We asked RANG railway and tour guide volunteer Rob Lomas what his favourite design feature is at Crossness. Here’s what he said:
“Okay Rob, tell us about your favourite architectural feature at Crossness”I suppose my favourite architectural feature in the whole of Crossness is one that isn’t really noticed by very many visitors to the site. It is just above the original door to the Beam Engine House and is the crest of all the counties who funded the London Sewers.
[The crest] is something to say ‘this is what your money went on,’ but it’s also more than just a sense of PR. I think Joseph Bazalgette was one of those people who probably knew how to work people to the advantage of the site. It gives that geographical sense of who we are and the history behind the project.
It is also fascinating that a great deal of the financing came from a duty that was put on coal and wine that was entering London through the 1861 act that funded the Embankment and some of the sewer system.
Originally, whoever passed this place was able to point to these counties and say to the mayor, presumably, or whoever came on the opening day, this is where your money went.It grounds the inestimable value that came from Crossness; its effect on sanitation for London, the London-wide nature of what it did and the sense of local government that it inspired.
I think that feature above the opening door, which they would have pointed to with great pride, is something that we can look up to today and say – that was what this place was all about then and still is now.
If you want to catch a glimpse of the crest and discover new hidden Victorian gems book your tickets to the Beers, Beams and Brass festival now!