The Museum Of London Want Some Of The Infamous 'Fatberg'

Harry Rosehill
By Harry Rosehill Last edited 78 months ago

Looks like this article is a bit old. Be aware that information may have changed since it was published.

The Museum Of London Want Some Of The Infamous 'Fatberg'
The 'fatberg' in question. Photo: Thames Water

Everyone's talking about it. That whopping 'fatberg' lurking beneath the streets of east London.

What exactly is the 'fatberg' we hear you cry? It's a delicious sounding recipe consisting of 130 tonnes of wet wipes, nappies, fat and oil, all squidged together to make one near-immovable sewer blockage.

To put this thing into perspective it weighs the same as 11 double decker buses.

The world bows down to the almighty power of the fatberg. Its gravitational pull has been covered by outlets across the globe. It is a greasy, stinking celebrity in its own right like... ah, let's not go there.

But what lies ahead for our precious fatberg? First, it has to be removed so the sewer can function properly again. And from there? One organisation has stepped up to try and save historical evidence of this momentous beast.

The Museum of London wants to obtain a cross-section of the fatberg, because it "highlights some of the pressures modern life can impose on London's historical infrastructure."

Explains Sharon Ament, Director at the Museum of London:

The discovery of this fatberg highlights one of the many issues London has to deal with as it grows and evolves. It is important for the Museum of London to display genuine curiosities from past and present London. If we are able to acquire the fatberg for our collection I hope it would raise questions about how we live today and also inspire our visitors to consider solutions to the problems of growing metropolises. This could be one of the most extraordinary objects in any museum collection in London.

Extraordinary, indeed. The Museum of London has opened a dialogue with Thames Water about acquiring a segment of fatberg. Although we would not be surprised if Ripley's Believe It or Not! wanted a grim slice of the action.

Last Updated 14 September 2017