Number 16 Sewer Ventilation Column on Mill Lane

Summary

A sewer ventilation column of around 1896-1903, constructed by W Macfarlane & Co, for a sewerage scheme by Baldwin Latham (1836-1917) and one of around 28 remaining in Carshalton.

Reasons for Designation

The sewer ventilation column of around 1896-1903, located on the eastern side of Mill Lane, Carshalton, LB Sutton, constructed by W Macfarlane & Co, for a sewerage scheme by Baldwin Latham (1836-1917) and one of around 28 remaining in Carshalton is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
 
Architectural interest:
 
*  designed by the notable sanitation engineer Baldwin Latham (1836-1917), and constructed by the Glasgow-based foundry, W Macfarlane & Co, it is a tall and impressive structure with good quality cast-iron mouldings and decoration;

* the column has lost its decorative finial and coronet, but otherwise survives well, retaining its key functional features;
 
* although sewer ventilation columns were once a common feature of the street scene, original examples of this scale and quality are increasingly rare.
 
Historic interest:
 
* as an example of the work of Baldwin Latham, the Victorian sanitation engineer who by the late C19, had designed the sewerage, irrigation and water works for 15 English towns, including the schemes at Carshalton, Croydon, Birmingham, Harrow and Rugby.
 
Group value:
 
* as one of around 28 sewer ventilation columns in Carshalton that collectively, are able to illustrate the scale of the town’s Victorian sewer system.

History

The Public Health Act of 1875, delivered legislation to help enable the construction of sewer systems across England, in an era of rapidly expanding population. The former Carshalton Urban District Council, funded a plan in 1896 which had been prepared by the engineer Baldwin Latham (1836-1917) of Victoria Street, Westminster. The first phase of the scheme was built between 1896 and 1900, with a southern extension added around 1903. The sewer ventilation columns for the scheme were constructed by W Macfarlane & Co, a renowned, Glasgow-based, ironwork foundry. Their function was to dispel the sewer odour, high above the ground.
 
Baldwin Latham was a surveyor to the Croydon Board of Health from 1863 to 1870, and was later in private practice as an engineer. By the late C19 he had designed the sewerage, irrigation and water works for 15 English towns, including the schemes at Carshalton, Croydon, Birmingham, Harrow and Rugby. He is also cited as the engineer for the sewerage system in Bideford, Devon which included sewer ventilation columns, three of which are listed at Grade II. Latham was also the author of the publication ‘Sanitary engineering: a guide to the construction of works of sewerage and house drainage’ (1873).
 
It is not known how many sewer ventilation columns were erected in Carshalton, but around 28 survive. The column on Mill Lane has lost its arrow, tall finial and coronet.

Details

A sewer ventilation column of around 1896-1903, constructed by W Macfarlane & Co, for a sewerage scheme by Baldwin Latham (1836-1917) and one of around 28 remaining in Carshalton.
 
MATERIALS: cast-iron
 
DESCRIPTION: the cylindrical sewer ventilation column is around 9m high. It is designed to resemble a Classical column with pedestal, moulded base and enriched capital. It is constructed of two conjoined lengths of pipe, linked with a flanged joint. On top of the capital is an ornate arrow, the purpose of which is thought to be to orientate the vent into the wind or to indicate the line of the sewer. This in turn is surmounted by a ball with vents facing in all four directions. The sewer ventilation column would have originally had a tall finial encircled with a coronet, but these decorative features are no longer present. There is no visible manufacture stamp, although a number of similar examples in Carshalton are marked with the name ‘W MACFARLANE & CO, GLASGOW’.

Sources

Other
Insley, J, ‘Latham, Baldwin (1836-1917)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), (Available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/52328).
Newspaper article of 1897, announcing the construction of Carshalton sewer held at the London Borough of Sutton Archive, under reference LG4/711/5

End of official list entry

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