Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB23/12/003

Address :
Stench Pipe Rathmore Road Bangor BT19 1NL

Townland:
Carnalea

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
08/11/2024 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Street Furniture

Former Use
Street Furniture

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
115/15 NE

IG Ref:
J4822 8091

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Sewer ventilation pipe with plain cylindrical cast iron base, slightly tapered with 6No wide flutes, one of which, on S side, bears the makers name ‘FARRER’. Single section of pipe riser with cast iron crown top attached with crude bolt. Riser pipe appears to be asbestos. Base, pipe and crown exhibit weathered green paint. Some corrosion to crown bolt connection. Black later of paint visible to base under green topcoat, and red oxide primer visible also. Located at back of pavement to west side of Rathmore Road, Bangor, south of Carnlea, outside Carnlea Methodist Church and currently used as a bus stop. Approximately 2.4km ESE of town centre, 1.4km SW of, and upstream from, sewage reception facility on coast at Stricklands Glen.

Architects

Historical Information

This pipe is one of a type that was employed to ventilate gases from underground sewers, (and sometimes also landfill sites), and dissipate the noxious fumes high above the level at which they could be smelled or breathed in. Commonly known as ‘stink’ or ‘stench’ pipes, most of the surviving examples in British Isles date from the late Victorian / Edwardian periods, when, following the example of London in the wake ‘Great Stink’ of 1858, many of the growing urban centres either upgraded or constructed new sewage systems. They were modelled on those that had been devised for the London sewers by Cornish engineer Goldsworthy Gurney (1793-1875), largely constructed in cast-iron and designed to blend in with lamp posts, with some (particularly on hilltops where gas pockets would collect) crowned with actual lamp fittings within which the gases could be burnt off. The use of vent pipes on individual houses as well as advances in sewage disposal in general meant that stink pipes gradually become obsolete, and in more recent decades many have either been cut down to ‘stumps’ or removed altogether. It is difficult to chart the extent of the adoption of such pipes the public thoroughfares of local towns with any degree of precision. In Portadown, ‘ventilation pipes’ are reported in the press as having been ‘put up through the town in connection with the new sewers’ in August 1884, (with a resident in ‘Lawy’s Court’ successfully petitioning against one having been erected next to his dwelling – seemingly not uncommon complaint), whilst the ‘fixing of two cast-iron ventilation pipes’ in the ‘streets of Comber’ is mentioned in a tender notice of July 1892. The inclusion of at least one was planned for sewage works being carried out in Stewartstown in early 1897, several are mentioned as part of works carried out in Carnlough in the same year, and two are recorded in Downpatrick in 1898 (one at the ‘corner of Irish Street’); aside from these we know of at least one remaining in place in Dromore, as well as in Newtownards and in the Bangor area. Strangely, however, there seem to few concrete
references to their presence in the two major centres of Belfast and Derry-Londonderry. STENCH PIPE AT RATHMORE RD, CARNALEA The exact date and indeed the specific role of the pipe on the present Rathmore Road are both uncertain. The maker’s mark on the base is that of William E. Farrer Ltd of Birmingham, a firm established in 1896 and which became noted for its sewage purification products. The pipe must therefore have been manufactured after this with the asbestos shaft section itself suggesting it may be post-c.1930, when this material came into more widespread use for pipework. Its position at this location is more difficult to account for, however, for up until the 1960s this section of Rathmore Road and the surrounding developments was open fields, a somewhat unlikely spot for the presence of an underground sewer, and there appears to be no evidence that this was ever a landfill site either. It is possible that the pipe may have originally served a particularly long sewage duct - possibly running from the Clandeboye demesne in the south, northwards to the coast, or that it was relocated from elsewhere when this area was developed, though the latter seems unlikely. A similar cast-iron and asbestos pipe stood within Sticklands Glen, roughly 1.3KM northeast of this site, but the hinterland of the latter area did witness a degree of development from c.1910s onwards and there was a pumping station nearby from sometime before 1939. The pipe currently serves as a bus-stop, a role it presumably adopted post-c.1965. References – Primary sources 1 ‘Portadown News’ - 9 August 1884, p.6 2 ‘Belfast News-Letter’ – 20 July 1892, p.4 3 ‘Mid-Ulster Mail’ – 6 February 1897, p.5; 13 February 1897, p.6; 5 June 1897, p.2; 19 June 1897, p.2 4 ‘Tyrone Courier’ – 20 February 1897 5 ‘Larne Reporter and Northern Counties Advertiser’ – 15 May 1897, p.1; 12 June 1897, p.1; 19 June 1897, p1 6 ‘North Down Herald and County Down Independent’ – 19 August 1898, p.2; 2 December 1898, p.2 7 OS maps, Country series, Down sheet 2 - 1901, 1919, 1939; Irish Grid sheet 115-15 – 1958, 1960-61, 1990 Secondary sources 8 https://www.londonshoes.blog/2019/03/09/the-victorian-stink-pipes-of-old-london-town/ [Accessed July 2024] 9 https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/in-your-area/midlands/shropshire-stink-pipe/ - :~:text=%27Stink%20pipes%27%20were%20sewer%20ventilation,be%20smelled%20or%20breathed%20in. [Accessed August 2024] 10 https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Stink_pipes [Accessed July 2024] 11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-39409984.amp [Accessed July 2024] 12 https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/history/random-pipes-over-plymouth-very-1412172 [Accessed July 2024]

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Tall slim pipe resembling a streetlamp, (minus the lamp itself.) The pipe is believed to have been placed here (possibly c.1920s-30s) as a vent for sewer or landfill gas – hence the name ‘stench’ or ‘stink’ pipe. The, slightly battered, base is cast-iron and mildly decorative in the manner of streetlamps of the period, whilst the pipe itself is asbestos and has a serrated crown which appears to be cast-iron also. The pipe is located within a suburban area which was open fields until the 1960s-70s, so it may have served as an outlet for landfill rather than sewage or may have been part of sewage outlet stretching from the Clandeboye demesne to the south. The pipe is located within a ward that was Second Surveyed in 2010 (and it was not recommended for a full survey at that time); however, this may be one of only two intact examples of such pipes in NI and as such is worthy of listing.

General Comments

Previous LQ HB23/LQ095

Date of Survey

03 July 2024