Stinkers in Lowestoft

---

History of sewer ventilation columns, commonly known as Stench pipes, Stink pipes or Gurney pipes, or simply 'Stinkers'
The summer of 1858 was known as ‘the Great Stink’ in London as there was a strong smell of untreated waste throughout the city, affecting those at work in the House of Commons. Joseph Bazalgette, the chief engineer of London’s Metropolitan Board of Works, proposed channelling waste through street sewers, into main intercepting sewers. These would transport waste towards the tidal part of the Thames so that it would be swept out to the sea.
The network of wide sewer tunnels required venting, which is why stink pipes were incorporated into the system. Based on the concept of a locomotive's blast-pipe - an idea allegedly invented by a Victoria-era surgeon, chemist and engineer named Sir Goldsworthy Gurney - stink pipes were made out of cast iron and placed along main sewer routes.
Some could be more than nine metres tall, which was deemed necessary in order to direct the toxic fumes a suitable distance above street level and unaffected by down-draughts.

Hundreds of stinkers still survive in many of the older towns and cities throughout the UK. Some have been truncated and appear more like bollards than ventilation systems. Others have retained their original height, including design elements and decorative motifs association with the Victorian period. Typically painted green or grey, stink pipes often include plaques that proudly display the names of their manufacturers. People tend walk past them every day and have no idea what they are - nor do they take any notice of them. However, the better preserved pipes are highly regarded by members of the numerous clubs and societies dedicated to the appreciation of this seemingly mundane, but essential part of the urban street-scene. Heidi Schwartz

Gurney’s ventilation pipe principle was put into practice along much of the length of the Victorian sewers, as you can still see the pipes in place today more or less following the route of the main sewers and on many of the connecting sewers too.

The smell is pervasive and mainly hydrogen sulphide, giving off a rotten egg smell, worse when sewage is travelling slowly over long distances. If mixed with methane there is a real risk of an explosion.

The pipes had to be tall so the noxious fumes and gasses escaped way above roof-level, and the Victorians were given a new canvas on which to show off their casting skills. Sewer gases can be heavier than air, it was necessary for the wind to disperse them before they could settle at ground level.

The vent pipes were located near the highest and lowest points in the system which encourages the through-flow of air, with some in-between on the longer runs.

A number of manufacturers were able to build and supply the ventilation pipes, usually with ornate designs, probably massively over-engineered, and many of which survive in place to the present day.

Companies such as J.Stone and Co. George Preston and John Prestige. Henry Edie and Co of Bow Foundry, in East London. AC Woodrow & Co. Frederick Bird & Co West Drayton. Ham, Baker & Co. of Westminster.

---

These are just the ones I found still extant around Lowestoft.
Most towns had them at some time, those that still remain are a signpost to our Victorian past.

---