 |
|
As histories go, the UK draining scene's significant
web presence goes back little further than the turn of the
millennium. Given this short span of time, most who have been
in and amongst the scene for the past few years have a good
knowledge of said
|
|
 |
|
history. The internet however harbours an uncanny
ability to lose sight of the facts and make a mockery of provenance.
An evolving community of devotees has a shifting dynamic,
new faces establish themselves, older faces fade into
the background, and details can become as clear as a pint of the
Fleet Sewer's finest. Those who were at the fore
during the fledgling years of a community
often fall victim to the internet's legacy displacement tendencies.
Urbanunderworld.co.uk was among the first, if not the first, UK
website with a majority proportion of its content dedicated to drain
exploration. Having been online since 2002 under the urbanunderworld
domain, and for a year or so previous to that on free hosting, the site
had not been much updated since the end of 2006 and went offline at the end
of 2008 when the domain was allowed to expire. Over
the lifetime of the domain the exploring duo of Drainrat & Oggy furnished
urbanunderworld with its wondrous content, and the importance of their
contribution to an activity we enjoy so much must not to be forgotten! Not
least for the fact that they continue to explore underground places,
but do so in a more private manner.
Drainrat & Oggy would agree that their greatest legacy would be the
discovery, exploration and documentation of the gargantuan storm drain
which they dubbed 'Bunker'. A mighty concrete beast, bristling with
features and of spectacular scale, Bunker set the standard for modern
UK storm drainage and has yet to be surpassed. Noted among the worlds
finest drains by the much travelled Siologen Jeeves Westminster, it is
something of a rite of passage for UK drainers. In recent years Bunker's
increased internet exposure has also meant it has become popular outside
of draining circles, with explorers of the more shotgun and bed-post
persuasion. As well as Bunker the duo also uncovered and rightfully
named other major drains across the country, drains which maintain
their position as staple constituents on the list of must see UK sites.
First in to Birmingham they brought us Moonwalker, Baptizer and Mistaken
Identity. Breaking virgin ground again in Leeds, they uncovered Masticator
and cyclops, and in Bristol their persistence paid off when they finally
cracked the mighty Dreadnought. Closer to home in Manchester Oggy temporarily overcame
his sewerphobia venturing into SSSI.
|
|
|
|
|
Drainrat was the driving force behind urbanunderworld, being from
an engineering background, draining mixed his passion for underground
spaces and large scale engineering with the edge of excitement and
adventure that he also pursued in other activities outside of
draining. He was also responsible for publishing their stories
and findings online. The urbanunderworld website had two incarnations
during its lifetime. In 2003 a Google search for 'UK drain
exploring' returned few relevant results, atop the list, version1.0
of urbanunderworld provided burgeoning drain explorers with
the confirmation that they were not alone in their peculiar pursuit.
At that time the adult phase of my drain exploring life had seen
few drains of great merit and I recall taking the photographic tour
through Bunker, which featured on urbanunderworld, with eyes transfixed
and mouth agape. Inspired by the website I set to work creating an
interweb home from where to share our own drain adventures. Version
2.0 of urbanunderworld was a cosmetic make-over,
while the ever expanding content remained as clear and accessible
as always.
The other half of the urbanunderworld duo, Oggy, was a quietly confident and
unassuming explorer who knew exactly what he did and did not
like! What he did not like was sewage, sewers and anything
pertaining to poop, he was always vehement in his aversion
to such things. Always rocking the brightest of blue coats Oggy was
the Dr.Watson to Drainrat's Sherlock Holmes, a thoroughly
pleasant guy and a great pleasure to explore with.
The departure of such a significant website deserves a tip of the hat
in recognition for its role in forming UK drain exploration as we know it.
Sure, drain exploration in the UK did not start with urbanunderworld,
and it will not end with it, but it certainly would have been quite different
without it. When I realised that the site was offline several thoughts
came to mind, beyond the initial that sucks, firstly a eulogy was clearly
required. I'd like to have been able to archive the site in some form, as
Simon Cornwell has done with one of the earliest UK UE websites
here.
Unfortunately I have neither the time or resources and so for as long
as some information is available we'll have to make do with those pages
indexed on the web archive here.
For now the domain is being re-directd to this tribute page, so at least those seeking
drains or following links to urbanunderworld will reach some relevant
content. Should Drainrat decide one day that he'd like to take up the urbanunderworld mantle
once more, then I'll most gladly pass control of the domain back to
where it rightly should be. Drainrat & Oggy, we salute you!
|
|
|
