The Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum of Steam Power and Land Drainage is a small
industrial heritage
Industrial heritage refers to the physical remains of the history of technology and industry, such as manufacturing and mining sites, as well as power and transportation infrastructure. Another definition expands this scope so that the term a ...
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
dedicated to
steam powered machinery
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 ...
at
Westonzoyland
Westonzoyland is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated on the Somerset Levels, south east of Bridgwater.
History
The name of the parish derives from its location on the "island" of Sowy, an area of slightly higher groun ...
in the English county of
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
. It 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 ...
.
The museum is housed in an 1830 brick-built pumping station which was the first of several similar pumping stations to be built on the
Somerset Levels
The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendip Hills, Mendips to the Blackdown Hills.
The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to ...
which are prone to flooding. The main attraction is the 1861 Easton and Amos steam engine and pump, the only one still in its original location and in working order. The museum, which is run by a charity, also restores and displays a number of other steam engines and pumps. The steam for the moving exhibits is provided by a
Marshall
Marshall may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria
Canada
* Marshall, Saskatchewan
* The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia
Liberia
* Marshall, Liberia
Marshall Islands
* Marshall Islands, an i ...
portable boiler. The Westonzoyland Light Railway, a short
narrow-gauge railway
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...
runs the length of the site and is used to carry wood for the boiler.
History
The
Somerset Moors and Levels, formed from a submerged and reclaimed landscape, consist of a coastal clay belt only slightly above mean sea level, with an inland peat belt at a lower level behind it. Early attempts to control the water levels were possibly made by the Romans (although records only date from the 13th century), but were not widespread. The ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
'' of 1086 recorded that drainage of the higher grounds was under way. In the Middle Ages, the monasteries of
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...
,
Athelney
Athelney is a village located between the villages of Burrowbridge and East Lyng in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The name is believed to be derived from the Old English '' æþeling'' meaning "prince" + -''ey'' meaning "isle". Th ...
and
Muchelney
Muchelney () is a clustered village and civil parish in Somerset, England, extending for from the south bank of the River Parrett and that has a clustered centre. This is south of Huish and Langport and south west of Somerton in the South ...
were responsible for much of the drainage. Efforts to control flooding on the
Parrett were recorded around 1129. In 1234, were reclaimed near
Westonzoyland
Westonzoyland is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated on the Somerset Levels, south east of Bridgwater.
History
The name of the parish derives from its location on the "island" of Sowy, an area of slightly higher groun ...
and, from the accounts in Glastonbury Abbey's rent books, this had increased to by 1240. Flooding of adjacent moor land was partially addressed during the 13th century by the construction of a number of embankment walls to contain the Parrett. They included Southlake Wall, Burrow Wall and Lake Wall. The
River Tone
The River Tone is a river in the English county of Somerset. The river is about long. Its source is at Beverton Pond near Huish Champflower in the Brendon Hills, and is dammed at Clatworthy Reservoir. The reservoir outfall continues through ...
was diverted by the Abbot of Athelney and other land owners into a new embanked channel, joining the Parrett upstream from its original confluence.
In 1500, there was of floodable land of which only had been reclaimed. In 1597, of land were recovered near the Parrett estuary; a few years later, near
Pawlett
Pawlett is a small village north of Bridgwater, in the Sedgemoor district of the English county of Somerset.
The village has Roman or Saxon origins. It has a Norman church and expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries with the draining of the ...
were recovered by means of embankments; and three further reclamations, totalling , had been undertaken downstream of
Bridgwater
Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...
by 1660. In the early 17th century, during the time of
King James I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
, abortive plans were made to drain and enclose much of
Sedgemoor
Sedgemoor is a low-lying area of land in Somerset, England. It lies close to sea level south of the Polden Hills, historically largely marsh (or "moor" in its older sense). The eastern part is known as King's Sedgemoor, and the western part Wes ...
, which the local Lords supported but opposed by the Commoners who would have lost grazing rights. In 1632,
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
sold the Crown's interest in the scheme, and it was taken over by a consortium that included Sir
Cornelius Vermuyden
Sir Cornelius Vermuyden (Sint-Maartensdijk, 1595 – London, 11 October 1677) was a Dutch engineer who introduced Dutch land reclamation methods to England. Vermuyden was
commissioned by the Crown to drain Hatfield Chase in the Isle of Axholme, ...
, a
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
drainage engineer. However, the work was delayed by the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
and later defeated in Parliament after local opposition. In 1638, it was reported that nearly of
Tealham and Tadham Moors
Tealham and Tadham Moors () is a 917.6 hectare (2267.3 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Wedmore in Somerset, notified in 1985.
Land south of this site is included in Catcott, Edington and Chilton Moors SSSI.
Tealha ...
were not reclaimed, with a total of being undrained. Between 1785 and 1791, much of the lowest part of the peat moors was enclosed. In 1795,
John Billingsley
John Billingsley (, born May 20, 1960) is an American actor best known for his role as Doctor Phlox on the television series ''Star Trek: Enterprise''.
Early life and education
Billingsley was born in Media, Pennsylvania, and subsequently live ...
advocated
enclosure
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
and the digging of
rhyne
A rhyne (Somerset), rhine/rhyne (Gloucestershire), or reen (South Wales) (all pronounced "reen"; from Old English ''ryne'' or Welsh ''rhewyn'' or ''rhewin'' "ditch") is a term used in parts of England and Wales for a drainage ditch, or canal ...
s (a local name for drainage channels, pronounced "reens" in the east and rhyne to the west) between plots, and wrote in his ''Agriculture of the County of Somerset'' that had been enclosed in the last 20 years in
Wedmore
Wedmore is a large village and civil parish in the county of Somerset, England. It is situated on raised ground, in the Somerset Levels between the River Axe and River Brue, often called the Isle of Wedmore. It forms part of Sedgemoor district. ...
and
Meare
Meare is a village and civil parish north west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Westhay.
History
Meare is a marshland village in typical Somerset "rhyne" coun ...
, at Nyland, at Blackford, at
Mark
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fi ...
, in
Shapwick and at
Westhay
Westhay is a village in Somerset, England. It is situated in the parish of Meare, north west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels, in the Mendip district.
The name means 'The west field that is enclosed by hedges' from the Old English ''west' ...
. Little attempt was made during the 17th and 18th centuries to pump water, possibly because the coal-driven
Newcomen steam engines would have been uneconomical. It is unclear why
windmill
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...
s were not employed, as they were on
the Fens
The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
of
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
, but only two examples have been recorded on the Levels: one at
Bleadon
Bleadon is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is about south of Weston-super-Mare and, according to the 2011 census, has a population of 1,079.
History
Bleadon was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Bledone'', meaning 'c ...
at the mouth of the
River Axe, where a sea wall had been built, and the other at Common Moor north of
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...
, which was being drained following a private Act of Parliament in 1721.
The first
mechanical pumping station on the Somerset Levels was built in 1830 to drain the area around
Westonzoyland
Westonzoyland is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated on the Somerset Levels, south east of Bridgwater.
History
The name of the parish derives from its location on the "island" of Sowy, an area of slightly higher groun ...
,
Middlezoy
Middlezoy is a village and civil parish on the Somerset Levels in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. Situated between the two other villages of Westonzoyland and Othery and is about six miles from the Town of Bridgwater which is on the ...
and
Othery
The parish and village of Othery, established in 1515, sits on a detached extension of Sowy island on the Somerset Levels. It is east of Bridgwater and north-west of Langport. It borders the hamlets and villages of Pathe, Burrowbridge, Middlez ...
. The success of the
drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditio ...
system led to the formation of other
drainage boards and the construction of other
pumping station
Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as well drilling, drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastru ...
s. The pump at Westonzoyland originally comprised 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 ...
and
scoop wheel Rim driven Scoop wheel of the Stretham Old Engine, Cambridgeshire
A scoop wheel or scoopwheel is a pump, usually used for land drainage.
A scoop wheel pump is similar in construction to a water wheel, but works in the opposite manner: a wate ...
(like a water wheel running backwards) but, after 25 years, there were problems pumping the water away because the land had dropped as it dried out despite the wheel being raised in 1843. A better method was sought, and in 1861 the present Easton and Amos pump was installed.
[ The Westonzoyland pump lifts water from the ]rhyne
A rhyne (Somerset), rhine/rhyne (Gloucestershire), or reen (South Wales) (all pronounced "reen"; from Old English ''ryne'' or Welsh ''rhewyn'' or ''rhewin'' "ditch") is a term used in parts of England and Wales for a drainage ditch, or canal ...
(pronounced 'reen') into the River Parrett
The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to it ...
. The pump operated until 1951, by which time the local drainage system had been linked into King's Sedgemoor Drain
King's Sedgemoor Drain is an artificial drainage channel which diverts the River Cary in Somerset, England along the southern flank of the Polden Hills, to discharge into the River Parrett at Dunball near Bridgwater. As the name suggests, the ...
, which discharged further down the River Parrett; the water levels dropped and the pump was unable to draw the water from the rhyne. Additionally, the Parrett riverbank has now been raised by some in the vicinity of the pumping station and the opening to the river, from the base of the pump-well, is now bricked up. In 1951 a diesel pump, with a capacity of 50 tons per minute, was installed by the Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
in an adjacent building meaning that the steam pump was no longer needed.[
The station itself is a ]Flemish bond
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and Mortar (masonry), mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''Course (architecture), courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks ...
brick-built property with a slate hipped roof
A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...
and chimney rising to in height. A cottage section was added alongside it in the 1860s, to provide accommodation for the station-keeper. Originally given a Grade II listing, the property was upgraded to Grade II* by English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
since it is now the only surviving station that still houses a functioning engine. Beside the cottage is a long single-storey building that houses a 1914 Lancashire boiler
A shell or flued boiler is an early and relatively simple form of boiler used to make steam, usually for the purpose of driving a steam engine. The design marked a transitional stage in boiler development, between the early haystack boilers and t ...
; this was used to provide steam. Next to it is a forge
A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...
, where the keeper would have made a number of his own tools. The boiler required constant running and thus consumed a good deal of coal.
Restoration
In 1976, members of the Somerset Industrial Archaeology Society
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
began restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
of the site. The Westonzoyland Engine Trust achieved charitable status in 1980 and in 1990 bought the site from the owners, Wessex Water
Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of South West England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Bristol, most of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire and parts of ...
. The structure of the engine house has been stabilised and the pump house and chimney rebuilt. A new exhibition hall has also been built.
Up until early 2010, the keeper's cottage had been off-limits to visitors. Two of the ground-floor rooms have now been opened: the living-room is furnished in a 1930s/40s style, while the old kitchen area currently holds a couple of display cases, with a view to showing hitherto unseen artefacts from the museum's collection of smaller items. The upper floors remain closed to visitors.
Museum
At the western end of the site is the pump house. It houses the 1861 engine which was built by Easton and Amos Easton may refer to:
Places
Canada
*Easton, Nova Scotia
United Kingdom
*Easton, Bristol
*Easton, Cambridgeshire
*Easton, Dorset
*Great Easton, Essex and Little Easton, Essex
*Easton, Hampshire
**Crux Easton, Hampshire
*Easton, Isle of Wight
*Gre ...
of London, to a design patented in 1858 by Charles Amos. It is a twin-cylinder, vertical condensing engine, driving a centrifugal pump
Centrifugal pumps are used to transport fluids by the conversion of rotational kinetic energy to the hydrodynamic energy of the fluid flow. The rotational energy typically comes from an engine or electric motor. They are a sub-class of dynamic ...
developed by John Appold
John George Appold, FRS (14 April 1800, in Shoreditch, London – 31 August 1865, in Gloucestershire) was a British fur dyer and engineer.
Biography
Appold was the son of a fur-skin dyer, established in Finsssbury. Succeeding to his father's busi ...
. A similar engine was on display at The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...
of 1851 and was shown to be able to lift 100 tons of water per minute, to a height of . The engine was originally powered by Cornish boilers, but these were replaced in with 1914 Lancashire boiler
A shell or flued boiler is an early and relatively simple form of boiler used to make steam, usually for the purpose of driving a steam engine. The design marked a transitional stage in boiler development, between the early haystack boilers and t ...
, with two fire tubes, made by Fred Danks. The boiler is beyond economic restoration.
In addition to the Easton and Amos pump, a collection
Collection or Collections may refer to:
* Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department
* Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service
* Collection agency, agency to collect cash
* Collectio ...
of steam and diesel engines with connections either to the area or to pumping have been assembled on site and regular steam days are held. The oldest item dates from the early 19th century, through to several Victorian engines and onward to the 20th century. These are housed in several different buildings and areas: the exhibition hall, the courtyard, the "wiggly shed", the pump room and the engine house itself. Most of the machines are in running order, although some are still awaiting restoration.
Steam is provided by an elderly Marshall
Marshall may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria
Canada
* Marshall, Saskatchewan
* The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia
Liberia
* Marshall, Liberia
Marshall Islands
* Marshall Islands, an i ...
portable boiler – essentially a portable engine
A portable engine is an engine, either a steam engine or an internal combustion engine, that sits in one place while operating (providing power to machinery), but (unlike a stationary engine) is wikt:portable#Adjective, portable and thus can be ...
without the actual ''engine''. It was built in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Gainsborough is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town population was 20,842 at the 2011 census, and estimated at 23,243 in 2019. It lies on the east bank of the River Trent ...
in 1938 before being used by Thames Water
Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is a large private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north Wiltshir ...
as a stand by steam generator. It was given to Kew Bridge Steam Museum (now the London Museum of Water & Steam
London Museum of Water & Steam is an independent museum founded in 1975 as the Kew Bridge Steam Museum. It was rebranded in early 2014 following a major investment project.
Situated on the site of the old Kew Bridge Pumping Station in Brentfo ...
) before being passed on to the Westonzoyland Museum and then restored with a grant from the Preservation of Industrial and Scientific Materials Foundation (PRISM). The boiler provides steam at 50 Pounds per square inch
The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch (symbol: lbf/in2; abbreviation: psi) is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units. It is the pressure resulting from a force of one pound-force applied to ...
(psi) to the other exhibits. It has been fitted with two whistles, one from Wattstown
Wattstown ( cy, Aberllechau) is a village located in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Located in the Rhondda Fach valley it is a district of the community of Ynyshir. Prior to mid 19th century industrialisati ...
and the other from Ty Mawr Collieries in Wales, both of which were donated by the National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...
. Along with the boiler in the outdoor courtyard area are a waterwheel pump unit built by G. H. Harris of Wadebridge
Wadebridge (; kw, Ponswad) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel upstream from Padstow.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' The permanent populat ...
, a Lee Howl pump and Lister deep well pump.
Engines by a range of other manufacturers are on display. These include 'quick revolution' engines by Belliss and Morcom
Belliss and Morcom is a manufacturer and supplier of oil-free reciprocating compressors, technologies and services. Founded in 1852 in Birmingham, West Midlands, it is now a division of Ingersoll Rand based in Redditch, Worcestershire, England. ...
, Robey & Co., Easton and Johnson and Sissons. There are horizontal engines by W. and F. Wills and by J. Culverwell, of Bridgwater. The Culverwell machine is a horizontal single cylinder steam engine originally used in Holt's Brewery at Burnham-on-Sea
Burnham-on-Sea is a seaside town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett, upon Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small fishing village until the late 18th century when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort.
...
, while the Wills engine was used in a brickworks.
Additional exhibits include two small de Laval steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s by Greenwood & Batley
Greenwood & Batley were a large engineering manufacturer with a wide range of products, including armaments, electrical engineering, and printing and milling machinery. They also produced a range of battery-electric railway locomotives under the ...
, and a small 'Wessex' steam turbine milk bottle washer. A winch used to move railway wagons at Hemyock Dairy near Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
was built by J. Lynn of Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
. There is a runnable Crossley diesel engine dating from 1935. There is a Spirax Sarco 'Ogden pump' used to pump condensate from steam lines. The collection includes the boiler which powered the Telescopic Bridge, Bridgwater
The Telescopic Bridge (locally known as the Black Bridge) in Bridgwater, within the English county of Somerset, was built in 1871 to carry a railway over the River Parrett. It has been scheduled as an ancient monument and is a Grade II* liste ...
.
Westonzoyland Light Railway is a short narrow-gauge railway
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...
running alongside the pumping station. It was constructed after the closure of the pumping station to move heavy machinery around the site and is used to transport timber from the wood pile to the boiler. The engines used are a Simplex
In geometry, a simplex (plural: simplexes or simplices) is a generalization of the notion of a triangle or tetrahedron to arbitrary dimensions. The simplex is so-named because it represents the simplest possible polytope in any given dimension. ...
diesel locomotive, built in 1968, which was previously at the Minworth Sewage Treatment Works in Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...
and a 1949 Lister rail-truck previously used by the Eclipse Peat Company at Ashcott
Ashcott is a small village and civil parish located in the Sedgemoor area of Somerset in the south-west of England. The village has a population of 1,186. The parish includes the hamlets of Ashcott Corner, Berhill, Buscott, Nythe and Pedwell.
T ...
. A steam winch built by John Lynch of Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
is used to move one of the trucks up an inclined plane to demonstrate how this would have been done in goods yards and docks.
See also
* Association for Industrial Archaeology
The Association for Industrial Archaeology (AIA) was established in Great Britain in 1973 to promote the study of industrial archaeology and to encourage improved standards of recording, research, conservation and publication. It aims to support ...
* Industrial archaeology
Industrial archaeology (IA) is the systematic study of material evidence associated with the industrial past. This evidence, collectively referred to as industrial heritage, includes buildings, machinery, artifacts, sites, infrastructure, docu ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Westonzoyland Engine Trust website
* {{EW charity, 279765, Westonzoyland Engine Trust
Grade II* listed buildings in Sedgemoor
Somerset Levels
Museums in Somerset
Industry museums in England
Preserved stationary steam engines
Steam museums in England
Industrial archaeological sites in Somerset
Stationary steam engines
1861 establishments in England
Former pumping stations
Grade II* listed industrial buildings
Grade II* listed museum buildings
Flood control in the United Kingdom