Deptford pumping station


Deptford Pumping Station is a sewage pumping station built in 1865 to the east of Deptford. It is part of the London sewerage system devised by Sir Joseph Bazalgette in the mid 19th century. Today operated by Thames Water, it is located on the western side of Norman Road, approximately south west of Greenwich town centre, on the eastern bank of Deptford Creek, around south of its confluence with the River Thames.

History

After an outbreak of cholera in 1853 and "The Big Stink" of 1858, central London's sewerage system was designed by Bazalgette to intercept sewage flows and prevent them flowing into the Thames. A Northern Outfall Sewer intercepted flows north of the river, while the Southern Outfall Sewer took flows south of the Thames. The pumping station at Deptford was the meeting point of three interceptor sewers in the latter system:
The pumping station raised sewage flows so that it could then flow under Greenwich, Woolwich, Plumstead and across Erith marshes to a treatment plant at Crossness. In the year 1919/20 the Deptford pumps handled 21,890.1 million gallons and the running costs were £28,818. Deptford was the south London equivalent of Abbey Mills pumping station in West Ham, which performed a similar function on the Northern Outfall Sewer.
The original Deptford pumping station building was built in London stock brick in an Italianate style, and comprised two engine houses with a linking boiler house. It initially housed four steam-powered beam engines. When installed, the engines at Deptford were the largest ever built.
Over 150 years later, the pumping station site will be the location of Greenwich pumping station, part of the Thames Tideway Scheme, currently under construction, and intended to partly supersede Bazalgette's system.