Markfield Road Pumping Station, now known as Markfield Beam Engine and Museum or sometimes just as Markfield Beam Engine is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

containing a

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newco ...

, originally built in 1886 to pump

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

from

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

towards the Beckton Works. The grounds of the building now form a public park known as Markfield Park. The

River Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

joins the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...

at this location. __NOTOC__

Markfield Beam Engine

Markfield Beam Engine is a free-standing

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

with a

flywheel A flywheel is a mechanical device which uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy; a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, ass ...

that moves a beam. The beam drives two single-acting plunger pumps. Each pump is 26

inches Measuring tape with inches The inch (symbol: in or ″) is a unit of length in the British imperial and the United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to yard or of a foot. Derived from the Roman uncia ("twelfth"), ...

in diameter and has a 51-inch

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

. When the machine was operational it had a working speed of 16

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

and each pump could move a day. The engine is finely decorated, with

doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

style columns and acanthus leaves.

History

The sewage works opened in 1864, The scheme was led by the Tottenham and Wood Green Drainage Board, and was connected to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

drainage system and the Northern Outfall Sewer. The current beam engine was built by Wood Brothers of Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire, in 1886 and commissioned in 1888, replacing an earlier 45 horsepower beam engine. It is the only surviving Wood Brothers eight column engine in situ. It was used continuously from its installation until 1905, when it was relegated to occasional duty for

stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed la ...

pumping. The works were finally closed for operation in February 1964, having been replaced by

Deephams Sewage Treatment Works Deephams Sewage Treatment Works is a sewage treatment facility close to Picketts Lock, Edmonton, England. The outflow discharges via Pymmes Brook into the River Lee Navigation at Tottenham Lock. The treatment works was upgraded in 2012/13. Locat ...

in Edmonton. In 1970, the River Lee Regional Park Authority took a lease on the engine house, and a group of volunteers took on the task of restoring the engine, coming together as the River Lee Industrial Archaeology Society. The engine house and engine were

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1974. Markhouse Beam Engine and Museum was formed in 1984. Over £3 million has been spent on restoring the engine, building and surrounding grounds, a full restoration of the park was completed by April 2010, and the park, museum, and beam engine re-opened for public access. The funding was secured through various sources including the Heritage Lottery Fund,

Football Foundation The Football Foundation is the United Kingdom's largest sports charity, channelling funding from the Premier League, The FA and the government (through Sport England) into transforming the landscape of grassroots sport in England. History Launc ...

DCLG The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government in ...

and Big Lottery Fund. The museum is open on Sundays and Bank Holidays, and the engine is now occasionally run for public display.

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Haringey Grade II listed industrial buildings London water infrastructure History of the London Borough of Haringey Preserved beam engines Engine houses Museums in the London Borough of Haringey Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Haringey Steam museums in London Buildings and structures in Tottenham

Markfield Beam Engine

History

See also

References