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Sewage Ventilation Stack:
Not a Gas Lamp Jonathan Parkhouse Date The intriguing and elegant iron column described as a Gas Lamp in the last issue of the website has intrigued me for a long time. It is a Grade II Listed structure. The 2001 listing description identifies it as a sewage ventilation stack, and goes on to assert that it is dated 1886, and that the [single] inscription on the base has the maker’s name and date:[1] Sewage ventilation stack. Dated 1886; made by J. Stone and Co. Ltd. of Deptford, London. Cast-iron. Moulded fluted pedestal with inscription on base with maker's name and date, tall plain shaft and flared top with pierced cresting. |
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There are in fact two inscriptions on the base of the column, but neither is dated. I took a photograph of the larger inscription on the downslope side in October 2012 in fairly fortuitous lighting conditions; as you can see the inscription reads
J STONE & Co L
DEPTFORD LONDON
REGD NO 341995
J STONE & Co L
DEPTFORD LONDON
REGD NO 341995
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The other inscription on the upslope side of the base (photographed this afternoon in less favourable lighting) is shorter, but set within a rectangular border with scalloped corners:
J STONE & CO LTD ●DEPTFORD● LONDON.S.E. Thus, the dating of the column to 1886 is erroneous; the numerals on the base are not a four-digit date but part of a six-figure sequence. Whilst the overall decoration is not necessarily incompatible with a late nineteenth century date, the 1886 date is not supported by the inscriptions and there is no evidence for any date elsewhere on the structure. |
Perusal of the National Archives website reveals that a Registered Design number 341995, of 27th October 1879, was in respect of paper hangings, and registered to James Brown and Company of London, so it is not entirely clear what the number on the first inscription relates to, but it is clearly not a date. The engineering company J Stone and Co was founded in 1842 and survived in various corporate guises until 1958 when it became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Platt Brothers, which was the largest textile machinery manufacturers in the world at the end of the 1800s, who were based at Oldham, Lancashire.[2] Stones manufactured a wide range of goods, specialising in railway and marine work (including some of the largest ship propellers ever made); trade brochures from 1912 and 1926 indicate that they also manufactured ironwork for sewage systems.[3]
Interestingly, a search of the Historic England website suggests that this is the only listed sewage ventilation stack in the country. One wonders how many originally existed, and whether there was any specific reason why the sewer (which was presumably a relatively minor one in the grand scheme of things) required ventilation at this point. Whatever the date and circumstances of its erection, it is a highly unusual item.
Interestingly, a search of the Historic England website suggests that this is the only listed sewage ventilation stack in the country. One wonders how many originally existed, and whether there was any specific reason why the sewer (which was presumably a relatively minor one in the grand scheme of things) required ventilation at this point. Whatever the date and circumstances of its erection, it is a highly unusual item.
The sewage ventilation shaft expands our understanding of the Quarry Hill area. The concept of the stack was to let air into the sewage system to aid the flow of the contents by equalising air pressure in the pipes. It also helped to provide oxygen to stop some of the bad smell from the decomposing contents. The stack dates from some of the earliest domestic development of the area but the discovery that the supposed date was a product number doesn’t allow us put the development into a timeline.
However, the company only became incorporated as a limited company on 7 May 1904, so the stack must be later than that.
We might venture a suggestion that the 1912 advertisement came to the notice of local builders with its claims for “an entirely new design” which marked “a new epoch in Sewage Purification”. It seems unlikely that major service structures would have been started after 1914. One thing is more certain, however; that the stack marked the end of the quarrying development of the road and the area became concerned with use for residential occupation.
However, the company only became incorporated as a limited company on 7 May 1904, so the stack must be later than that.
We might venture a suggestion that the 1912 advertisement came to the notice of local builders with its claims for “an entirely new design” which marked “a new epoch in Sewage Purification”. It seems unlikely that major service structures would have been started after 1914. One thing is more certain, however; that the stack marked the end of the quarrying development of the road and the area became concerned with use for residential occupation.
