Category Archives: Underground

Surface, Underground

Crossness Pumping Station, Kent

History: The Crossness Pumping Station was built by Sir Joseph Bazalgette as part of Victorian London’s urgently needed main sewerage system. When the buildings were abandoned, the pumps and culverts below the Beam Engine House were filled with a weak sand and cement mix to reduce the risks from methane. We are helping the trust to remove some of this mix and explore some of the old tunnels.
More information on the Crossness Pumping Station can be found on their website http://www.crossness.org.uk

19th August Work started on helping, the group who are engaged in the restoration of the engines, in removing sand from one of the cylinders and a tunnel.

14th October Work continued on digging out the tunnel, until the daily influx of water, and on the area below the piston. Digging was halted around lunch time to enable us to hold our AGM in the canteen.

14th October After lunch we concentrated on emptying the area inside the piston. 2 people inside the piston filling the buckets, 2 people man (and woman) handling them to the ground and then an electric winch to raise them to the surface, where we used wheelbarrows and a dumper truck to dispose of the spoil.

17th February Work continued inside digging in the area below the piston, The outlet valves can be clearly seen at the back and we are in the process of uncovering the inlet valves in the bottom of the chamber. It’s a good job that we have a fan to provide fresh air as it was getting a bit smelly at the bottom.

17th February Outside we are digging a hole which we hope will eventually lead through an arch and into the filth hoist chamber. Work is tough going even with a kango hammer as the infill here is much harder than inside.

17th February Having a dumper truck to take away all the spoil is very useful, even if we have to barrow it out to it.

17th March Work continued on emptying the area below the piston and we had just finished this when a break through was made in the hole outside. Lunch was temporarily put on hold and a ladder found to investigate.

17th March Descending down into the Filth Hoist Chamber we found that the infill had settled / washed away leaving ample room for us to enter and investigate. The photo on the left shows the Filth Hoist bearing whilst the photo on the right is looking out from the Filth Hoist chamber. The archway is under the main building foundations and the rusty metal on the left is the flywheel casing .

17th March Some of the digging crew.

14th April Although we expected to finish things off on the last visit we ran into some problems in our efforts to get to the base of the flywheel housing. As we lowered the level of the sand we opened up an easy route for the water in the outside access chamber to drain through into our workings. As a result we will have to shore up the excavation as we go.

14th April On inspection we discovered that the area between the flywheel casing and the flywheel is full of debris and we are investigating the best way to gain access into the space

26th May Due to the confined space we were working in and the dust & fumes a fresh air supply was necessary. This home built blower and helmet was more than up to the task.

26th May Outside work started on emptying the pit. Unfortunately the spoil below the sand was a rather unpleasant black tarry sludge that stuck to everything.

Underground

Lullingstone Ice House and ‘Bath House’, Kent

Although not open to the public the Castle Gardens are. Click here for further details


Raising the lid		16th June After many years of being sealed up the concrete lid was raised on the old Ice House at Lullingstone.
22nd June Digging then began to clear out all the rubble and return the Ice House to it’s original state so it can be used by the local bat population
Winching out the buckets

Looking down into the Ice House		June 29th Further digging took place and the level has now fallen significantly inside.
Fortunately the side entrance is well appointed and allows access without having to Descend / Ascend through the top.
Looking out of the side entrance

Nearly at the bottom !		June 29th More digging and hauling away of rubble.
After further digging the end is now in sight and will hopefully be reached during the next digging session.  
The digging crew having a break

Looking down at the bottom		August 3rd After further digging during the intervening weeks, tonight we finished clearing all the remaining rubble from the Ice House.
  The whole chamber is now clear. The bottom is clearly visible and the whole chamber is remarkably well intact. The chamber is approx 19′ deep with a further 4′ deep drain hole / soakaway in the bottom.
Looking into the drain hole

Installing the bat boxes.		Bat boxes have now been attached to the walls and all we can now do is wait and see if the bats will take up residence. During this visit we also had a look at the nearby bathhouse with a view to clearing the ivy off the outside and emptying the rubble out of it.
21st November Work started to look the the “bath house” although there are still conflicting ideas as to whether this is what it actually is. The pool itself was full of debris, probably from the crumbling walls and possibly a roof. There would appear to be a spring that feeds it, on the side furthest away from the river, with a constant source of fresh clean water.
Cleaning out the rubble

Pumping out.
Clearing ivy.
21st March 2010 Work continues on the “bath house”. Progress was hampered by the ability of the pump to keep up with the inflow of water. Initially this was thought to be entirely from the spring but further investigation revealed a link to the river. As fast as we were trying to empty it the river was refilling it. After digging an investigative hole and plugging the inflow we were able to drop the level significantly, especially with the aid if some manual bailing. Amongst the debris removed were some nice tiles, possibly from the bottom. Hopefully the next trip, when the river level is lower or we can use an additional pump, should see the task completed, and the bottom exposed. Manual bailing as pump couldn’t cope.

There’s got to be a hole here somewhere !
Come on in the water’s lovely.