Deep Ochre. If I’m honest, this was the one. I first saw it on Sub-urban back in 2006, before that i didn’t have a whole lot of interest in drains. I had seen pictures of the Westbourne and other various tunnels and culverts, but this just looked, different.

I was confused, intrigued, gob smacked. I sat looking at the pictures that just seemed to make no sense to me. What was this mighty network of unknown tunnels that sat beneath our nations capital? I was keen to find out.

At over 8km long, Deep Ochre aka the “North Eastern Storm Relief” is a test for anyone desiring to see all in one sitting. Constructed around 1921 - 1928, the 10-12ft diameter tunnel is a mixture of concrete, brick, plastic, metal, interceptors, stairs, overflows, junctions, drop shafts, outfalls and “ORly”. It interacts with both the Low Level and Middle Level Sewers, Holloway Storm Relief and London Bridge Main Line Sewer, In order words, its serious business!

To date i think i have visited the Deep Ochre over 10 times and still, i haven’t seen it all. There will always been those niggling side branches that we ignored to pursue others, maybe there just boring pipes, but given a feature like crypt exists on a relatively insignificant stretch of sewer, you can only wonder.