Sewer ventilation pipe, Shifnal

Church Walk, Off Victoria Road, Shifnal, Shropshire, TF11 8AF

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

A C19 cast-iron sewer vent pipe. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1484878
Date first listed:: 30-Mar-2023
List Entry Name:: Sewer ventilation pipe, Shifnal
Statutory Address:: Church Walk, Off Victoria Road, Shifnal, Shropshire, TF11 8AF

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1484878
Date first listed:: 30-Mar-2023
List Entry Name:: Sewer ventilation pipe, Shifnal
Location Description:
Statutory Address 1:: Church Walk, Off Victoria Road, Shifnal, Shropshire, TF11 8AF

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Church Walk, Off Victoria Road, Shifnal, Shropshire, TF11 8AF

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Shropshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Shifnal
National Grid Reference:: SJ7472107699

Summary

A C19 cast-iron sewer vent pipe.

Reasons for Designation

The sewer ventilation pipe, Church Walk, Shifnal is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:

* the pipe survives to its full height and so illustrates how it functioned when in use;

* it has been designed with visual appeal in mind and displays architectural interest through its proportions and decorative mouldings.

Historic Interest:

* as evidence of the local authority in Shifnal’s response to C19 public health concerns and national legislation on the treatment of waste.

History

Sewer vent pipes or ‘stink pipes’ functioned by allowing the gases from below ground sewers to vent out and dissipate high above the level at which they would be smelled or breathed in. The Church Walk vent is located behind the public house with stable and adjoining terrace of houses at 15-19 Victoria Road which appear on the 1839 tithe map. The terrace was extended by a further two houses to the west (numbers 21 and 23 Victoria Road) by the time of the 1882 Ordnance Survey Map. It is unclear whether this sewer pipe was constructed to serve any of these buildings or the town’s general sewer network; following the 1875 Public Health Act, Shifnal’s sewers would have been substantially upgraded along the lines of London’s new sewer system of the 1860s.

Details

A C19 cast-iron sewer vent pipe.

MATERIALS: cast-iron.

EXTERIOR: the pipe is around 4m tall. Its base has two torus mouldings, then a plain shaft with horizontal banding and geometric triangle and circle detailing before a scotia. Moving upwards is a band of round-cornered rectangular mouldings, then further up is an elongated scotia below a band decorated with ball mouldings. Above this the shaft is narrower and plain until its halfway point where there is a larger protruding disk with smaller disks above and below. The pipe is capped by a collar with four round studs and a capital with stylised leaves.

Sources

Other
The National Archives: IR29 Tithe Commission and successors: Tithe Apportionments: 1839 Tithe Map of Shifnal

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.