44 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[February, 



lands of the county could not be made without first, the Westminster 

 Commissioners constructing a new sewer, or lowering an old one, then 

 the Holborn and Finsbury doing the same. So, also, if either com- 

 missions wished to divert the upland waters, by constructing catch 

 ■water drains, so as to prevent too great a flow down any particular 

 district, and prevent the lower parts of the metropolis from being in- 

 undated, it cannot be done, and the consequence is, that each com- 

 mission is obliged to cut about and alter the old sewers, to get rid 

 of tbe evil in the best way they can. 

 Mr. Donaldson tells us that 



" During the present century, and particularly since the removal of 

 old London Bridge, every opportunity has been taken to lower the 

 outlets. For instance, the Essex Street sewer, between 18 Hi and 

 1836, has been lowered from its outfall at the Thames to near Great 

 Russell Street. Bloomsbury, in length 5,800 feet. The eastern branch 

 of the Hartshorn Lane Sewer, between 1831 and 1839, from Long 

 Acre to the New Road, by the line of Tottenham Court Road, &c, 

 in length 4,200 feet. Another branch of the Hartshorn Lane sewer, 

 between 1820 and 1837, from the south end of the Haymarket to 

 Oxford Street, by the line of Princes Street, Wardour Street. &c, in 

 length 3400 feet. The whole of the King Street sewer, between 

 1830 and 1S32, from Westminster Bridge to St. James's Park, 1200 

 feet. The Wood Street sewer, between 1824 and 1827, the College 

 Street sewer, between 1824 and 1832, and the Romney Row or Horse- 

 ferry Road sewers, in 1840, have been lowered and rebuilt of enlarged 

 dimensions from their outlets for their whole extent, being a length of 

 6850 feet, presenting in these lines alone a total of only 21,450 feet." 



Here, then, we have a fearful summary of expenses incurred in 

 lowering the old sewage only, and we think an inquiry might be use- 

 fully directed to see if all the commissions had been united, whether 

 it would not have been far cheaper and more effective to run new lines 

 of sewer from the river Thames through districts which had no 

 sewers and to have joined the old sewage at some distant point, 

 and thereby have relieved the old sewers in the lower levels. 



By this arrangement, we should have had the old sewers still re- 

 maining, which might have answered the purposes of draining either 

 high or low lands, and have obtained an immense additional length of 

 new sewerage at the same expense. We do not mean to say that in 

 all cases under the present system of separate commissions, this could 

 have been effected ; but it is a fair subject for enquiry, and can only 

 be got at, by having a thorough examination of all the plans and 

 levels of the present sewerage, in every district, connected with the 

 metropolis. 



Mr. Donaldson subsequently calls our attention to the vast works 

 that have been executed for the improvement of the King's Scholar's 

 Pond Sewer; let us give his own words. 



" But the greatest work ever executed by this or any other com- 

 mission has been that effected on the King's Scholar Pond Sewer, 

 which has been wholly rebuilt for an extent of upwards of three 

 miles, from the River Side to the Regent's Park within the last 

 24 years. It has been so vastly deepened and enlarged since the 

 year 1816, that property of the most valuable description, in the 

 neighbourhood of the sewer, at Pimlico, including Buckingham 

 Palace, the lower floors of which are below the highest tide level, 

 and most of tbe streets adjacent to the sewer between Piccadilly 

 and the Regent's Park, have been benefitted to an incalculable ex- 

 tent. Formerly the whole neighbourhood was inundated by every 

 sudden fall of rain, so that many of the houses in Berkeley Square, 

 Brutou Street, Avery Row, South Molton Street, Wigmore Street, 

 South Street, Baker Street, and Spring Street, were greatly depreci- 

 ated in value; and some houses in Berkeley Street and Bruton Street 

 remained unoccupied for many months together, in consequence of the 

 well-known fact, that in the summer months those premises were 

 subject to have their lower floors burst up during thunder storms, and 

 the water to rise so as to extinguish the kitchen fires, &c. 



" One of the great means for remedying these evils was designed 

 and carried into effect by Mr. Dowley. I especially allude to the 

 entire removal of two immense stone piers, which had at some former 

 time been built in the water way of the sewer, and which piers sup- 

 ported certain parts of the heavy and lofty walls of the houses in 

 Grafton Street, St. George's. These piers, one measuring 53 feet in 

 length, the other of a more square form, whereby the water way was 

 divided into two channels, were formerly .considered advantageous 



to the property lower down the line of sewer, bv penning back the 

 torrent of water in times of storms. The work of taking out these 

 obstructions as also removing two great projections, and putting in an 

 inverted arch throughout the whole length of sewer between Hay 

 Hill and Bruton Street, in length 550 feet, at a greatlv increased 

 depth, was performed from within-side the sewer, which had its course 

 under buildings. These works proved of such vast importance to 

 the sewage of the district, that what was formerly reported to be 

 impracticable by several eminent engineers, amongst whom were the 

 late Mr. John Rennie, Mr. Jessop, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Bevan of 

 Leighton Buzzard, and others, was actually and substantially carried 

 out, and was afterwards inspected by some of these gentlemen, as 

 also by a numerous committee of the commissioners, who not only 

 approved of the work that had been so done, unseen by any one other 

 than by the workmen employed, but were somewhat surprised that 

 so bold au attempt had been successfully accomplished. 



" In the prosecution of the operations necessary for reconstructing 

 this one line of sewer, various instances may be cited to show that, at 

 all events, the management and execution were entrusted to an officer 

 of this court who knew something of his profession, and to any one, 

 who is acquainted with that part of the district lying between Pic- 

 cadilly and Oxford Street, it must be manifest, that cases requiring 

 ability, foresight, science and practical experience frequently arose. 

 I mean such difficult cases as passing a sewer seven feet six inches 

 wide in the clear with side walls two bricks thick, at a depth of 22 

 feet and upwards, along White Horse Street, Piccadilly, a street only ' 

 20 feet wide. Again, carrying the same sewer through Sun Court, 

 Curzon Street, which is less in width than that of the external di- 

 mensions of the sewer itself. And, further on, this sewer winds its 

 course under and close to buildings of great magnitude, nearly the 

 whole way from the lower end of Berkeley Square to Oxford Street 

 and in most instances at a depth of from 10 to 12 feet below the foun- 

 daiions of the contiguous buildings. Surely, these were works, which, 

 by their nature and extent might be considered of a scientific and 

 high order of civil engineering, and such as have only been ap- 

 proached by some recent works, perhaps, of the city commission of 

 sewers." 



With all due deference to the talents of Mr. Donaldson, we are in- 

 clined to doubt the latter part of his statement, that these works 

 " might be considered of a scientific and high order of civil engineer- 

 ing." Instead of enlarging this sewer, and rebuilding it, with all its 

 original sinuosity, the course we should have preferred, would have 

 been to have run a new sewer from where the Scholar's Pond sewer 

 crosses in Oxford Street, near South Molton Street, along Oxford Street, 

 and united it with the Regent Street sewer belonging to the crown. 

 No doubt we shall be told, this could not be done, as the Westminster 

 Commissioners have no power to enter the Regent Street sewer, this 

 then would at once have proved the great necessity of uniting the 

 several commissions ; now, if this plan could have been adopted, it 

 would have relieved the large pressure of water flowing down the 

 sewer, and inundating the houses as represented in Mr. Donaldson's 

 report, and would have saved the great expense incurred in removing 

 the large piers under the houses in Grafton Street, and rebuilding the 

 tortuous part of the sewer in the vicinity of Curzon Street; and 

 another advantage gained, would have been in giving Oxford Street a 

 sewer, which had none. Similar relief might have been given to 

 other portions of the large sewers which were overpowered with the 

 upland water, and new sewers given to such portions as had none be- 

 fore ; for instance, another sewer might have been constructed, to 

 have commenced about Berkeley Street, and run along Piccadilly, and 

 discharged itself into the Regent Street sewer, near the Quadrant, 

 connecting with it the sewers of the side streets, which would have 

 relived the Scholar's Pond Sewer and have given Piccadilly a sewer 

 which it was deficient of until lately. And again, the sewer of Pall 

 Mall might have been diverted into the Regent Street sewer, although 

 it comes to within a few yards of it the sewage is carried into the 

 Scholar's Pond Sewer, and has to travel a distance of a mile and a 

 half before it discharges itself into the Thames, whereas, if the 

 former plan had been adopted, the discharge into the Thames 

 would have been within half a mile. If these collateral sewers 

 had been built, the vast sums of money in reconstructing a consider- 

 able portion of the Scholar's Pond Sewer, and building the large ap- 

 proaches described in Mr. Donaldson's address, might have been saved 



