Stink Pipe - Lower Road on Footpath BRAT 27

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Stink Pipe - Lower Road on Footpath BRAT 27

You may not have given this intriguing piece of Victorian engineering a second look while out and about, but next time you are walking along the footpath which runs parallel to Lower Road near East Marsh Farm, look out for this green pipe hidden amid the hedgerow.

Known as a Stink Pipe or Stench Pole, at first sight it looks very like a very tall lamp post, but if you give it a knock, you will find that it is hollow and at its top you will notice a strange, almost flower-like, opening.

As the embossed lettering at its base attests, this tall cast-iron pipe was manufactured by sewage specialists and iron workers, William E Farrer Ltd of Birmingham, and probably dates to the early 20th century.

Its purpose was, and still is, to ventilate a delightful cocktail of gasses that includes methane, hydrogen sulphide and ammonia — all flammable and smelly – carrying the ‘stench’ off and away, safely into the air way above our heads. And the purpose of the flower-style opening at the top? None at all, just classic Victorian embellishment of ordinary utilitarian objects.

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