A PLAQUE created by a local craftsman took centre stage when Prince Charles visited a London sewer works.
His Royal Highness went to see the newly-constructed Lee Tunnel, part of London’s deepest sewer.
The visit was to mark the completion of tunnelling work on the £635 million Lee Tunnel as well as the 150th anniversary of the London sewage system.
The new tunnel will go live in December 2015.
The sewers were originally opened in 1865 and they replaced Londoner’s old habit of dumping rubbish and effluents into the Thames, a practice which led to the Great Stink of 1858.
The prince toured the Abbey Mills site in Abbey Lane and met apprentices before unveiling the plaque.
Zoe Cull, one half of Bockhampton-based partnership Stoneform, was commissioned to design and hand-carve the Portland stone plaque for the occasion.
She said: "I was surprised and delighted to see the photos of the prince with my work. The plaque had to be executed very rapidly and in close daily co-operation with the commissioners, in strictest confidence, of course. I am grateful to Albion Stone for supplying a fine piece of Portland base bed at such short notice."
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