AMAZING work by the Victorians!! We owe them a huge debt. Their resourcefulness, inventiveness, artistry and willingness to act boldly has left us a precious heritage.
Looks claustrophobic & disorientating. Yet such incredible engineering. I have enormous respect for those who built these structures and people who work down there.
Looks in excellent condition for its age, some of the bricks are even glazed. The Fleet rises on Hampstead Heath, feeds the Hampstead ponds then finds its way down under Farringdon Road, under Fleet Street at the bottom of Ludgate Hill and enters the Thames under Blackfriars Bridge where the Italian banker Calvi was found hanged. If lost rivers interest you, you can see the river Westbourne crossing the platforms at Sloane Square in a huge steel aqueduct pipe.
Most modern towns have replaced the brick sewers with concrete tubing. Brick was much more common in the 18-1900’s, however as technology expanded, brick tunnels were no longer needed :/
Well done, spotting the rats! The little flaps are rat traps, I believe. The sewer backed up into my basement flat kitchen once, and the MWD fixed it by removing the rat trap which had stuck closed. Apparently the rats weren't trying to get into peoples' houses any more.
Man, this is an EXcellent explore indeed - Many thanks for the video! 👍 I'd love to be able to do this myself too, but I admit I don't have anywhere near the amount of knowledge/awareness of the dangers to be able to do this safely...So until that changes, I'll stick with doing it by video! 😇🎞👍
So much is down in the forgotten darkness beneath ancient cities. Collapsed, blocked off, repurposed, rejuvenated. Every side tunnel has its story. Fascinating
Built with brain power and hand drawn designs instead of 3D virtual computer models and advanced machinery. Nothing but pure engineering and craftsmanship. Untold billions of bricks laid down by the hands of thousands of hard working men who have long since passed on. But look at the result they left us.
318 million bricks actually. Joseph Bazalgette had been working on the ideal sanitation and sewer system in his free time as a passion project for most of his career. He fully conceptualized it on paper before he knew if it would even be built. He had already designed several iterations of the London sewer system before he even knew he would be working on this project
Watching these videos creeps me out, but I can’t not watch them as they are so fascinating. Thanks for posting your explore of a place there’s no way in hell you’ll get me to go!
Built by working class craftsmen. From the brick makers , mortar mixers to bricklayers. Tose thin joints are perfect. Unfortunately Thames Water Company have left so many traces of Raw Sewage Discharge. I have driven over this so many times, and now I know what it looks like.... Very impressive. I doubt there aren't more than a hand full of people that could do an equal job now, and live on the equivalent pay... Thankyou so much...
This is a very nice video. A lot of craftsmanship when it comes to the brickwork. We as Kanalratten-TV, who also deal with the sewer system, say thank you for the good video recordings
As featured in the BBC Dr Who Series 'The Talons of Weng Chiang' so watch out for giant rats, inscrutable oriental magicians and a time travelling war criminal from the year 5000 called Magnus Greale along with his Peking homonculus. Seriously, very interesting video.
There was proper workmanship applied, you would think for a sewer system that's out of site and underground the brickwork would be sloppy, crooked or botched but its precise masonry.
Think of maybe millions of man-hours required for that brickwork, all designed before the age of computers, and it's still in such good shape and functioning! And you thought that the pyramids were a big deal... ;-)
Actually all three its the river fleet, culverted and used as a combined sewer and storm drain . It used to lead into the river Thames but now it been diverted to a huge treatment plant at beckton .
@Mitch-Hendren True but the natural source doesn't make it this far because of the intercepting sewers, but you'll notice the water is much clearer here meaning there are small springs in Central London, it discharges into the Thames twice a week usually when it is overwhelmed but this will stop with the Tideway tunnel
Can you imagine if we had to build these sewers from scratch today. With all the modern technology and equipment, we would be bogged down with cost, and the budget tripling from the original. Bureaucracy and red tape, health and safety, it would take us a 100 years probably to actually do it!
I've always wondered... how high can the level of the water get to down there? Also, I would love to know how you gain access as I would love to try it myself
Potentially above the height of the ceiling i.e: So high that there's *considerable* pressure and force of the water, and in this case surges (Suggested by the surprising cleanliness of the lower walls) are evidently frequent. tl,dr; If you don't know exactly what you're doing and you don't have somebody who's willing to teach and accompany you, _access_ is something you shouldn't be thinking about.
They act as non return valves. If there is a large volume of water in the main sewer, the flaps will be forced shut so the water doesn't backflow into the side drains and create fountains of dirty water in the streets!
Great vid. you got balls. Brickwork is amazing, those boys took it serious. And please BE CAREFULL! Canada loves England GOD save the king and all that.
I'm guessing it's so they can shut down one side or the other during dry weather to do maintenance. At the split, each side had indents in the wall to put in gates or stop logs to divert the flow. I am curious though what all the "I" bolts are used for.
Vertical sluice gate, perhaps seized shut looking at the debris in front of it. By the way it's sited (With the frame toward us) it's expected the water on the side we're viewing it from will be at a higher pressure than what's on the other side. It could (At a guess) be an emergency drain/relief channel e.g. to the Thames.
Not much, it has a drain like smell, damp sort of musty smell, it's fast flowing so nothing tends to build up, remember it is raw sewage,rain water and water from underground springs, London has many of them. There are various tributaries leading to the fleet. It would be impossible to go down there when it has been raining, from the wet wipes and rags high up, you can tell the water level reaches to the top of the tunnel. Stagnant sewers and ones with solidified fat are the ones that smell really bad. The Tyburn (King scholars pond) sewer under Mayfair and near Bond Street station gives off a really bad smell above ground, you just know how bad it will smell in that one and the reason for this is because it's not so fast flowing and contains a lot of fatbergs.
Well maintained sewers, well ventilated, have quite a sweet smell. This is due to an abundance of aerobic bacteria. Blocked sewers develop anaerobic bacteria , which produce hydrogen sulphide, which is poisonous and makes a,sewer super stinky! This sewer looks like it has been recently cleaned. At one point you can see where the sewage was backed up and cloths are left hanging from the handrails high up. (4:10f) Tky
@@chrismoylerWhen it rains the water level goes right up which is why the rags are that high, when you see this discharging into the Thames, it's overwhelmed as the interceptor usually takes away a normal flow.
Old sewers looks nicer than modern buildings.
AMAZING work by the Victorians!!
We owe them a huge debt.
Their resourcefulness, inventiveness, artistry and willingness to act boldly has left us a precious heritage.
Great vid! Thanks so much for taking the time to view all the side nooks and passageways; just like we were there.
subd.
Looks claustrophobic & disorientating.
Yet such incredible engineering.
I have enormous respect for those who built these structures and people who work down there.
Looks in excellent condition for its age, some of the bricks are even glazed. The Fleet rises on Hampstead Heath, feeds the Hampstead ponds then finds its way down under Farringdon Road, under Fleet Street at the bottom of Ludgate Hill and enters the Thames under Blackfriars Bridge where the Italian banker Calvi was found hanged. If lost rivers interest you, you can see the river Westbourne crossing the platforms at Sloane Square in a huge steel aqueduct pipe.
Amazing brickwork! I love the flaps on side connections to prevent their flooding. Perfect video!
that's exactly what i was going to say .. especially at 1:13
The iron flap at 7:55 blew off lol
Teď kvůli tobě furt čumim na kanály
Wow! I used to explore the sewers below my town, they’re just boring concrete tubes though. These are amazing.
Most modern towns have replaced the brick sewers with concrete tubing. Brick was much more common in the 18-1900’s, however as technology expanded, brick tunnels were no longer needed :/
the quality of the brickwork is first class
Absolutely amazing when you get to actually see what's beneath our cities and towns...awesome video!....stay safe!
Well done, spotting the rats! The little flaps are rat traps, I believe. The sewer backed up into my basement flat kitchen once, and the MWD fixed it by removing the rat trap which had stuck closed. Apparently the rats weren't trying to get into peoples' houses any more.
it must have taken forever to lay these bricks. truly amazing
Man, this is an EXcellent explore indeed - Many thanks for the video! 👍
I'd love to be able to do this myself too, but I admit I don't have anywhere near the amount of knowledge/awareness of the dangers to be able to do this safely...So until that changes, I'll stick with doing it by video! 😇🎞👍
So much is down in the forgotten darkness beneath ancient cities. Collapsed, blocked off, repurposed, rejuvenated. Every side tunnel has its story. Fascinating
Built with brain power and hand drawn designs instead of 3D virtual computer models and advanced machinery. Nothing but pure engineering and craftsmanship. Untold billions of bricks laid down by the hands of thousands of hard working men who have long since passed on. But look at the result they left us.
Just because computers exist doesn't mean humans don't have to do the majority of the work (at least for now)
Computers and advanced machinery built with people with brain power and hand drawn designs...
318 million bricks actually. Joseph Bazalgette had been working on the ideal sanitation and sewer system in his free time as a passion project for most of his career. He fully conceptualized it on paper before he knew if it would even be built. He had already designed several iterations of the London sewer system before he even knew he would be working on this project
Really interesting video I was glued from start to finish...thanks for sharing😊
Thats so wonderful! Thx for that video!
What a great canalisation!!!! A Masterpiece❤
That little opening in the ceiling near the split i guess it's a "stink pipe" vent isn't it?
Watching these videos creeps me out, but I can’t not watch them as they are so fascinating. Thanks for posting your explore of a place there’s no way in hell you’ll get me to go!
Built by working class craftsmen.
From the brick makers , mortar mixers to bricklayers.
Tose thin joints are perfect.
Unfortunately Thames Water Company have left so many traces of Raw Sewage Discharge.
I have driven over this so many times, and now I know what it looks like....
Very impressive.
I doubt there aren't more than a hand full of people that could do an equal job now, and live on the equivalent pay...
Thankyou so much...
Great video. Incredible brickwork.👍
That's been one brave rat at 11:50.
Nice video. Love the creepy atmosphere.
This is a very nice video. A lot of craftsmanship when it comes to the brickwork. We as Kanalratten-TV, who also deal with the sewer system, say thank you for the good video recordings
@@Kanalratten-TV Thank you very much 😊.
could get lost down there , do you have a back up if the torch fails
I wonder how many of the bricked up drains went to historic buildings in the city that have been replaced with the modern stuff
Great video again thanks buddy
Then from out of the dark came an awesome sound!
Shouted "cowabunga!" as they hit the ground😅🎶🎵
much cleaner than expected, lol i imagined hoards of rats
Is there a risk from build up of dangerous gases doing this kind of thing?
As featured in the BBC Dr Who Series 'The Talons of Weng Chiang' so watch out for giant rats, inscrutable oriental magicians and a time travelling war criminal from the year 5000 called Magnus Greale along with his Peking homonculus.
Seriously, very interesting video.
Phenomenal video. Yet more proof that I live in the greatest city on earth 🧡
There was proper workmanship applied, you would think for a sewer system that's out of site and underground the brickwork would be sloppy, crooked or botched but its precise masonry.
I clicked because I thought the guy in the picture was a ninja turtle 😂 cool video
Mr Splinter👍
So rats can climb fucking hell I need to clean my room😳😅
05:01 peek-a-boo ratty that climbs a steel ladder 😮
Quel travail, à cette époque pour construire un tel réseau une vraie cathédrale ❤
Une cathédrale du Brexite? 💩🇬🇧😉
Спасибо за видео, давно ждал👍
An amazing labyrinth of history, mystery, and darkness right below your feel !! 💀☠️💩😉
12:00 That rat can move fast!
Literally DOOM PSX-CE Lost sewers type vibes right here :)
These Sewers are more cleaner than the ones we have in NYC💀💀💀💀
Perfect video,thanks.
Think of maybe millions of man-hours required for that brickwork, all designed before the age of computers, and it's still in such good shape and functioning! And you thought that the pyramids were a big deal... ;-)
Wow! Best brick culver video ever👍🫡👏👏👏👏👏
Are these sewers part of Joseph Bazalgette's original construction?
so much more impressive than pyramids
I wouldn't go that far but this is a stunning piece of engineering. Even beautiful, especailly the pumphouse.
@@grumbeardbecause it addressed public health, whereas the pyramids were idle follies
@@philipstevenson5166 That still doesn't make it less impressive. It just means that one is just impressive and the other is practical and impressive.
I want to know what these bricks and mortar are made of? Bricks used for housing soak up ground water and deteriorate over 50 plus years.
Might be because in winter the moisture in the brickwork will freeze and expand causing the deterioration. But deep underground that rarely happens.
@@MarcUKthat's partly why the bricks here are glazed tho so they stay waterproof for longer
What are the coloured pipes/cables high up on the walls?
They would indicate that someone has had 3 phase power installed. Bet it was fun running them down there.
@@UKHeritageRailways for me this pipes looks like microcanalisation for fiber optic
Wonder who did all that brickwork. And how did they do it?
Probably a couple of Irish men laying one on top of the other... the bricks, not themselves. :-)
Victorian bricklayers and they put one brick upon another with some cement in-between and so on.
Cute sewer wildlife
Forgive if a silly question. Is this a sanitary sewer, or the diversion of a river underground, or a storm sewer.
Actually all three its the river fleet, culverted and used as a combined sewer and storm drain . It used to lead into the river Thames but now it been diverted to a huge treatment plant at beckton .
@Mitch-Hendren True but the natural source doesn't make it this far because of the intercepting sewers, but you'll notice the water is much clearer here meaning there are small springs in Central London, it discharges into the Thames twice a week usually when it is overwhelmed but this will stop with the Tideway tunnel
How did you get access? Woudn't you have needed a gas lamp to check for methane?
Can you imagine if we had to build these sewers from scratch today. With all the modern technology and equipment, we would be bogged down with cost, and the budget tripling from the original. Bureaucracy and red tape, health and safety, it would take us a 100 years probably to actually do it!
I love how everything is perfect, all bricks are perfectly mounted. Incredible. Nowadays is all crap and bad quality.
Nice one mate 👍🏻
are there any TMNT style bases?
I've always wondered... how high can the level of the water get to down there? Also, I would love to know how you gain access as I would love to try it myself
Go watch back and look for toilet paper on the ceiling. There's your answer.
Potentially above the height of the ceiling i.e: So high that there's *considerable* pressure and force of the water, and in this case surges (Suggested by the surprising cleanliness of the lower walls) are evidently frequent.
tl,dr; If you don't know exactly what you're doing and you don't have somebody who's willing to teach and accompany you, _access_ is something you shouldn't be thinking about.
Imagine waking up in the pitch black to that noise...
Imagine fighting war in those tunnels like in the sewers of stalingrad
What are the metal flaps on the side walls covering drains for ?
They act as non return valves. If there is a large volume of water in the main sewer, the flaps will be forced shut so the water doesn't backflow into the side drains and create fountains of dirty water in the streets!
Такие кирпичные кладки канализации есть во многих уголках мира, единый архитектурный стиль
Great vid. you got balls. Brickwork is amazing, those boys took it serious. And please BE CAREFULL! Canada loves England GOD save the king and all that.
What's this for?
how is there not a single cockroach down there?
Why did they design that split like that does anyone know?
I'm guessing it's so they can shut down one side or the other during dry weather to do maintenance. At the split, each side had indents in the wall to put in gates or stop logs to divert the flow. I am curious though what all the "I" bolts are used for.
@Todd_Riley very astute and enlightening. Sounds about right
nice 🐺
Imagine being down there with no lights on.
No Graffiti Art?
No Crocodile?
No Zombies?
No Satanic Demons?
it's like the 2nd level of doom
❤❤❤❤
I’m just glad I don’t have one of those new fangled smellyvisions 🤢🤮
8:18 what was that?
Vertical sluice gate, perhaps seized shut looking at the debris in front of it.
By the way it's sited (With the frame toward us) it's expected the water on the side we're viewing it from will be at a higher pressure than what's on the other side. It could (At a guess) be an emergency drain/relief channel e.g. to the Thames.
Least dirty New york subway system:
05:01 🐀
Not the rat running towards you
crazy how nyc sewers are full of roaches and not a single one here
IKR💀
i can't imagine how bad it would smell lol
Scary rats
Eek! Rats! A good reason to stay out of the sewers
I wonder how smelly it is?
Not much, it has a drain like smell, damp sort of musty smell, it's fast flowing so nothing tends to build up, remember it is raw sewage,rain water and water from underground springs, London has many of them. There are various tributaries leading to the fleet. It would be impossible to go down there when it has been raining, from the wet wipes and rags high up, you can tell the water level reaches to the top of the tunnel. Stagnant sewers and ones with solidified fat are the ones that smell really bad. The Tyburn (King scholars pond) sewer under Mayfair and near Bond Street station gives off a really bad smell above ground, you just know how bad it will smell in that one and the reason for this is because it's not so fast flowing and contains a lot of fatbergs.
The smell 😷😷😷
Well maintained sewers, well ventilated, have quite a sweet smell. This is due to an abundance of aerobic bacteria.
Blocked sewers develop anaerobic bacteria , which produce hydrogen sulphide, which is poisonous and makes a,sewer super stinky!
This sewer looks like it has been recently cleaned.
At one point you can see where the sewage was backed up and cloths are left hanging from the handrails high up. (4:10f)
Tky
@@chrismoylerWhen it rains the water level goes right up which is why the rags are that high, when you see this discharging into the Thames, it's overwhelmed as the interceptor usually takes away a normal flow.
Stinky
Thanks for the videos, it's great getting to see these places👍
keep annoying the rats😂
Don't annoy them too much, they might gang up and eat you
@@taraelizabethdensley9475 I can sometimes hear them chewing at the walls, maybe they're trying to get to me. 💀🐀