The secrets of Victoria Embankment
March 4th 2008 02:37
Blossom in Embankment Gardens
Sitting on a bench, overlooking the tamed and ordered paths and gardens of Victoria Embankment, it’s hard to imagine that little more than a century and a half ago, the turbulent waters of the Thames rushed right through here. Just as difficult to believe is that, deep in the bowels of the earth, below these crocus-dotted lawns, blossom-cloaked trees and majestic monuments, underground trains thunder by, gas and electricity pipes hiss and whirr and tonnes of London sewage gurgle away, through a colossal pipe, to safely distant disposal.
Crocuses on the lawn in Embankment Gardens
Until the mid-nineteenth century, the city’s sewage discharged directly into the Thames. The stench of the water was foul and the diseases it carried, right to the very doorstep of the city, were deadly. After an outbreak of cholera killed 10,000 people in 1853, the engineer Joseph Bazalgette was commissioned to design a new and safe sewage disposal system. Fifty-two acres of land were reclaimed from the Thames and embankments created - Chelsea and Victoria to the north and Albert to the south. These were to accommodate Balzagette's two giant “interceptor” sewers which would capture the city’s waste and carry it away from the river. The project was completed in 1859 and it was proposed that . public gardens be established on the wasteland at Victoria Embankment.
In 1864, Alexander MacKenzie began work on the Embankment Gardens Topsoil was brought from Barking Creek and twenty acres was laid out in flower beds, lawns, trees and shrubberies. The York Water Gate, a confection of pillars, lions, pediments and pilasters built by Balthasar Gerbier in 1626 and once part of the Duke of Buckingham’s riverside mansion (demolished in 1676) was incorporated to serve as the west end entrance. Statues were erected to famous Britons, including Robert Burns, Arthur Sullivan, John Stuart Mill and the Royal Camel Corps. In 1877, 180 tonne Cleopatra’s Needle, built originally for the Pharoah Thothmes III in 1467, was installed in the gardens. Victoria Embankment was the first London area to benefit from the advent of electric lighting.
Embankment Gardens
Today, the gardens at Victoria Embankment are a popular retreat, always busy with strollers, tourists, picnicking families, school groups and workers on lunch breaks. They provide a quiet detour along the back of the Strand through to Covent Garden or Fleet Street. There are pleasant green vistas and clean, earthy smells to enjoy at any season, beautiful blossom and bulbs in Spring, bright flowers in Summer and leaves of every shade in Autumn
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Comment by Mountain Fog
When are you going to cover Chelsea and Hyde Park?
And can one put in an 'order', for you to cover some building or place in London?
Enjoying your travels a lot Patrica!
cheers
fog
Comment by Louie
randomthoughts
Phil's Wellness Tips
Comment by Patricia
Travel Stripe
Lucky you, to work nearby, Louie, did you take breaks in the gardens?
Comment by Mountain Fog
(now I am jealous of Louie!),
how about Rotten Row I think it is called, in Hyde Pary where the horsey set exercise their nags?
And one other thing, I have a very slow connection and your enlargements of your photos are huge and take a long time, maybe you could reduce the size of the photo, say to 100ks?
Oh, and I'd love to see some photos around Big Ben's Tower, and maybe you could give it a pat for me and say "Fog says, Hieee!!!!"
cheers
fog
Comment by Patricia
Travel Stripe
Comment by Mountain Fog
Just checked Wikipedia about Rotten Row, they think it is a corruption of the French 'Route de Roi' or King's Road.
Also, it is hardly used now, pity, as there are few stables near, but, the Royal Cavalry use it to exercise their chargers...so maybe...God knows how you would get a photo of that lot clanking down the path, no matter.
cheers
fog
P.S. I know this is starting to sound a bit painful of me, BUT, when/if you take a photo of Big Ben's Tower, can you take it while you are giving it a pat for me??? pretty pleeeeease???? (Please note grovelling tone!)