We are the West Kent Walking Group. We open the way for everyone in our local community to enjoy the pleasures of walking.
Heather S.
This is a 6.5 mile walk along the Green Chain walk and the Thames. We will visit Lesnes Abbey (cafe, toilets, ruins) and end at Crossness Pumping Station (cafe, toilets, building visit). We will then visit Crossness on their Open Day for approx. 2 hours. We will have a drink stop during the walk & have lunch at Crossness - basic cafe for drinks and cake, not lunch, BYO. The final additional 2 miles back to Abbey Wood station can be walked or take the Routemaster bus from Crossness. If you don’t want to visit Crossness, you will have to make your own way (unguided) back to Abbey Wood station.
It is highly recommend pre-booking tickets or buying membership in advance. This will jump the queue and guarantee entry.
Entry for the afternoon of the open day is £20.37 (without Gift Aid) payable on the day (if available) or bookable in advance through this link https://crossness.visihost.co.uk/#eventcalendar_1|778
However, you could instead become a member. Benefits of membership are on the link below. £20pa age up to 64, £15pa age 65+. Includes free tea and biscuit. https://crossness.org.uk/membership-crossness-engines-trust/
After our visit we will meet at approx 4pm when they close and return to Abbey Wood station together on the Routemaster bus or walking. You can make you own way home independently at any time.
Crossness Sewage Pumping station is a Grade 1 building initially built in 1865, decommissioned in 1956 and restored and opened to the public in 2016. It was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette and built by the Metropolitan Board of Works. In the early 1850s the Thames was a vast open sewer resulting in poor quality drinking water and cholera. This new sewage system ran in pipes alongside the Thames, both north & south of it, where the sewage was held in a covered reservoir until the ebb tide when it was released into the river and taken away to the sea. Four huge pumping engines performed this task and one is still working today. It is a truly beautiful building and operation and is known as the Cathedral of the Marshes. It is the world’s most beautiful sewage works and a masterpiece of Victorian engineering.
Abbey Wood station, London. Easily accessible from London Bridge station either via mainline southeastern trains or by tube changing at Canary Wharf on the Elizabeth line.
Crossness Sewage Pumping Station. We will visit for approx 2 hours and then walk / bus together for a further 2 miles back to Abbey Wood. If not visiting Crossness, you will need to make your own way back to Abbey Wood station unguided.
