A Manhole Cover in Whitechapel

Of all the manhole covers you might encounter in London, there’s one not to be missed. It’s the cover in Whitechapel commemorating, you might say, the sewer authority’s attack on a giant fatberg clogging up the works. A fatberg is a rock-like mass of waste matter in a sewer system formed by the combination of flushed non-biodegradable solids, fat, oil and grease deposits. In 2017, a Thames Water crew had the unenviable task of clearing out a fatberg in Whitechapel spanning over 820 feet, more than the length of Tower Bridge. Having defeated the beast, their effort is acknowledged on a manhole cover that you’ll find around Whitechapel Underground, where Court Street meets Whitechapel Road.

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