Another extract from my collection of the Illustrated London News of 1845 – this time a short item on the enlargement of the earlier sewer system running under Fleet Street.

As subterranean structures are a long running passion of mine, the two pictures are what make the item of most interest for me. Click on the images for larger versions.

You will also probably notice in the first drawing below, the Temple Bar in its original location blocking Fleet Street. It was removed in 1878 and sold to the owner of Theobalds House in Hertfordshire, where it remained until being moved back to London in 2004 and placed next to St Paul’s Cathedral.

Enjoy!

THE FLEET-STREET SEWER

The works in progress for deepening the Sewer of Fleet-street have attracted considerable attention, partially from the obstruction which they have presented to the public traffic. They are, however, of intrinsic interest although the Sewer of Fleet-street cannot compete, in antiquity, with the ancient water-course known as the Fleet Ditch, -

The king of dykes, than whom no slice of mud
With deeper sable blots the silver flood

It appears that although Sewers have been constructed in London for upwards of four centuries, it is only within the last ten or fifteen years that the drainage of the City has been satisfactorily accomplished. Hitherto, it was very defective and imperfect; some of the smaller streets having a Sewer, while the larger thoroughfares, as Cheapside, Ludgate Hill, &c., had none. From time to time, however, this evil has been remedied; and the Sewerage is now nearly completed.

The Sewer of Fleet-street, the subject of our Engraving, having been found insufficient to carry of the water, for which it was intended, it became necessary to cut deeper, and construct a new sewer: the greatest requisite depth is 25 feet, which decreased to about 17 feet near Temple Bar; hence the Sewer runs easterly to Water Lane, where it is joined by another Sewer, which runs into Whitefriars Dock.

One of our Engravings conveys an idea of the extraordinary labour requisite for excavating the ground to the requisite depth, and the numerous provisions against accidents in the dangerous operation. Such is the underground labour; whilst the difficulty of keeping open the traffic, so as not to extinguish the “very animated appearance” of Fleet-street, is a work of much difficulty. The cost of the present undertaking, contracted for by Messrs. Ward and Son, of Aldersgate-street, is £2000.

There do not appear to be published data from which the total extend of the metropolitan Sewers can be ascertained. The Holborn and Finsbury divisions contain eighty-three miles. In addition to these, there are sixteen miles of smaller Sewers, to carry off the surface-water from the streets and roads, and two hundred and fifty-four miles of drains leading from houses to the main Sewers.

As part of this weekend’s Temple Open Weekend – it turned out that the Royal Courts of Justice – just on the other side of the road – were also opened up, as it was here that they were holding the mock trials etc., which I had presumed were occurring inside the Temple itself.

As an extra special bonus – they were also allowing photography inside the building, although naturally not inside the court rooms. I have been inside the building a few times, as it is quite a wonderful interior, but never allowed to take photos before, so today was a double surprise.

As you go inside the building, there is the usual security checks and metal detectors – I guess taking a weapon inside a court house could be problematic. Then you are into the awesome Great Hall which dominates the center of the building. Running along the Great Hall on the second floor are the main court rooms, and there are two staircases leading to the upper floors on either side of the Hall, along with four spiral staircases recessed a bit further back. There are also more court rooms at the rear of the building just past what is called the Undercroft – even though it is on the ground floor, not in the basement which is where Undercrofts are usually located.

For all the splendor of the building, the most fascinating visit I ever had was some years ago on one of the London Open House Weekends, and they took us down into the plain and unadorned areas where criminal prisoners are held. There, the security guards gave us a very good talk about the problems and difficulties in handling prisoners, and keeping them locked up. They have six cells, but you can’t, for example – put a drug dealer in the same cell as a person who hates drugs – nor mix the sexes. So even with six large cells each capable of holding quite a few people – they can actually run out of space very quickly.

It is worth noting that the Courts are not criminal courts, but they may need to bring convicted prisoners who are involved in a civil law cases to the courts, hence the prison cells.

Being a law court, you can actually go in whenever the courts are sitting – although some restrictions can occur when notable cases are being held. Anyone can sit in the public galleries inside the court rooms and watch the trials, with the exception of private family cases.

The building itself is not actually that old – with construction starting in 1873 and the Courts formally opened by Queen Victoria in 1882. The architect, George Edmund Street died during the construction.

Rather interestingly, I also found out today that there are guided tours available on the first and third Tuesday of every month. The tour cost a mere £6 and lasts an impressive 2 hours.

As usual – more photos on my Flickr account

Links:

HM Courts Service

Guided tours of the Courts

London Open House Weekend

Temple 2008 Weekend

This year is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Temple in Fleet Street as a center for the legal profession – when in 1608, King James 1 granted land and buildings in The Temple, including the church to the two Inns of Court.As part of the 400th anniversary, the Temple is hosting a series of events, and the first is next weekend with a huge open-day for the general public.

Walking through the 17th century gatehouse, or any of the other entrances, visitors can appreciate Dickens’ words: ‘Who enters here leaves noise behind’. Within the Temple’s walls, buildings are steeped in history with the foundations of the Temple Church dating back to the Crusades and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night receiving its first performances in Middle Temple Hall.

The open weekend is full of events happening. There will be guided tours, the inevitable Da Vinci Code will be discussed and there will be exhibitions in the libraries. There will also be a mock trial where visitors can take on the role of a juror and see how the legal system works.

The event is free of charge.

I am putting the agenda below, as it scattered over a few pages on their website.

The guided tours are on the hour, every hour both days with Children’s tours at noon and 2pm. There is also a tour of the gardens at 3pm on both days.

Da Vinci Code fans will be delighted to hear that there is a talk at noon on the subject, with a talk on the Knights Templar at 2:30 on Saturday and repeated at 1:30pm and 3pm respectively on Sunday.

A talk by Lady Bulter-Sloss on the Inner Temple Parliament Chamber will be held at 3:30pm on Saturday (3pm on Sun by Stephen Williamson QC).

The other events are entitled Rough Justice (12:45 and 2pm), Shakespeare Cameo (repeated through most of the day) and a police dog demonstration at noon (1:30pm and 2pm on Sun).

The longer more formal events are below.

Saturday 19th:

10:30    Opening ceremony on Fleet St (at the junction with Middle Temple Lane)

10:30    Mock trials, advocacy training and children's court

11:15    Schools mooting competition

1:15     Organ recital by Temple Church organists

2pm	 Mock trials, advocacy training and children's court

2:30	 Schools mooting competition

Sunday 20th:

10:30	Gates Open

10:30	Mock trials, advocacy training and children's court

11:15	Chorals Mattins in Temple Church

2pm	Mock trials, advocacy training and children's court

A useful PDF time chart is available which is probably worth printing out and circling the events you want to engage in at:

http://www.temple2008.org/Open%20Weekend%20Schedule%20by%20event%20type.pdf