This is a crossroads of the sewer tunnel, which was designed in the second half of the 19th century by Sir Joseph William Bazalgette. Everything was built so well that even after more than 150 years there are practically no signs of wear in the tunnel. There are railings in the places where you can slip, and where you can see the silhouette of the person in the picture, right under my feet, I found several gold rings and a pendant. London’s sewers are an amazing place.
We visited the old sewer tunnels under London and the huge underground river Madlock in Manchester, which is four times larger in diameter than the largest underground river in Ukraine – Poltva.
A large arched tunnel was built at the point where the sewer and lake water mix. A few years ago, this hall hosted the IDM – International Drain Meeting – an international underground party for tunnel lovers from all over the world.
The sewer’s pipes are well built.
There are many rats in the tunnels. Tom told me that there used to be far more, but they were killed off by the municipal authorities because they interfered with the underground survey.
One of the problems was that when you walk toward the exit through the hatch, the rats run away from you along the tunnel. Then, as you get closer to the lift with the braces, they start to climb up, lose their grip and fall on your head, and sometimes they bite.
A huge gate shuts off the tunnel during a rainstorm so that the sewage does not mix with the rainwater. It looks like a giant guillotine.
The point where the sewers and rainwater meet. The idea is that if the sewer tunnel (on the left) is full, the excess sewage is dumped into the storm sewer (the tunnel on the right).
The bed of the Madlock River in Manchester is impressive in its size. For two kilometers this river is hidden in a brick tunnel, and in some places there are elements of older masonry from the 16th-18th centuries.
The wooden bridge in the photo dates back to the end of the 19th century. It is still used as a service bridge for the cable network that crosses the tunnel. The black arch on the right was once used to load the butchered meat from the slaughterhouse into boats.
The white strips on the ceiling are sensors that monitor the condition of the tunnel’s arch.
