Crossness: The World's Most Beautiful Sewage Plant

In the industrial wastelands at the south-eastern edges of London lies a forgotten but beautiful building: the Crossness Sewage Pumping Station. I went to find out more about this Victorian masterpiece, now re-opened to the public, and how it saved thousands of lives...
Museum website: www.crossness.org.uk/visit.html

[@randomsandwichian]

1:59 I half expected Saint Mr Bean to descend violently in on this video

[@imark7777777]

I was waiting for the host to get creative with video editing and drop himself in?

[@sblack48]

YES!

[@vintageaudiotech7051]

I almost burst with laughter when the music started :D

[@TFlexxx]

I chuckled.

[@AsrielDreemurr56]

The best part is that it’s the song Mr Bean used as a theme

[@ivanj.conway9919]

This guy is great with the comedy, I must say. Very quick witted. My Best. Out.

[@bjornolson6527]

With both: EastEnder’s Theme, and of course the organ.

[@RustOnWheels]

Ecce homo qui est faba

[@hilcovanbreeschoten720]

Me: You know what would be cool? Tom Scott, but with a healthy dose of understated clever British humour. KZbin algorithm: Say no more. You deserve more subscribers.

[@briocheoleary5043]

Do you know Jay Foreman? I think Tim TT is more like a cross of Tom Scott and Jay.. I think ttt is the best v out there at the mo

[@firstname1lastname127]

Yes, but with a splash of Simon Pegg thrown in.

[@WolfJustWolf]

@@briocheoleary5043 map men, map men, map map men men, men

[@ChrisMelville]

Men...

[@mikewhitcombe101]

…and without the “holier than thou” attitude…

[@leopold7562]

London in the mid 19th Century: Government: Mr. Bazalgette, we need a sewerage system fit for the city of London Joseph Bazalgette: Well, here's my plan: We create a system that can cater for approximately twelve times more sewage than we need, just to be sure it can cope. Gov: Excellent idea! What else? JB: I propose four huge pumping stations in the more densely populated areas. Gov: Yes, I can see this would be a good idea. JB: And they should be attractive buildings, so they fit in with the surroundings and make people feel good. Gov: How good were you thinking? JB: Well, the one at Crossness should look like a cathedral. Gov: Interesting... I'm not sure we can stretch to that JB: Oh, no, I'm not after stained glass or commissioning someone to do frescoes, but just make it look big and nice to look at. Gov: Okay, sounds great! Go and build your cathedral of sewerage! London in the 21st Century: Gov: Mr. Bazalgette, we need a sewerage system fit for the city of London JB: Well, here's my plan: We create a system that can cater for approximately twelve times more sewage than we need... Gov: Wait, no, I don't think that is a good idea. Why so much? JB: Well, if the city's population grows, we need more capacity. Gov: Okay, we will allow for a fifty percent increase and no more. JB: Oh, okay, but... Gov: Anything else? JB: I propose four huge pumping stations in the more densely populated areas. Gov: No, that's not going to work. Who wants to live by a sewage pump? JB: Well, I was thinking of making them attractive buildings Gov: Why? It's a pumping station, not a cathedral. JB: Funny you should say that, I was thinking one of them could be. Gov: No. We'll commission a basic concrete box of a building and that's it. But they can't be in any dense areas as it'll ruin the area. And none in Kensington or Chelsea, at all. JB: But those are where they'd be most useful. Gov: No, we don't care about useful, we don't want to upset rich people with sewage. Put them in the depressed areas. JB: You know what? Screw this, you penny pinching bastards! I'm using my time machine to go back to the mid 19th century where my ideas will be lauded!

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

This. Is. Precious!

[@raf530i]

There can't be enough likes for this comment.

[@cbennetts2746]

so damn accurate

[@leopold7562]

Rafael Heeren Thanks! Unfortunately, I’ve had way more likes on comments I’ve put far less effort into. But I’m still quite proud of this one.

[@carelessmemories1971]

Absolute perfection. What a pity that those who make the decisions about this sort of thing are unlikely to read it and even less likely to understand the message you are trying to convey. Imagine how much more harmonious and beautiful our society could be if these old priniples were still adopted.

[@oakinger]

“just to be clear, I think they expect cash” - rotfl. I can’t stop watching your channel, just to catch gems like this. Getting to see all of mankind’s curiosities along the way is the icing on the cake. Thank you so much!

[@charlesbaker7703]

Be sure to drop a penny, at least.

[@briangarrow448]

As a former wastewater treatment plant and pump station mechanic, I approve of this video. Sewage treatment plants separate civilizations from barbarians.

[@TheAnon26]

The Roman Empire certainly agrees... :P

[@CallieMasters5000]

You really know your shit! (Really.)

[@mgratk]

Mike Rowe approves.

[@mikerequadt9661]

As a retired plumber, I enjoyed that. Even the shape to the sewer was innovative with he same maintained velocity of flow when nearly at bottom as 2/3's full, really remarkably what those guys came up with.

[@nightlightabcd]

Back in the days when utilities were built with pride and waste disposal was important as bringing in the water. The waste puming station was a vital organ of London! I would like to visit the place, but alas I am far away.

[@morganrobinson8042]

I assume that the vital organ of the city it is would be the large intestine.

[@estebanjosearancibiardrigu4068]

To me, the most beautiful water treatment plant is in Buenos Aires, it's called "Palacio de Aguas". Look for it, it's really cool.

[@TheTimTraveller]

Great shout Esteban! That, I can confirm, is very cool :) Do you know if it's possible to visit and go inside?

[@estebanjosearancibiardrigu4068]

@@TheTimTraveller yes! There's actually a museum as the one showed in the video and it's really cool. The building was made in the UK and send to Buenos Aires in pieces, while all the pipeline was made in Belgium. Half of the bricks are British and half are from Argentina. You make good videos, greetings!

[@KimonFrousios]

Damn, talk about overkill! That's fit for a small royal residence!

[@rhas356]

Damn, that's insane! Right, if we can get Tim down to Argentina, that will definitely be a required, erm, drop-off point.

[@EmLy420]

“The sort of day where you can go out and do whatever you want” *meanwhile watching in April 2020*

[@Mr0Whitey]

how innoce we were back then

[@howdyhamster]

**meanwhile watching in April 2021**

[@BowWowVideo]

"It's never going to look like a ..." This is brilliant

[@billymcnutt116]

"...Somewhere to go on a first date." Hilarious! 🤣 I love your channel, by the way. 😎👍

[@kenet71]

If I'm going on a date with a British girl and I'm from the Philippines, I would do exactly that. I 💗 British eccentricities.

[@davidphelps5857]

A smart move, if you get a second date they are a keeper!

[@p24hrsmith]

This is what I love about Victorian architecture it wasn't enough just to do a job it had to make a statement even if it wasn't on display to everyone. While staying in Leicester with nothing to do I visited their sewage Victorian pump station and while not as grand as this one it was still beautiful and all just to pump pooh

[@mattm7220]

Looking through the comments section, it makes me genuinely happy to see the Mr. Bean theme wasn't wasted; it was an amazing touch to the video, and I'm glad to see so many other people noticed it

[@MarkMcCluney]

Thank you for paying tribute to Victorian engineering's greatest unsung hero. His (and Dr. John White's) story should be better known and celebrated. Seriously. Incidentally, I'm fairly sure Crapper was just a plumber's merchant who popularised the silent flushing cistern, it was locksmith and all-round brainy person Joseph Bramah who 'invented' the self-activating siphon, the U-bend, which is still at the heart of the flushing toilet. And yes, I'm a sewerage and toilet nerd - if the first date went badly here I'd reckon I'd dodged a bullet...

[@TheTimTraveller]

Haha, cheers Mark, and thanks for the extra info on Bramah :)

[@TheGrinningViking]

I'd give Sir Goldsworthy Gurney the #2 spot as he figured out the gas venting pipe (even if he came closer to blowing up parliament than Guy Fawkes ever did when his controlled gas flow almost blew out Big Ben's bottom.) This is a bit old comment though, ah well, I'm a bit old myself. I'm sure it's fine.

[@althafrafianto]

1:29 cheeky East Enders theme song

[@SeverityOne]

Because of the scrolling map, no doubt. Didn't even notice that. We need another channel explaining all the little jokes in Tim's videos.

[@happyreaper5429]

I visited Crossness a couple of years ago. Tim’s not overstating it’s quality. As well as the fancy ironwork and tiling it’s also got a lot of beam engines all still in place. On my visit there was a steampunk group who had arranged a chap with a Tesla coil that charged up from the mains and created huge streams of blue lightning in the main hall, about thirty foot long. Very impressive in that space on a dark November day. The trust of volunteers who run the place are gradually restoring the engines and they hope one day to run the lot. Well worth a visit, whenever we’re allowed out.

[@goclunker]

Omg mr bean music!!!

[@leopold7562]

Thank you!!!! It was bugging me where I'd heard that music before.

[@abiosismlg613]

Shazaam couldn't make anything out of it.......

[@martingillard6572]

If you need somewhere to go on a first date..... priceless!

[@macbuff81]

We need more people like Basil. Folks with foresight and practical engineering skills. Oh, and they made it beautiful too :)

[@indiekiddrugpatrol3117]

Just go back to Victorian great Britain and you'll find plenty of them

[@varana]

And also people willing to pay for a really oversized public system just in case it may be needed some day. Like, 100 years later. ;)

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

I agree with the others who replied here. Back in the day foresight was much more common. These days ignorance is way too common, resulting in the few visionaries we may actually have to end up shunned and disgruntled.

[@macbuff81]

@@ranekeisenkralle8265 well, we have a lot of specialists these days in part of the huge increase in knowledge we have attained. The negative side of being over specialized is that that folks lose sight of the bigger picture. I firmly believe that the sciences and arts inform each other with one providing necessary intuitive leaps which lead to new applications and combinations of existing technologies. It's quite beautiful actually.

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

@@macbuff81 I can't say much more beyond "I agree"

[@bobflemming336]

Such an underrated channel! Another sound video!

[@TheTimTraveller]

Ah cheers Bob! I'd love to grow the channel so if you get the chance please do share these videos with your friends, family, dog, neighbours, the bloke at the shop, etc... :P

[@chrispza]

Love your piano accompaniment, Tim; and the use of the _Mr Bean_ theme music was inspired.

[@TheTimTraveller]

Thank you Needle Noddle-noo!

[@chrispza]

The Tim Traveller De rein. Such a marvellous and absolutely fascinating output. If you had as much fun making these as it gives us, you must be a very happy man! BTW, Carron, in your marvellous Speyside walks series, would be instantly recognised by any lover of the Hornblower saga, as the site of the Carron Ironworks, which produced the large-calibre, short- range carronades.

[@bertlbarm4374]

nice, but somehow the fresco is missing on the ceiling

[@garywheeler7039]

Yeah, but those darned Italian fresco painters take forever and do not follow deadlines well.

[@markiliff]

Dunno... depends whether it was a protestant sewage pumping station or a catholic sewage pumping station

[@davidjames2910]

Everything about this video is perfect.

[@Pointer243]

Good vid, the opening theme from mr. bean was a good sound for the church. :P

[@TheTimTraveller]

Ha, well spotted :)

[@baguskusumaloka]

@@TheTimTraveller is this song actually church song or just made for mr bean?

[@captainufo4587]

@@baguskusumaloka I don't know about the music, but the latin lyrics are definitely not a church song: "Ecce homo qui est faba" at the beginning of the episodes, and "Vale homo qui est faba" at the end. It translates to "here's the man who is a bean/farewell, man who is a bean."

[@baguskusumaloka]

@@captainufo4587 okay. Safe to said the lyric is for mr bean purpose. What about music. Thats funny to know a true meaning of the song :D

[@damouze]

Organ music bursts off, choir sets in, "aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh" cr@p!

[@betttrbeth]

Gorgeous. Thank you for showing us!

[@kc2dtp]

I have an unexplained fascination with sewage systems - maybe because I grew up with an 8-seat latrine in a former Wehrmacht base. This video is fascinating. Thanks!

[@HenrysAdventures]

If someone has taken someone here for a first date and they're still together then they're a legend!

[@Gmackematix]

Joseph Bazalgette's great great grandson is TV producer Peter Bazalgette, famous for bringing us such delights as Big Brother and Deal or No Deal. It is often joked that Joseph pumped shit away from our houses, while Peter pumps shit into them.

[@ericjamieson]

Can confirm this is a great off the beaten track museum to visit if you're in London.

[@michaeldomansky8497]

Brilliant production! Thank you.

[@marin4311]

Soooo British! A very beautiful place indeed. Deserves being visited. Your humour made me suscribe.

[@spurioustransients]

Just catching up on some of your older videos. Thank you, Tim. Another really informative and entertaining video. I hope you're well during these weird times in pandemic Britain.

[@Caradoc51]

Another great vid Tim, Thank you....

[@radiosnail]

Visited the site in the early 80's on a open day. The restoration hadn't really been started then, but the volunteers were being allowed access.

[@pr3sident_skr00b]

Excellent choice for the organ music!

[@logoseven3365]

Amazing story. Amazing people. Amazing Tim.

[@gradyzyner7423]

Love it. You made this Coliform Cathedral into a tourist destination.

[@alexandermiller5425]

Your channel is absolutely wonderful. You are one of the few people who can hold my attention AND get a smile out and I thank you for that. Godspeed, Sewer Cathedral dweller.

[@jamesolivier5224]

You, Sir, are brilliant. Thanks so very much for the laughs. I absolutely adore your videos.

[@jackwilbur9419]

Thanks. For sharing definitely different and interesting. Content

[@charliebeadle2979]

Based on the comments and the fact that youtube keeps recommending your videos to me, I strongly suspect your channel is right in the middle of a major blow-up (in a good way). Your content is consistently hilarious and informative, and the five-minute exceptional-quality format is truly excellent. I don't know how you're able to find such obscure yet interesting locations, but I hope you can keep doing it! I'm glad to see you have enough videos for me to gently binge over the next week or so! I keep coming back to edit my comment. The Eastenders theme, the Mr Bean theme, this truly tickles my british pickle.

[@jonnda]

I’ve seen crossness elsewhere on KZbin, but they were more focused on the steam engines and less on the architecture and museum aspect of it. Thanks for showing me more of this interesting place.

[@napster7825]

My bowels have been inspired. Grear work.

[@paddyneill1964]

Growing up in the 80's in Independence, MO., my Dad cut out an article from the Kansas City Star that had said something about someone trying to make the area where Mr. Crapper sold his wares a listed area or something to that effect but all that was left in the area were a few manhole covers with his name on them. My Dad put the article on a nice piece of wood , put a coat of poly on to make sure it lasted, and hung it right next to the toilet for everyone to see. His Crapper jokes went for miles 😅🥸😎

[@chikeh1]

Why do I find this whole video quintessential British from Mr. Bean's music, the wholesome quirk on Bazalgette and Mr. Crapper and the beautiful cathedral for Sewage treatment itself

[@jacksonmacmanus1001]

i do love whenever a map of london is included, Tim plays the eastenders music

[@steves9905]

That…was beautiful. Just gorgeous. I am so sad that our contemporary sewage treatment plants are more Soviet than Victorian. Also, I think, whilst sitting on my own crapper, that somehow I’d be comforted knowing what a tremendous and awe inspiring journey my own contributions were to take, if served by the cathedral. Future engineers, take note

[@Rob-rd4em]

Really enjoying your content man! Keep up the good work :)

[@TheTimTraveller]

Cheers Rob!

[@tsmeman63]

Love your videos and especially the music you choose to accompany them! 👔👞🐻🚙🤪🇬🇧

[@Pat21617]

Thank you sir! You do excellent work and your informative clever and witty dialog convinced me to subscribe! Well done sir

[@RichardWilson1984]

Warm sunny days are the best ones to visit sewage plants... 😁

[@gregeporter]

Great video, Tim Traveller! I also appreciate the extra notes about the prices; I don't foresee myself visiting Crossness any time soon (just logistically at the moment) but I love your attention to detail.

[@TheTimTraveller]

Ah thanks Gregory! It's not the easiest place to visit even if you live in London, but it's well worth the £7 if you can get there :)

[@skakdosmer]

It was only very recently that I became fully aware how enormously important plumbing is. And now I stumbled over this video. Brilliant timing. (Or should I say "Tim'ing"?) Great to see that there are people who honour the memory of at least some of the pioneers and main contributors in this often neglected area.

[@mangofire]

What a well made, interesting, charming.. just lovely short film. Thanks.. and LOL !

[@terrier_productions]

Tim Lawrence why is it funny??

[@Fomites]

Great video! And entertaining. Thanks.

[@ChiaraVet]

Very nice video! Although, I really hope in the museum they mention John Snow (yes, really), the young doctor that fought vehemently to make people in power and other doctors that the people needed some sort of system to dispose of poop to prevent cholera. You see, germ theory wasn´t really a thing back then, a newborn theory at best. Doctors still thought that miasma( bad smell) caused diseases. So it was a huge fight for this young and intelligent doctor to make people to finally GET the memo. Later this brought to the construction of the sewers system. There is a super nice series of video on Extra Credits about this story!

[@sollows44]

The Cathedral of Sewage? Holy shit!

[@TheTimTraveller]

HOW DID I MISS THAT ONE

[@PeterNancarrow]

2:00 'Holy Crap'!

[@cowscrazy]

I expected Mr.Bean to walk across the screen during that music. lol

[@chilanya]

yes that music! i only know it from Mr Bean

[@davidw1518]

An amazing, brilliant video! Like, like, like, like, like (but, sadly, YT only allows one "like" per viewer). I knew of Bazalgette and Crapper (the men's toilets in the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne have been renovated using genuine Thomas Crapper products - worth a visit when the pandemic is over!), but I had never heard of the Crossness pumping station, and the interior is quite spectacular! I'm too old for a "first date", but I'm waiting impatiently for conditions to improve so that we no longer have to "stay at home", and I can visit Crossness and that glorious cathedral!

[@rickhobson3211]

That transition from the outside in, though! :D Great vid!

[@TheTeufelhunden68]

This reminds me of the Victorian power station used in The Meaning of Life during the "Find the Fish" scene.

[@nightlightabcd]

I really like Victorian architecture. I like most modern architecture to, but it seems everything Victorian was made with pride and made to last!

[@johnwojtsvideos3616]

All I can say is keep them coming!

[@TheHct123]

The man's named Crapper. Astounding

[@officialmcdeath]

Fun walk in the Bow Back Rivers: from the Abbey Mills pumping station, walk down the Channelsea River, along the recently reopened Long Wall Path - curve around to your right and eventually reach a canal lock - to your left is Three Mills Studio, to your right is the site of the original Big Brother UK house - Big Brother being the IP of Peter Bazalgette, one can safely say he followed the family trade \m/

[@californialiberationmoveme180]

I saw Crossness Station for the first time on the James Burke documentary series, "The Day the Universe Changed." It is amazing that the sewage authority still keeps up all that painting and polishing.

[@normalguyfromSW]

This video fully pleased my left ear

[@SavouryLobster]

Calling it now, this is about to blow up. Good luck!

[@WSNO]

The guy who designed that metal work is my hero

[@brianscales9912]

Another great video Tim. Crossness is just down the road from us. Very interesting. We must visit one day. Thanks for posting Tim. Great channel! 👍

[@TheTimTraveller]

Thanks Brian!

[@pfalzgraf7527]

No idea when I will get to London next time - but this is going to be on my wishlist of places to visit!

[@millemans3120]

My first date will be there for sure!

[@CamdenArtsCentre]

you video is amazing thanks !

[@Techno-Universal]

There’s even a couple of old toilets from the 1860s-1880s in the Melbourne Museum that are in their early home living exhibition that are branded with Thomas Crapper’s company as they have the name “Thomas P Crapper Co” engraved on their iron water tanks! :)

[@squee222]

Thanks for taking shots of the placards, so I can pause it and pretend I am in a museum :)

[@srfurley]

I have been inside Crossness, Abbey Mills ‘A’ and Western pumping stations, but not Deptford. I’ve seen the outside of it from a DLR train, but not even seen a photograph of the inside.

[@sperrinoutdoors7642]

Cool place buddy looks a great place to visit would never I guessed that you would visit there

[@TheTimTraveller]

Cheers man! I guess I like visiting unusual places :)

[@harrytodhunter5078]

The music in your vids is always spot on- Eastenders and Mr Bean here!

[@SaturnCanuck]

Awesome

[@PopeLando]

I came here to install software about 25 years ago. They told me then that they were always painting the interior somewhere, like the Forth Bridge. Incredible architecture.

[@HeartlandTuber]

At 4:42, among the exhibits describing what people used before toilet paper was invented, is a Sears ad Roebuck catalog. This is so true. I grew up through my childhood in the USA in the state of Alabama in the fifties (of the last century. Time has flown.). My father's childhood home, which we visited often till the end of the fifties, as his mother still lived there, was in a rural, isolated area. It was a dog trot house, i.e. a large wooden frame house raised on pillars built of chert rock, with an open hallway down the center of the house through which air flowed, which with air flow under the house kept temperatures down in summer. Not so much help in winter, but temps below freezing were rare. There was NO indoor plumbing. If you had to go, you went outside, and about fifty feet west of the house, sitting over a babbling brook, was a classic wooden outhouse. Which we as kids had to use when we were visiting, it was either that or the nearby trees. And always in that outhouse was an old catalog or stack of newspapers. This was the fate of many Sears and Roebuck catalogs. A few months earlier, just before Christmas, it had been our "wish book"; now it was consigned to less savory duty. That was an excellent video, by the way. I loved the music when you entered the cathedral. Perfect touch. You do them well.

[@briocheoleary5043]

We have sinks from crapper and Co in the local Fuller's. In apsley, Hemel Hempstead. But sadly, not the toilets

[@jamesjoyce5611]

your clarification of cash comment made me chuckle, must have slept through the beginning

[@Mouzekiller83]

tim is the reason i want to visit london sooo badly!

[@Steven_Rowe]

Hello Tim How gorgeous and practical was Victorian architecture. St Pancras, Liverpool Street and pumping stations. Out at Tottenham is the Markfield pumping station with a fully restored working beam engine. Perhaps your next video????

[@TheFlyingBusman]

Thomas Crapper originated from my home town of Thorne near Doncaster along with the opera singer Leslie Garrett (no connection). I often used to see Ian Botham in town as his mother in law lived locally and was a secretary at an old school of mine. I guess celebs are everywhere nowadays.

[@cmburke7]

I couldn't help but notice the Abandoned Rugs cover of the EastEnders theme in there .

[@ESCAPINGTHEMATRIXFORGOOD]

this year you've conquered you tube ! next year your own show on Netflix, brilliant and funny, take care Tim , happy travels.

[@zanelindsay1267]

Well actually I'm not the only one who already commented on the Mr Bean theme music starting at 2:00. A nice touch to another uniquely quirky, entertaining, informative and educational production.

[@brunobailly7013]

0:58 I had to pause and play this a few times to really believe it LOL Really aptly named !

[@khaelsayfair1163]

The reveal made me say Holy shit!!

[@marketamachalkova98]

I love these types of industrial heritage sites, and quirky museums (I once went to a Funeral Carriage Museum in Barcelona, that was under a modern day crematorium, and I was the only person there :D). This is definitely going on my to see list. We have an interesting historical sewage system in Prague that looks very "British", all bricks and gothic arches. Not as pretty and ornamental as this, but very cool.

[@questioner1596]

Having watched many other Tim Traveller videos, I was half expecting a town in France whose name shares its spelling with an unfortunate English word. "The Cathedral of Sewage." On a side note, there is debate in the world of people who shape and attach pieces of fabric together whether they should be called Sewists or Sewers.

[@nashvilleslim]

He not only helped London but the world.

[@robin1987100]

Great stuff. Seen it before in one of those shows Fred Dibnah did for the bbc. If you like old engineering and/or have no idea who that was.. i very much recommend looking him up.

[@madalinnaa]

Worth mentioning also the Thames Tideway sewage project, which will help the old sewage system!

[@GoenndalfTheBlue]

That Sewage Station is more beautiful than most people nowadays.