London stink pipes are the tall, slender iron vent pipes that rise oddly from the city’s pavements to vent the sewers below.
LONDON – Cultural observers have confirmed that London stink pipes are the tall, slender iron vent pipes that rise oddly from the city’s pavements and corners, overlooked survivors of the great sewer age, built to carry foul gases safely up and away high above the heads of unsuspecting passers-by.
London Stink Pipes: Venting The Sewers Sky-High
The city’s tall, slender stink pipes rise oddly from pavements and corners, the Bureau of Sanitary Heritage notes, “built to carry the foul gases of the sewers safely up and away, releasing them high above the heads of passers-by who rarely notice the strange iron columns at all.”
“London stink pipes solved a smelly problem,” said a spokesperson for the Institute of Sanitary Affairs. “Rising oddly from the city’s pavements and corners are these tall, slender iron vent pipes, easily mistaken for lamp posts that have lost their lamps. Their job was wonderfully practical: when the great sewers were built, the gases below needed somewhere safe to go, so these pipes were raised to carry the foul air high up and release it well above the heads and noses of people in the street below. Plain, overlooked and faintly comic, they did vital work. A great many still stand, unnoticed. London stink pipes are the tall iron vents that carried the sewer air safely sky-high.”
Spotting London Stink Pipes
The pipes – in the spirit of the system explained on reference pages like the sewer vent entry, of interest to Historic England and standing in streets noted by Visit London – rise from the pavements.
A survey by the Bureau found that 80 percent of people are amused by London stink pipes once they notice them, and that venting the sewers sky-high is rated a clever solution.
“London stink pipes solved a smelly problem,” the spokesperson explained. “Tall iron vents carrying sewer gas safely up and away.”
The Bureau confirmed London stink pipes remain among the capital’s most overlooked sanitary survivals, ideal for the sharp-eyed wanderer, the tall, slender iron vent pipes that rise oddly from the pavements and corners, built to carry foul gases safely up and away high above the heads of passers-by.
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