and probably not even appreciated by the workers that go down here

I next fetched the camera out further down to grab a couple of pics within the larger diameter section

Much moisture on the glass once more

Strengthening work

Here, the pipe diameter changes to around 6ft

You can see it takes a turn here towards Regent Street; this is below Langham Place looking at Google Earth

A bit further down, it get's a little tricky

No way I was getting the camera and tripod back out here!

The sewer twists & turns a bit more dramatically ahead of an incline as it flows towards the Mid Level No. 1 Interceptor @Oxford Circus

We used a length of poly-prop to crudely belay each other down/up merely as a safety precaution as it was fast flowing and slippery underfoot

pic c/o Ginge


A.N Other crappy phone pic looking back up from the halfway point on the slippery ramp of certain death

As we both waded downstream, it leveled out a little, it had now shrunk to under 5ft and the depth and velocity of flow was increasing as it headed towards the interceptor

It was getting short of ridiculous now, and there was clearly no way we'd be getting a look this side of the Mid Level No. 1 unless we went for a swim down it. No thanks!

In the distance, you could just about make out a final turn just short of the interceptor.. We'll come back to that later in the thread

Soaked and covered in all manner of crap it was now silly o'clock so we decided to pack up and head back upstream to a suitable exit

The manhole chamber we used to exit was a work of art

A spiral staircase wraps around a central brick shaft with window like cut-outs up to a lid a good 10m or more above

I've never seen anything like it in London, let alone anywhere else in a sewer, someone obviously indulged themselves here ♥

I got 99 problems and a @tallginge ain't one

​

 

[Ojay]

At this point we'd normally call it a night, grab a few cans and head back to the digs

I was hell bent on seeing the downstream section, up to and including the interaction with the Mid Level No. 1 Interceptor

Sometimes the direct approach isn't always the best idea in the City for obvious reasons, especially with the time window in which we did this next lot

To avoid any unwanted attention and definitely NOT an MP5 in the face I decided we'd slip into the lesser Pall Mall sewer to reach the downstream stretch of the Regent Street Sewer

It looked good on paper and also allowed me to finish something I'd first set foot into a good few years back now

Not knowing what to expect we went for a Sunday stroll (literally) however my best laid plan turned out to be just a pipe dream, or more a pipe-mare in the end, see below.

Starting within the KSP, the side pipe pictured is indeed the later terminus of the Pall Mall sewer and also our starting point

Looks like it's sticking a big fat tongue out to me, indeed it was and it had the last laugh in more way's than one did this minging, slippery tricky bastard of a sewer!


Well I was charmed by it anyway

It started off around 6ft and quickly shrinks to stooping height further in

Although dry initially it wasn't too bad, later on I'll eat these very words..

Yes, it's another crappy phone pic.. Sorry!

According to the L.C.C Main Drainage Map, the Pall Mall sewer appears to cross the Northern Low Level No. 2, it wasn't clear on paper if it interacted or not, It does..

As we continued upstream the tell tale sounds increased in volume as we neared the source, there was also a fairly long silted section to negotiate first

Finally we could stand up again, just as I was taking in the surroundings I noticed a giant camera in my face

No doubt once used to monitor the interceptor behind us, it was now defunct, along with the associated lighting etc

Here, confirmed interaction with the Northern Low Level Sewer No. 2

Upstream of the interceptor was stoopy and ridiculously slippery under foot

Fortunately for us, the invert had been modified in recent years, the benching providing a useful hand rail sparing us both an early bath on numerous occasions


Ginge really suffering the height disadvantage here

We were laboring under the misapprehension this bloody thing would allow us to walk straight into the Regents Street Sewer

Sadly this is as far as we got, the below pic kinda says it all, the arse broth is one thing, but sod stooping the 400 odd meters through that lot to get to Regents!


*Point B on the map further below

Fatty deposits causing the flow to back up here, just like further downstream which has been more problematic in recent years


That's the thing with drain exploration, despite all the homework/legwork you quite often end up in the fail boat

Although in my book, despite this setback we'd managed to ascertain there is an interaction with the Low Level No. 2 and infact the Pall Mall Sewer possibly connects with the Regent Street Sewer, just not tonight!

Like most of these excursions, we walked away with more questions than answers

On the train journey home I tried to work out where the hell that junction was with my failing internet, as it certainly wasn't where I'd placed it

I had a natter with JD and sent him the pic of that 'split' above ^^ and some rough idea of how far we'd walked pointing out the only clue "that ladder"..

He's better than Google ya know

Regarding the 'Split' Junction above *(Point B on the below map), we know the Pall Mall Sewer was constructed circa 1730 at a then cost of £6,000

On 23rd May 1729, the Daily Journal printed this request for tenders:

The Commissioners of Sewers for Westminster, having resolved to make a new Sewer from the Gate of Middle Scotland-Yard, up by Charing-Cross, thro’ Pall-Mall, to the Wall of St James’s-Park, do hereby give Notice,
that they will receive Proposals from Diggers, Bricklayers, Carpenters, and Paviors, in Writing, Sealed up, for doing the same.
On Friday the 30th of this Instant May, at 10 o’clock in the Forenoon, at the Town Court House near Westminster-Hall. See Mr Nash, Clerk, at his house in Castle Street for blank proposal forms.

The below map shows the line of the sewer from Stable Yard, down St James's, along Pall Mall where it eventually runs towards Whitehall

Since Pall Mall had been developed in the 1660's it is possible that the new sewer was a replacement all the way along; the report of 9th October quoted below mentions an earlier conduit at Cleveland Row

Many newspaper reports imply that the Pall Mall sewer joined an earlier sewer from the Haymarket to the river, which was subsequently not big enough

The Weekly Journal reported yet another collapse of the Old Sewer into the New Work at the lower end of Pall-mall.
On Thursday 9th October the new sewer fell in by the Duke of Bridgwater’s at Cleveland Row, right on the corner of Pall Mall and St James’s Street,
and killed John Pyke (or William, according to another paper) a bricklayer paving the bottom of the sewer.

The below pic *Point A on the above map ^ was taken below Cleveland Row, it does however look like the older conduit mentioned has since been modified/replaced, still good to see up close all the same..

​

 

[Ojay]

Getting back to see the downstream stretch of the Regent Street Sewer was merely a waiting game

On the previous trip, we were thwarted by the slippery ramp of certain death, and even if we could have managed it, the upstream branch of the sewer has since been diverted down the Mid Level No. 1 as i'd previously stated

Plan B was also scuppered as the Pall Mall Sewer heading East to Regent Street became a deadly cocktail of arse broth within less than a 4ft Egg, No Thanks!

Back at the keyboard, I stared at the maps a little longer and managed to work out some alternative way's in to tackle the downstream, problem is they were all bait AF.


When the time eventually came, we quickly slipped in and made our way upstream, starting at the Interceptor..

Bloody annoying as we couldn't get a proper look in..

This was due to a penstock at the overflow chamber which has since been added onto the Mid Level c.1927 looking at the below snippet from a 'Board of Works' drawing, kindly provided by the main man himself

For the purposes of this thread, we'll start at the other side of the interceptor, where we got close to, but no cigar on the last outing and work downstream

The Middle Level No. 1 was constructed 1859 – 1865, and you can see from the below pics where it was chopped through into the Regent Street Sewer

A gantry styled walkway runs from the side entry shaft up to the interceptor

Here, the Regent Street Sewer Overflow from the Metropolitan Main Drainage Contract Drawing above ^^^

The penstock appears to be no longer functional

The access to this later addition of the sewer is quite cool in it's own right

A passageway runs from a manhole above in the busy area of Oxford Circus down to the Regent Street Sewer and across down to the Mid level Interceptor behind the overflow chamber

Luckily we managed to get a glimpse of the Mid Level here as it enters the overflow chamber, from behind the now closed/abandoned penstock as seen further above

I was looking forward to a leisurely stroll downstream in the Regents, after all it's dry beyond an interceptor right.. Pffft!!

What a P.I.T.A this sewer turned out to be in the end, suffice to say it has some quite unique qualities

No sooner had we left the dry section beyond the interceptor, a couple of lesser sewers connected contributing to the flow once more

Following this, there was a quick succession of foul connections and then some right shit heading downstream, it becomes quite grim fairly quickly

I certainly wasn't expecting any more 'Golden Showers', this sewer certainly lives up to expectations!

Further down from this, there was a rather nasty side pipe that runs in the direction of China Town, Soho (having since worked out where it was roughly above ground)

You could smell it a mile away, so much so the meter went off within the vicinity and a good 100 yards either side of it!

In all the places I've been, I've never experienced anything as bad as that thing, especially the smell, it was more rotting flesh & onions than sulfide, I even heaved up!

The principal culprits include hotels, restaurants and takeaways within the Soho catchment disposing of fat, oil and grease with a lack of regard for it's onward journey

I wouldn't go anywhere without my 4 Gas, and we've now started to wear goon masks as well to avoid inhaling such nastiness
This pipe alone highlights the dangers of sewers and without such PPE one could end up in real trouble, remember safety is paramount


The next side pipe however was a different kettle of fish

At around 5ft, a tumbling bay in the form of a stepped cascade runs a good 4m from the sewer above

Once again, another unique feature I've never seen before in a UK drain, glazed brick work within the manhole chamber, although I've been reliably informed there is one within the KSP somewhere

Here, a smaller sewer runs in from the East, (location unknown), it also carries fibre optics, which is fairly common now within the capital as they continue to cram what they can below the streets

Apologies for some of the shonky phone pics used, this next one was no exception as the sewer follows the contour of Regent Street

Unbeknown to the tourists above admiring the Xmas lights, we were directly below them admiring the lesser seen architecture

We were now somewhere below Piccadilly Circus, here another side entry connects from the East

On closer inspection and referring back to the L.C.C map, it would appear this is an overflow/access point to the Piccadilly Branch of the Mid Level No. 1 Interceptor

The staircase also serves as a tumbling bay from a small overflow chamber along the Piccadilly Branch above, see below pics..


Just like much further upstream, another brick porn manhole chamber resides above

A spiral staircase wraps around a central brick shaft with window like cut-outs up to a lid in the road above

The other side this time leads to a small overflow weir which serves the Piccadilly Branch of the Mid Level, the central brick shaft is ventilation to Regent Street above

above 2 pics c/o Ginge


And here, the small overflow and the Piccadilly Branch Sewer below the ventilation shaft; Constructed 1861 and serving the Mid Level Sewer from Holborn

Back to the main line, we could hear the sound of more water crashing into the sewer further down, please not another f00king soaking!

Unfortunately, another golden shower lay in wait

At this point in the proceedings, I was properly soaked and stunk like a skunk to put it mildly, It's no wonder I put this place off for so long

Ahead was a manhole and I just wanted to climb out and have a proper shower, unfortunately for me it was in the middle of a busy road so we had to press on...

Downstream it takes a dramatic dog-leg as it crosses Pall Mall

If you recall on the upstream stretch where I previously documented the Pall Mall Sewer, this is where it would have originally emerged within the Regent Street Sewer

There appears to be no connection here now ?

Looking closer at the above pic ^ you can see that entire section has been heavily modified, for one it looks like the Regents once took a different direction ?

More questions than answers once again


What is plain to see, there is now a smaller 'egg shaped' pipe, again heading in the same direction along Pall Mall

I had another natter with JD about this lot and he concluded that "I've a feeling they ran a smaller pipe through the older sewer and re-jigged connections"

It does make sense since the Pall Mall sewer was intercepted by Bazalgette's work in the mid 1800's..

Having now seen this point in the system I would go as far as saying that the section of Pall Mall sewer from that nasty looking 'split junction' at St James's down to this lot POINT C on the map below is now abandoned, post interceptor

It's a fair assumption as there is no flow at either end, so I'd kinda answered my own question by actually sticking my beak in

Heading downstream from this lot, the Regents now takes another turn at Charing Cross

It runs straight for a while and the flow is intercepted by Northern Low Level No. 2, close to Trafalgar Square

Looking back, beyond the interceptor you can see it's now dry

The distance in which this lasts varies, in this case it's a mere stride before the p00p pipes come sharting back in

Further down, the sewer changes direction near The Mall, close to Admiralty Arch as it heads to Whitehall

The line has been chopped into and modified at some point here to accommodate "something" as you can see from the following 2 pics

It was late and my brain wasn't fully engaged to attempt figuring it out, I knew there were no LU lines here so assumed possibly utilities..

Once I was back at the PC and worked out where we were from an above ground POV the answer was obvious

Nearby on the map, you can see there was an opening within a Gas dig, and a pipe subway where the road splits, it no doubt runs down both sides of the road and passes above the sewer as seen above

It certainly looks consistent with what I have seen elsewhere


From here, the sewer runs down Whitehall a short distance and takes a turn through Great Scotland Yard and onto Whitehall Place

At this point a small staircase drops the level of the sewer a good 5 meters

Looking Back Up

Again, I'm not sure it's original, "It could have once been a slide similar to the one in the Ranelagh sewer and modified with steps ?" - JD

After a couple of evenings further chewing it over with him, we both came to the conclusion that the line was probably modified around the same time the Victoria Embankment was constructed c.1865

This would make sense, as the level of the Regent's would have needed to be dropped towards the outfall to meet the 'NEW' Low Level No. 1 Interceptor that runs to Abbey Mills PS


We were now entering into the vicinity of the infamous Westminster Fatberg, I wasn't particularly looking forward to the inevitable feculence here

The continuing battle with the Fatberg build up is an ongoing concern beneath the streets here for TW as the problem stretches a good half kilometre, downstream in the direction of the Thames

I wasn't actually expecting to get anywhere near the outfall either having seen the state of this next lot via various media sources over the past few years, although we were merely a stones throw away in reality

Having once led the world in sewer engineering with it's original brick-built labyrinth, London was now the undisputed global leader in sewer blockage!


The sewer had now shrunk down to under 5ft and conditions were tough underfoot

It just degraded with every step and there's only so much you can endure walking through this fatty/shitty concoction, goon mask or no goon mask!


ENOUGH ALREADY

This is as far as we could safely manage before turning back, meanwhile the Fatberg under Westminster continues to metastasize

My Lacoste T-Shirt will never smell the same again..


Respect to Jbizzle

​

 

[The Lone Ranger]

An interesting Sunday stroll, fantastic looking sewers with some stunning / unique architecture

Presume you didn't go for a Chinese after the Soho connection

 

[Ojay]

An interesting Sunday stroll, fantastic looking sewers with some stunning / unique architecture

Presume you didn't go for a Chinese after the Soho connection

NO to a Chinese!

 

[afrojay]

I love all these drain write ups! It makes me feel like I'm there myself. Amazing work!

 

[toby]

Amazing stuff as always, fantastic authoritative writeup. Christ those trips must have been hard work!

 

[Nickindroy]

One really does suffer for one's art! Ace stuff mate and nice use of 'arse broth' there.

 

[TheVicar]

I enjoyed reading that Ojay, a sewer as old as this has a lot of history and it looks like you have done a damn good job of reporting it.
I'm also pleased to see the photos (which have come out well considering the circumstances) of this place to save me the temptation of going in search of 'golden showers' below the streets of London. I almost feel like I could do with a hot shower after reading this
I think I'll order an Indian tonight, don't fancy a Chinese now!

 

[Fudge]

Pic heavy

 

[Seffy]

Now that's a detailed thread! The smell from here was still present on some of Ginge's stuff when I saw him the other weekend - f00k me!

 

[Lord Oort]

Another belter there mate, always love reading your mega threads!

 

[tarkovsky]

Brilliant work, great report and persistence - kept getting interrupted reading it and had to keep going back to the beginning so i didn’t miss anything. Some really appealing spaces there (not sure if appealing is the right word given the context) but some of the more shitty bits might test my resolve... top stuff...

 

[tallginge]

Jeez, man - top quality report. Particularly enjoyed the history on this, I fully understand how hard it is to come across info on a sewer as old as this. That lower section is by far the most disgusting that I've been in as well. Its very steamy down there and 11ppm is bad enough - it stank! Was very glad you suggested the goon masks. Also glad I remembered to bring them with us

I also try to avoid stooping these day's, let alone bent double in shit pipes

- lol I told you it started off stoopy. Your face when you saw it for yourself was a picture! Glad you found us a more sensible lid than I did. Was worth doing that section if only for the old twists, turns and them capped off ventilation shafts. Props for finding that other lid as well, usable ones are few and far between here

golden shower time

- by george it was - fuck me, avoiding a complete soaking was impossible - was well worth carrying on though - perhaps we should've taken a brolly?

Was glad to finally see this one with you, mate. I'd read all about it but not seen pics online before and seeing cool stuff that's completely new to me at least was very worthwhile - good times....

 

[Lenston]

Lovely mate, proper read that is.