Site Records

London Sewers & Service Tunnels

Reproduced from Strand Magazine - August 1898

After being photographed some of the party seemed disinclined to go much farther. So leaving them in the broad main, the Superintendent, at my request took me to some of the side street and byways of the underground city.

As we went, I seized on the opportunity of questioning him on his occupation; he seemed to think it was healthy enough. "Oh yes, men get knocked up sometimes but it's more often through catching colds than anything else. You see it's hot down here and even if men loiter up above, especially in the cold whether, they are likely to get chills. No we don't often have men on the sick list with fevers or anything else of that sort. Why should we; it's healthy enough down here." You can testify that the smell is no worse than you often encounter in the open

street. Now and again of course when at a bend or a narrow passage there is an accumulation of sewage and the stream gets partially dammed; the men then have a rather unpleasant job to perform, but as a rule the job is not so objectionable as you imagine. Yes sometimes a man will stay down here for six or seven hours at a stretch and they may seem none the worse. Smoke? "Yes as you can see", pointing at his pipe, "it's possibly if we didn't smoke, the smells which we sometimes meet with might effect us more."

We entered one of the branches and conversation except for the most limited description became impossible. The roof was so low that we had to bend almost double to avoid damaging ourselves, add to this it was constructed on a sharpish incline and the bottom being slippery it was necessary to proceed with caution. Had my guide explained, had it been a wet day this branch would have been quite nonnegotiable. As it was, the water in it was only a few inches deep. This came from the surface as I very soon saw for at the top end

was one of the gullies covered with an iron grating to be seen in the roadway. Back we went as we had come passed the place where the main stream forks out into two branches, in which the current of course moves more slowly. Along one of these we then went up another branch, even smaller than the first and more difficult.

From here the water was almost knee deep and was swirling and eddying like the river around the buttresses of one of the great bridges. Previously I mentioned to my guide that if possible I should like to get a glimpse of some of the rats with which the sewers abound. He had explained that although they came out more freely at night, he might be able to show me a few in one of the less frequented portions of the sewer; and this was the place he had chosen.

Painfully we made our way for some forty or fifty yards and then placing ourselves in a niche in the wall we waited but we didn't see a rat. Rather disappointed, we were just turning to go back when I fancied a saw a dark shape slip past our feet. It may have been a rat or merely a shadow. In all events I started and nearly lost my balance. With a clutch at my companion I regained it and as I stood upright I found that we were

in total darkness. As I slipped, my sconce fell from my hand and was now being gaily borne eastwards at a rate of two or three miles an hour and in grabbing at the Superintendent I had inadvertently extinguished his candle and we didn't have a match between us. The only thing to do was to grope our way back in the dark.

Luckily my companion could have found his way out blindfold and consequently laughed heartily at our predicament. He led the way and I followed touching him lightly every few yards to make sure I was in his tracks as the darkness was so intense that I could scarcely distinguish him. Now I have a curious fact to relate. The Superintendent declares it was my imagination but at the time I could have sworn that though no rats made an appearance when, with candles

lit, we stood on the look-out, they simply came out in shoals and trotted about our feet when we were journeying slowly and painfully in the dark. Well it may have been imagination and perhaps the journey in the dark had played upon my nerves more than I cared to admit.

When we rejoined the rest of the party they were all waiting and wondering what had become of us. They laughed heartily when we told our story and frankly expressed their incredulity when I spoke about the rats but they expressed no inclination to go and find out for themselves.

So back we all went to the shaft and one by one climbed up to the surface; how glad we were to get there! It was an exceedingly interesting experience and one that few people will have and that I think all of us fully recognised.

But after a couple of hours in the nether world it was undoubtedly delightful to feel the fresh breeze blowing on our cheeks, to hear the hum and clatter of traffic and to see once again the glorious blue sky over out heads.

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Last updated: Wednesday, 18-Apr-2007 07:33:14 BST