Beginning at the steps beside The Coal Hole pub, Carting Lane is a narrow street sloping down towards the Thames. Until the 1830s it was called Dirty Lane.
Towards the lower end is a unique gas lamp. While it is supplied by mains gas now, the lamp was once hooked up to the sewers to burn off waste methane. Carting Lane is occasionally known as Farting Lane as a reference to its most famous feature.
When the first sewer systems were laid beneath the streets in the late 19th century, they caused a major problem in that methane gas could build up. This problem was particularly prevalent on hills like Carting Lane.
One solution was to construct vent pipes to disperse in the air above the heads of pedestrians.
The Carting Lane lamp was designed by Joseph Webb as an experiment around 1890. Webb believed that light could be powered by burning sewer gas. He hooked the lamp up to the Savoy hotel sewer but this didn’t produce enough methane to keep the lamp bright. Therefore the lamp was connected to the regular gas main.
