Papplewick Pumping Station
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Papplewick Pumping Station, situated in open
agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other organism, forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous ...
approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) by road from the
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
village of
Papplewick Papplewick is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England, 7.5 miles (12 km) north of Nottingham and 6 miles (10 km) south of Mansfield. It had a population of 756 at the 2011 census. In the Middle Ages, the village marked ...
, was built by Nottingham Corporation Water Department between 1881 and 1884 to pump water from the Bunter
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
to provide drinking water to the City of
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, in England. Two beam engines, supplied with steam by six Lancashire boilers, were housed in
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
buildings. Apart from changes to the boiler grates, the equipment remained in its original form until the station was decommissioned in 1969, when it was replaced by four submersible electric pumps. A Trust was formed in 1974 to conserve the site as a static museum, but the plans soon developed to include the refurbishment and regular steaming of the engines. One of the beam engines was operated in 1975, using the only boiler that was certified to be safe at the time. Since then, the second engine has been reconditioned, and both are steamed several times a year. New visitor facilities were built in 1991, and a major restoration of the structures was completed in 2005, following a grant of £1.6 million by the
Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
. As well as the beam engines, the site houses several other engines, which are also demonstrated on steaming days.


Background

In 1807,
Thomas Hawksley Thomas Hawksley ( – ) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with early water supply and coal gas engineering projects. Hawksley was, with John Frederick Bateman, the leading British water engineer of the ...
, who went on to pioneer public water supply systems in the United Kingdom, was born at Arnold, near Nottingham. In 1830, there were two water companies in Nottingham, and he was appointed engineer for one of them, with responsibility for the construction of a water works and pumping station at Trent Bridge. Despite opinions that it was impracticable, he built the first system where the water was always under pressure, so that consumers could draw water from it at all times of the day. In order for it to succeed, he had to design a range of fittings which would not leak and persuade plumbers to use them. In 1845, Nottingham's two water companies amalgamated to form the Nottingham Waterworks Company, and Hawksley became the consulting engineer. The link between water supply and water-borne diseases such as
cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
and
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
was established in the 1850s, and the need to supply clean filtered water resulted in a series of projects, which steadily moved further to the north of the city. Park Works pumping station and Belle View Reservoir were in the city, and were both completed in 1850. Basford pumping station and Mapperley Reservoir were completed in 1857 and 1859, and were beyond the northern boundary of the city. Bestwood pumping station and Redhill Reservoir followed in 1871 and 1872, and Hawksley completed Papplewick Reservoir in 1880, further north still. The Waterworks Company was taken over by Nottingham Corporation at this time, and Papplewick pumping station was operational by 1884. It is situated in a region where the underlying rock is
Bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsands ...
, which filters the water naturally.


Construction

Nottingham Corporation had appointed
Marriott Ogle Tarbotton Marriott Ogle Tarbotton MICE, FGS, FRMS, was born in Leeds on 6 December 1834 and died in Nottingham on 6 March 1887. He was Borough Engineer for Nottingham from 1859. Career Tarbotton was Borough Engineer at Wakefield from 1855 until he was ap ...
as their Borough Surveyor in 1859. Following the takeover by the Corporation of the Gas Company in 1874 and the Water Company in 1879, Tarbotton was asked to relinquish his post, and was appointed instead as engineer to the gas and water systems. He also sat on the Sewage Farm Committee, and acted as engineer for a number of schemes across the country. His first action was to increase the supply of water, and so he sunk two wells at Papplewick, where Hawksley had already built a covered reservoir. He designed and erected an ornate pump house, which housed two huge beam engines, supplied by
James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...
& Co. of Birmingham. The engines were powered by steam from a bank of six
Galloway boiler W & J Galloway and Sons was a British manufacturer of steam engines and boilers based in Manchester, England. The firm was established in 1835 as a partnership of two brothers, William and John Galloway. The partnership expanded to encompass th ...
s, modified Lancashire boilers. Numbers 1 and 6 were installed in 1881, to power the machinery that was used to sink the test well. Once Tarbotton was sure that the site could supply sufficient water, boilers 2 to 5 were ordered, and were installed in 1883. Under normal operation, three of the boilers would be producing steam, and three would be shut down. The boilers are similar to conventional Lancashire boilers, but the Galloway Company, who supplied them, modified the internal design by installing 32 cross tubes, to improve their efficiency. Each is long, in diameter, and is encased in a brick lining to conserve heat. Each has two fire boxes, , and holds of water. Two of the boilers are in original condition, while the remainder had their hearths replaced in 1920. They supplied steam at to cylinders which are in diameter and have a stroke of . Each engine has a flywheel which is in diameter, and weighs 24 tons. The beams weigh 13 tons and are long. They drove a main pump, which raised water from the wells, which are deep, and had a supplementary pump, which pumped the water up to the reservoir. Each pump could raise of water per day. When operational, each of the three boilers consumed about 2 tons of coal per day, and initially generated of power, which was later uprated to . Cooling water was obtained from an ornate cooling pond, located in front of the engine house, which had scalloped edges, a central fountain, and was surrounded by ornamental gardens. It held of water. The buildings, which are
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 ...
structures and a
scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
, were built in
Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
, and internally, the main engine house has outstanding
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
fittings and
stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
. They were paid for with money left over after the construction of the building came in under budget. The total cost of construction was £55,000 (). The slate roof of the boiler house is of fireproof cast iron construction. Rather than the usual wooden laths to support the slates, they rest on angle irons, held in place by lead nails and 'torched' on the inside with mortar. Water from the pumps was originally pumped a further uphill to the covered reservoir which Hawksley had completed in 1880. It was a huge brick-vaulted structure, with a brick building over the stairs, and a float tube to measure the water level, which was transmitted to Nottingham by telegraph. A crack was found in one of the walls in 1906, probably caused by mining subsidence, and the reservoir was not used after that date. No records exist to explain why it was not repaired. The water flowed by gravity from the reservoir to Nottingham. Water storage returned to the site when a new covered reservoir was constructed in 1956, on the east side of the old reservoir. The pumps were in use until 1969, when submersible electric pumps were installed in the pilot well, dug in the 1880s to test that the site would be suitable. A modern building houses the control gear.


Restoration

Recognising that the pumping station might quickly deteriorate, once it was no longer used, the Papplewick Pumping Station Trust was formed in 1974, and negotiated with Nottingham City Council. They obtained a lease which enabled them to open the site as a static museum. Once volunteers started to maintain the site, the idea of steaming the engines was voiced, and a second organisation, the Papplewick Association, was created, with responsibility for operating the machinery. One boiler was certified to be safe in 1975, and work started on refurbishing it. The cooling pond was dry and had to be cleared of leaves and pine needles before refilling could begin on 12 July. There were problems with draughting, and a fan was fitted into the flue. The boiler was lit on 18 September, and this time there were problems with smoke filling the smithy, which required further minor modifications. Steam was raised on 20 September, and the first attempt to run one engine was made the following day, with John Thorlby, who had been superintendent of the pumping station until his retirement, demonstrating the start-up procedure. The boiler feed-pump glands had to be repacked, and the camshaft had to be stripped down to clear the oil ways, but after attention to these items, the engine ran satisfactorily. The second engine was made operational at a later date. Papplewick Pumping Station is the only one in the
Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
which has been preserved as a complete pumping station in full working order. It was restored from 1975 onwards and opened formally on 8 June 2005 by
The Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...
.


Museum

The
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 ...
is open to the general public as 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 ...
. Since March 2003, the Trust has been registered with
Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are i ...
, and trades as a private company, limited by guarantee, with no share capital. The Association is registered with the Charity Commissioners, and the museum is registered under the Museum Accreditation Scheme, run by
Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...
to improve the standards of organisations which are open for the public to visit. The first opening of the museum to the public was on 15 April 1976. Construction of new visitor facilities, including a cafe and toilets, began in 1991, to a design by architects Cullen, Carter and Hill. The Trust succeeded in obtaining a grant of £1.6 million from the
Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
in 2002, which has enabled further development of the site to be undertaken. Restoration of the buildings was overseen by the architect Liam Doherty, and Ibstock Bricks made new bricks and terracotta pilasters to match the originals. The standard of restoration earned the Trust a "Best refurbishment award" at the 2006 Brick Development Association Awards. In addition to the original beam engines, the site now houses several other historic engines. One is a colliery winding engine from the nearby Linby Colliery, which was built by Robey & Co of Lincoln in 1922, and was operational until 1982, when an electric winder replaced it. It was rebuilt at the museum, and is housed in its own building. The restoration was assisted by
British Coal The British Coal Corporation was a nationalised corporation responsible for the mining of coal in the United Kingdom from 1987 until it was effectively dissolved in 1997. The corporation was created by renaming its predecessor, the National Co ...
and their deputy chairman restarted the engine on 21 August 1990. It is the only operational steam-powered winder in Britain. Outside the building is a triple expansion engine, made by the Kilmarnock firm of Glenfield & Co. in 1897. It worked at Stanton Ironworks near Ilkeston, where it supplied hydraulic power. It was dismantled on site in 1979 by members of the Association, and restoration began in 1992. The task was completed in 1998, when it was steamed for the first time at its new location. In 2002 two engines were obtained from the
Player's John Player & Sons, most often known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. In 1901, the company merged with other companies to form The Imperial Tobacco Company to face competition from US ma ...
Tobacco Factory, and have been assembled but are not operational. The Trust also runs a single-cylinder oil engine, which formerly generated power for the arc lights on the projector at Bolsover Cinema, which is housed in the carriage shed and stables. The grounds are listed as Grade II on the
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...
.


See also

*
Bestwood Pumping Station Bestwood Pumping Station was a water pumping station operating in Nottinghamshire from 1874 until 1964. History Bestwood Pumping Station was built between 1871 and 1874 on land belonging to William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans. It was comm ...
* Boughton Pumping Station *
Prickwillow Museum Prickwillow Museum, formerly known as the Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum, tells the story of the changing face of the Fens and its network of drainage systems and pumping stations. The museum is housed in the old pumping station in Prickwillo ...
*
Stretham Old Engine Stretham Old Engine is a steam-powered engine just south of Stretham in Cambridgeshire, England, that was used to pump water from flood-affected areas of The Fens back into the River Great Ouse. It is one of only three surviving drainage engines ...
*
Cambridge Museum of Technology The Cambridge Museum of Technology is an industrial heritage museum situated in Cambridge, England. The original building, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, housed a combined sewage pumping and waste destructor station built in 1894. The Museum h ...
*
Anson Engine Museum The Anson Engine Museum is situated on the site of the old Anson colliery in Poynton, Cheshire, England. It is the work of Les Cawley and Geoff Challinor who began collecting and showing stationary engines for a hobby. The museum now has one o ...
*
Crossness Pumping Station The Crossness Pumping Station is a former sewage pumping station designed by the Metropolitan Board of Works's chief engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette and architect Charles Henry Driver. It is located at Crossness Sewage Treatment Works, at the ea ...


Bibliography

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References


External links


Official WebsitePhotographs on Geograph
''(can be added to Commons!)''

{{Authority control Gedling Museums in Nottinghamshire Buildings and structures in Nottinghamshire Industry museums in England Preserved beam engines Preserved stationary steam engines Infrastructure completed in 1884 Water supply and sanitation in England Steam museums in England Water supply pumping stations Scheduled monuments in Nottinghamshire Former pumping stations 1884 establishments in England