Skulferatu #21 - Stink Vent, St Mark's Park, Water of Leith, Edinburgh

On a day of sunshine and snowstorms I went for a walk along the Water of Leith and the railway paths that run around it.  On my way back I passed through St Mark’s Park and along the path under the old railway there.  This brought me out into a rather picturesque area near a weir and what appears to be an old, industrial era chimney standing on its own.

 

Tunnel from pathway at St Mark’s Park leading to Water of Leith

 

The Water of Leith

Not a chimney, but a stink vent

This chimney is not at what it first seems.  Look around it.  There are no openings at the bottom where one would expect to see space for a fire to burn or where pipes were once connected.  That is because this chimney is not in fact a chimney.  It is a sewage vent or a stink vent.  It is part of the 1864 interceptor sewer that was built to connect to earlier sewage systems in Edinburgh and carry raw sewage out into the River Forth.  It carried on doing this until the 1970s when the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works was built.

 

The stink vent was an important part of the sewage system as it acted as a safety valve and released the noxious and inflammable sewer gases that would build up in the system.  It was built nice and high so that the wind would carry off any obnoxious smells.

The stink vent

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in a tree not far from the stink vent and with a nice view of the Water of Leith.

 

Skulferatu #21

 

Skulferatu #21 in tree near to stink vent and Water of Leith

 

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu #21

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

Latitude 55.968462

Longitude -3.189978