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Originally Posted by quantum-x
As for the drain, it's the river westbourne - running under hyde park in london.
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A lot of people don't realize that more than a dozen old rivers still run under London, alongside or part of the sewer system. Names like Westbourne, Ravensbourne, Peck, and Stamford Brook are reminders, as is Fleet Street, named after the biggest of these rivers, that was up to 200 yards wide in Roman times. Another, the Effra, was used by Vikings to attack London a thousand years ago, but today flows underground from Crystal Palace and empties into the Thames near Kennington.
Brunel (Avon suspension bridge, SS Great Britain, etc) built the first underground sewer London in the mid 19th century after a particularly malodorous summer in which Londoners left the city in thousands and the windows of parliament had to be draped with chemical-soaked sheets to minimize the stink from open drains and cess pits. Queen Victoria was so impressed with the tunnel under the Thames that she toured it and the tunnel became a fashionable walkway, complete with street vendors
Sadly there are no organized tours of London's sewers any more (which does not stop some people exploring), but take a look at this site
http://www.crossness.org.uk/sites/20020715PJK/index.htm to get an idea of the kind of architecture and design which went into the early structures.