Sewer ventilation column at the junction of Denmark Road and North Street, Carshalton

Sewer ventilation column. Built in about 1896 to 1903 and cast by Walter Macfarlane and Co at the Saracen Foundry, Glasgow, for a sewerage scheme by the engineer Baldwin Latham which included at least 28 columns.

MATERIALS: constructed of cast-iron.

DESCRIPTION: the cylindrical sewer ventilation column is situated at the junction of Denmark Road and North Street. It is around 9m high and designed to resemble a Classical column with pedestal, moulded base and enriched capital. The column is constructed of two conjoined lengths of pipe, linked with a flanged joint. On top of the capital is an ornate arrow to orientate the vent into the wind or to indicate the line of the sewer. This in turn is surmounted by a ball with vents facing in all four directions and a tall finial encircled with a coronet. There is no visible manufacture stamp, although a number of similar examples in Carshalton are marked with the name ‘W MACFARLANE & CO, GLASGOW’.