File:Entrance to Grosvenor Canal.jpg

English: Victorian Pumping Station built 1875 as part of the Sir Joseph Bazalgette extensive upgrade of London’s Sewerage System.

The chimney is of a classic Italianate design utilising predominately traditional brick and stone construction with integral decorative and structural ironwork. It comprises a tapered square brick outer tower encasing a circular smoke flue. Internal access is via a cantilevered spiral staircase naturally illuminated by vertical light openings. Although the chimney no longer provides its primary function as an exhaust gas smoke flue it still acts as a ventilation shaft Core Dimensions – As scaled or referenced from archival drawings Height from ground datum to top of vent shaft = 272 feet (82.8784m) Width at Base = 248” square (6300mm) Tapering to a width of 8 feet 6” at the top (2.6416m) Internal flue diameter = 9 feet (2.7423m) Cap flare at broadest point = 24 feet square (7.3128m) Overall depth of cap flare castings = 8 feet (2.4376m) Concrete foundation 35 feet square (10.6645m)

Internal cantilevered spiral stone staircase comprising 25 flights of stairs & 13 landings

Staircase comprises 179 risers

The Chelsea Waterworks Company obtained an Act of Parliament in 1722; they were authorised to take water from the Thames via one of more "Cutt or Cutts". These fed the water into the marshes and a tide mill was used to pump the water to reservoirs at Hyde Park and St James's Park as the tide ebbed. The reservoirs supplied west London with drinking water. The land between the river and the later site of Victoria Station was owned by Sir Richard Grosvenor, who leased it to the company in 1724. They enlarged the existing creek and built the tide mill, which continued to work until 1775, after which the pumping was performed by a steam engine.

Grosvenor Canal opened in 1824. The canal originally stretched from the Thames near Chelsea Bridge to Grosvenor Basin on the current site of Victoria station. It was progressively shortened, as first the railways to Victoria Station and then the Ebury Bridge housing estate were built over it. It remained in use until 1995, enabling barges to be loaded with refuse for removal from the city, making it the last canal in London to operate commercially. A small part of it remains among the Grosvenor Waterside development.