Northern High Level Sewer, London 2014.
We dropped into what we believed was the High Level Storm Relief up near Holloway, the word on the street was it's a 5ft stoopy RCP and not really worth bothering with
Now then.. 5ft, RCP, not worth bothering with ?
..And whats that drop shaft on the left ?
It was only after we'd finsished this lot that it was apparent we'd actually been walking up/down the Northern High Level Sewer!!
We did manage a glimpse of the 'High Level Storm Relief' - See a bit further below, and it was more a 4ft RBP
Crack on...
As you can see from the pic above and the one below, we dropped into a medium sized overflow as far as London standards go
The Northern High Level passes by on the R.H.S, facilitating spill flows to gravite beyond the single sided weir via the brick drop shaft down into the Holloway Storm Relief a good 10-15m below
Not the best of pics looking downstream
I broke the f0sheye previously finishing off the Westie and it wouldn't focus for toffee after that!
I was keen to have a look down into the Holloway Storm Relief from the chamber, it's not often these things are laddered
As I shone my torch below, the ladder looked impossible to climb down as it was caked in fat and pebble dashed with stale turds and draped in all manner of rags
I decided to roll my sleeves up and with no gloves to hand I made my descent
Determined to make it to the bottom, although it proved impossible mainly due to the fatty deposits and sheer amount of wipes and rags clogging up the rungs
However, as I neared the bottom it was evidently a no go due to what appeared to be a deep pit of fetid wastewater ahead of the opening to the Holloway Storm Relief, no way anybody was tackling that!
Somehow I gashed my arm on the way down and was gushing with blood, to quote GE
Like a pro I carried on despite the mysterious injury, I think the p00p and fatty crud managed to help seal the wound
Now with hindsight I wouldn't normally volunteer to stand in an interceptor for more than a split second, let alone walk in one
The last time I tried being a smart arse, it very nearly ended in tears
It was now quite late and the flow didn't seem too bad, we opted to head upstream to work out what was going on..
Beyond the weir from ^(pic no.2) the interceptor curves it's way upstream via a sizeable RBP
Just around the bend resides a smaller overflow chamber with a single sided weir similar to the one we entered into, with a deep pool of s00p below and an incoming/outgoing 4ft RBP
It serves a dual purpose:
a.) It marks the end point of the High Level Storm relief (Camden Road Branch), which we oringinally set out to look at and is essentialy an overflow which serves the upstream stretch of the Fleet
Here is a pic I took from the Fleet much earlier of the connecting overflow with the High Level Storm relief which eventually terminates here
b.) The outgoing 4ft RBP allows the interceptor whilst at capacity to gravitate spill flows into the upstream stretch of the Holloway Storm Relief
Sadly I appear to have lost my pics looking down into the chamber
I did climb down, but it appeared to be rather deep, that and the fact the pipe diameter at this point was little over 4ft we opted to continue upstream
As you can see just beyond the overflow another sewer drops in making it difficult under foot at this point
Continuing upstream, the flow wasn't too bad, a tad slippery and especially where the odd side pipe joined along the line
Eventually a side exit, we'd walked a fair distance upto this point, I guess one of the calculated risks associated with sewers that often there is no way out for ages
The only noteable features here were a flow hawk draped into the line just out of shot and 2 cast iron pipes running above, probably gas or water mains
Continuing upstream a considerable distance it was a good while before anything interesting presented itself
Here 2 local sewers enter on opposite sides via 'brick egg' inverts
A ladder can be seen just beyond which leads to a split lid in the middle of a busy road with a curious RCP emerging on the opposing wall
Our attention now diverted to said RCP, which appeared to be an older brick sewer which had since been lined with concrete in recent years
Like everything upstream (North) it was a st00py affair, luckily it didn't last too long as it curved around and came to an abrupt end
Looking at the main drainage map it would appear this is another branch of the Fleet sewer that runs from Hampstead and the start of the interceptor
Note the penstock behind
Tired and getting late we decided to trek back to where we started, we had at least 2 safe exits now, problem is they were a fair old distance apart
As we reached the chamber we started at hours ago, the sensible thing would have been to GTFO and get some sleep
Somehow we convinced ourselves it was a good idea to head downstream and see what else was on offer
As we continued, the flow picked up and was a fair bit deeper the impressive RBP must have been at least +10ft at this point and getting bigger
Unbeknown to us were now walking down the Northern High Level, as far as ridiculous goes this is it!
Worse still there was no exit for a good distance, just one long slippery fast flowing shit pipe
The only usable pic I managed to grab was where it curved ahead of nice S bend, which I failed to capture
It wasn't the easiest of locations to place a tripod and grab a long exposure for obvious reasons
After what seemed like ages, a shape change
The next stretch has a re-inforced flat roof as it passes under the East Coast Mainline and LU tracks near to the Emirates Stadium & Drayton Park
We were about to call it a day (night) when we got a glimpse of something..
I honestly thought we were tripping balls as I'd been on it all week with very little sleep by this point
What we have here is an sizeable overflow that looks like late 90's/2000 era ?
The interceptor passes calmly beyond the single sided weir boards
A large overflow can be seen, the catch rail draped with all manner of sewerfresh
Beyond which a hooj drop shaft allowing spill flows to be discharged into the nearby Holloway Storm Relief
There was no way out here, 2 split lids in the road above compressed by heavy traffic. One of them drops into this strange looking 'inspection cubicle'
I've never seen anything like this before, suppose it would be good to stand here and watch it overflow when it rains
There was no way we were going any further downstream as I think the penny had finally dropped
Rubber dinghy rapids down to Abbey Mills pumping station and dropping into the Northern Outfall Sewer and being scraped out at Beckton without a dinghy was never going to end well
We knew it was daylight outside by now, the only useable way out was a hell of a walk back upstream, the flow made it hard work
Realistically we had an hour or so before rise & shine, when baths, showers and washing machines would start belching out around the City
By the time we reached the manhole, my quads were burning hard and I was sweating like a pig, I climbed out with my newly acquired bambi legs and collapsed onto the pavement
Not only would I never go back here, I wouldn't recommend walking down a main interceptor and certainly never attempt anything like this in the daytime!
Remember safety is paramount
We dropped into what we believed was the High Level Storm Relief up near Holloway, the word on the street was it's a 5ft stoopy RCP and not really worth bothering with
Now then.. 5ft, RCP, not worth bothering with ?
..And whats that drop shaft on the left ?
It was only after we'd finsished this lot that it was apparent we'd actually been walking up/down the Northern High Level Sewer!!
We did manage a glimpse of the 'High Level Storm Relief' - See a bit further below, and it was more a 4ft RBP
Crack on...
As you can see from the pic above and the one below, we dropped into a medium sized overflow as far as London standards go
The Northern High Level passes by on the R.H.S, facilitating spill flows to gravite beyond the single sided weir via the brick drop shaft down into the Holloway Storm Relief a good 10-15m below
Not the best of pics looking downstream
I broke the f0sheye previously finishing off the Westie and it wouldn't focus for toffee after that!
I was keen to have a look down into the Holloway Storm Relief from the chamber, it's not often these things are laddered
As I shone my torch below, the ladder looked impossible to climb down as it was caked in fat and pebble dashed with stale turds and draped in all manner of rags
I decided to roll my sleeves up and with no gloves to hand I made my descent
Determined to make it to the bottom, although it proved impossible mainly due to the fatty deposits and sheer amount of wipes and rags clogging up the rungs
However, as I neared the bottom it was evidently a no go due to what appeared to be a deep pit of fetid wastewater ahead of the opening to the Holloway Storm Relief, no way anybody was tackling that!
Somehow I gashed my arm on the way down and was gushing with blood, to quote GE
Like a pro I carried on despite the mysterious injury, I think the p00p and fatty crud managed to help seal the wound
Now with hindsight I wouldn't normally volunteer to stand in an interceptor for more than a split second, let alone walk in one
The last time I tried being a smart arse, it very nearly ended in tears
It was now quite late and the flow didn't seem too bad, we opted to head upstream to work out what was going on..
Beyond the weir from ^(pic no.2) the interceptor curves it's way upstream via a sizeable RBP
Just around the bend resides a smaller overflow chamber with a single sided weir similar to the one we entered into, with a deep pool of s00p below and an incoming/outgoing 4ft RBP
It serves a dual purpose:
a.) It marks the end point of the High Level Storm relief (Camden Road Branch), which we oringinally set out to look at and is essentialy an overflow which serves the upstream stretch of the Fleet
Here is a pic I took from the Fleet much earlier of the connecting overflow with the High Level Storm relief which eventually terminates here
b.) The outgoing 4ft RBP allows the interceptor whilst at capacity to gravitate spill flows into the upstream stretch of the Holloway Storm Relief
Sadly I appear to have lost my pics looking down into the chamber
I did climb down, but it appeared to be rather deep, that and the fact the pipe diameter at this point was little over 4ft we opted to continue upstream
As you can see just beyond the overflow another sewer drops in making it difficult under foot at this point
Continuing upstream, the flow wasn't too bad, a tad slippery and especially where the odd side pipe joined along the line
Eventually a side exit, we'd walked a fair distance upto this point, I guess one of the calculated risks associated with sewers that often there is no way out for ages
The only noteable features here were a flow hawk draped into the line just out of shot and 2 cast iron pipes running above, probably gas or water mains
Continuing upstream a considerable distance it was a good while before anything interesting presented itself
Here 2 local sewers enter on opposite sides via 'brick egg' inverts
A ladder can be seen just beyond which leads to a split lid in the middle of a busy road with a curious RCP emerging on the opposing wall
Our attention now diverted to said RCP, which appeared to be an older brick sewer which had since been lined with concrete in recent years
Like everything upstream (North) it was a st00py affair, luckily it didn't last too long as it curved around and came to an abrupt end
Looking at the main drainage map it would appear this is another branch of the Fleet sewer that runs from Hampstead and the start of the interceptor
Note the penstock behind
Tired and getting late we decided to trek back to where we started, we had at least 2 safe exits now, problem is they were a fair old distance apart
As we reached the chamber we started at hours ago, the sensible thing would have been to GTFO and get some sleep
Somehow we convinced ourselves it was a good idea to head downstream and see what else was on offer
As we continued, the flow picked up and was a fair bit deeper the impressive RBP must have been at least +10ft at this point and getting bigger
Unbeknown to us were now walking down the Northern High Level, as far as ridiculous goes this is it!
Worse still there was no exit for a good distance, just one long slippery fast flowing shit pipe
The only usable pic I managed to grab was where it curved ahead of nice S bend, which I failed to capture
It wasn't the easiest of locations to place a tripod and grab a long exposure for obvious reasons
After what seemed like ages, a shape change
The next stretch has a re-inforced flat roof as it passes under the East Coast Mainline and LU tracks near to the Emirates Stadium & Drayton Park
We were about to call it a day (night) when we got a glimpse of something..
I honestly thought we were tripping balls as I'd been on it all week with very little sleep by this point
What we have here is an sizeable overflow that looks like late 90's/2000 era ?
The interceptor passes calmly beyond the single sided weir boards
A large overflow can be seen, the catch rail draped with all manner of sewerfresh
Beyond which a hooj drop shaft allowing spill flows to be discharged into the nearby Holloway Storm Relief
There was no way out here, 2 split lids in the road above compressed by heavy traffic. One of them drops into this strange looking 'inspection cubicle'
I've never seen anything like this before, suppose it would be good to stand here and watch it overflow when it rains
There was no way we were going any further downstream as I think the penny had finally dropped
Rubber dinghy rapids down to Abbey Mills pumping station and dropping into the Northern Outfall Sewer and being scraped out at Beckton without a dinghy was never going to end well
We knew it was daylight outside by now, the only useable way out was a hell of a walk back upstream, the flow made it hard work
Realistically we had an hour or so before rise & shine, when baths, showers and washing machines would start belching out around the City
By the time we reached the manhole, my quads were burning hard and I was sweating like a pig, I climbed out with my newly acquired bambi legs and collapsed onto the pavement
Not only would I never go back here, I wouldn't recommend walking down a main interceptor and certainly never attempt anything like this in the daytime!
Remember safety is paramount
