Where: Crossness Pumping Station, Abbey Wood
When you think of a sewage pumping station this wouldn't usually conjure images of stunning Romanesque architecture and intricate ironwork. However that's just what this south London pump house offers, designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette and architect Charles Henry Driver and built in the mid-19th century. Its purpose was functional, to improve London's sewage system at a time when cholera was rife; this was in the days of 'The Great Stink', when the smell of human waste floating in the Thames became so bad the curtains facing the river in the Houses of Parliament had to be soaked in lime chloride.
While it has not been in operation since the 1950s, it is a Grade I listed building that is open to the public, and well worth a trip to South East London to see its spectacular design
