Rotherhithe is a district of South London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, with the Isle of Dogs to the east. It borders Bermondsey to the west and Deptford to the south-east. The district is a part of the Docklands area.
Subterranean London refers to a number of subterranean structures that lie beneath London. The city has been occupied by humans for two millennia. Over time, the capital has acquired a vast number of these structures and spaces, often as a result of war and conflict.
The Thames Tunnel is a tunnel beneath the River Thames in London, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 35 ft (11 m) wide by 20 ft (6.1 m) high and is 1,300 ft (400 m) long, running at a depth of 75 ft (23 m) below the river surface measured at high tide. It is the first tunnel known to have been constructed successfully underneath a navigable river. It was built between 1825 and 1843 by Marc Brunel, and his son, Isambard, using the tunnelling shield newly invented by the elder Brunel and Thomas Cochrane.
The Tower Subway is a tunnel beneath the River Thames in central London, between Tower Hill on the north bank of the river and Vine Lane on the south. In 1869 a 1,340-foot-long (410 m) circular tunnel was dug through the London clay using a cast iron circular shield independently invented and built by James Henry Greathead, similar to an idea that had been not received a patent in 1864, nor built by Peter W. Barlow.
Rotherhithe is a station on the Windrush line of the London Overground, located on the southern bank of the River Thames at Rotherhithe within the London Borough of Southwark. The station is between Wapping and Canada Water stations, and is in fare zone 2. The station re-opened for a preview service on 27 April 2010 to New Cross and New Cross Gate, and 23 May 2010 for full service to West Croydon and Crystal Palace. On 9 December 2012, the line was extended to serve Clapham Junction via Peckham Rye.
Pumping stations, also called pumphouses, are public utility buildings containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are critical in a variety of infrastructure systems, such as water supply, drainage of low-lying land, canals and removal of sewage to processing sites. A pumping station is an integral part of a pumped-storage hydroelectricity installation.
Edward Bayzand Ellington was a British hydraulic engineer who pioneered the development of urban-scale hydraulic power distribution systems.
Sir James Joseph Allport was an English railway manager.
The Brunel Museum is a small museum situated at the Brunel Engine House, Rotherhithe, London Borough of Southwark. The Engine House was designed by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel as part of the infrastructure of the Thames Tunnel which opened in 1843 and was the first tunnel to be built under a navigable river anywhere in the world. It comprises the Engine House and the Tunnel Shaft, with rooftop garden. Isambard Kingdom Brunel worked with his father on the project from 1823 and was appointed Resident Engineer in January 1827 at the age of 20.
The Tideway is the part of the River Thames in England which is subject to tides. This stretch of water is downstream from Teddington Lock. The Tideway comprises the upper Thames Estuary including the Pool of London.
The Wapping Hydraulic Power Station was originally run by the London Hydraulic Power Company in Wapping, London, England. Originally, it operated using steam, and was later converted to use electricity. It was used to power machinery, including lifts, across London. The Tower Subway was used to transfer the power, and steam, to districts south of the river.
A hydraulic power network is a system of interconnected pipes carrying pressurized liquid used to transmit mechanical power from a power source, like a pump, to hydraulic equipment like lifts or motors. The system is analogous to an electrical grid transmitting power from a generating station to end-users. Only a few hydraulic power transmission networks are still in use; modern hydraulic equipment has a pump built into the machine. In the late 19th century, a hydraulic network might have been used in a factory, with a central steam engine or water turbine driving a pump and a system of high-pressure pipes transmitting power to various machines.
London Museum of Water & Steam is an independent museum founded in 1975 as the Kew Bridge Steam Museum. It was rebranded in early 2014 following a major investment project.
The Knight Reservoir is a large pumped storage reservoir located in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey. It was inaugurated in 1907 and stores up to 2,180 million litres of raw water abstracted from the River Thames prior to its treatment and supply to London and north Surrey. It is located south of the River Thames, west of West Molesey, and between Hurst Road (A3050) and Walton Road (B369). It is adjacent to, and west of, its twin Bessborough Reservoir.
London's water supply infrastructure has developed over the centuries in line with the expansion of London.
The Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company was a utility company supplying water to parts of south London in England. The company was formed by the merger of the Southwark and Vauxhall water companies in 1845 and became part of the publicly owned Metropolitan Water Board in 1904.
Manchester's Hydraulic Power system was a public hydraulic power network supplying energy across the city of Manchester via a system of high-pressure water pipes from three pumping stations from 1894 until 1972. The system, which provided a cleaner and more compact alternative to steam engines, was used to power workshop machinery, lifts, cranes and a large number of cotton baling presses in warehouses as it was particularly useful for processes that required intermittent power. It was used to wind Manchester Town Hall clock, pump the organ at Manchester Cathedral and raise the safety curtain at Manchester Opera House in Quay Street. A large number of the lifts and baling presses that used the system had hydraulic packings manufactured by John Talent and Co.Ltd. who had a factory at Ashworth Street, just off the Bury New Rd. close to the Salford boundary.
The water engine is a positive-displacement engine, often closely resembling a steam engine with similar pistons and valves, that is driven by water pressure. The supply of water is derived from a natural head of water, the water mains, or a specialised high-pressure water supply such as that once provided by the London Hydraulic Power Company. Water mains in the 19th century often operated at pressures of 30 to 40 psi, while hydraulic power companies supplied higher pressure water at anything up to 800 psi.
Liverpool's Hydraulic Power Company were the operators of a public hydraulic power network supplying energy across the city of Liverpool, England, via a system of high-pressure water pipes from two pumping stations. The system was the third public system to be built in England, opening in 1888. It expanded rapidly, but gradually declined as electric power become more readily available. The pumping station was converted to electric operation in 1960, but the system was turned off in 1971. One of the pump sets was salvaged and presented to the Liverpool Museum.
The Fairbairn-Beeley boiler was a design of fire-tube stationary boiler developed in the late 19th century. It takes its name from its two developers, Sir William Fairbairn and Thomas Beeley
