Geograph - photograph every grid square

Small lifting flap over pit with individual household stopcock, as installed by Parker Bros. during construction of the estate. All the houses used to have these. Many have been replaced with TF0820 : Water meter cover in pavement, Westfield.

The covers are just a simple hinged device. The stopcocks were normal indoor valves, erroneously installed in the underground pipe. Many leaked as a consequence. The valve was around 18 inches underground, so the builders made a simple plywood box which sat over the valve and provided access after the tarmac was laid. These flaps were balanced on the top and retained only by the paving material. Many of the valves could not be turned because after constructing the pavement the wooden box was hard up against the valve handle, and in some cases lifting the flap gave nothing but a view of more tarmac, the actual valve being in some unknown adjacent position.