Summary

Sewer ventilation pipe, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Description

A late C19 cast-iron sewer vent pipe.

MATERIALS: cast-iron.

EXTERIOR: the pipe is around 4 metres tall. It has a tapered and fluted base, supporting a plain shaft. Approximately three-quarters of the way up the shaft, is a horizontal band with embossed ball mouldings. The pipe is capped by a collar with the embossed detailing repeated.

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 Mucklestone Wood Lane vent is located to the south of two properties which appear on the 1880 OS map. By the time of the 1901 OS map, additional properties were located to the south of Mucklestone Wood Lane. However, it is unclear whether this sewer vent was constructed to serve any of these buildings or whether it may have been part of a wider sewer system. Following the 1875 Public Health Act, the local sewers would have been substantially upgraded along the lines of London’s new sewer system of the 1860’s, making a late C19 date likely for this pipe.

Reasons for Listing

The Sewer Ventialtion Pipe at Mucklestone Wood Lane 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 Newcastle-under-Lyme's response to C19 public health concerns and national legislation on the treatment of waste.

External Links

• Historic England Listing

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas