Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum
Encyclopedia
The Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum is a small Industrial Heritage
museum
dedicated to steam powered machinery
in Westonzoyland
, Somerset
, England
.
The museum is housed in the first of several similar pumping stations to be built on the Somerset Levels
. The main attraction is the 1861 steam engine and pump, the only one still in its original location and in working order. The museum also displays a number of other steam engines and pumps, and even has a short length of narrow gauge railway.
on the Somerset Levels
in southwestern England was built in 1830 to drain the area around Westonzoyland
, Middlezoy and Othery. The success of the drainage
system led to the formation of other drainage board
s and the construction of other pumping station
s.
The station itself is a brick-built property with a chimney rising to 71 feet in height. A cottage section was added alongside it in the 1860s, to provide accommodation for the station-keeper. The first keeper was appointed around 1845, named Robert Hurd. After him came the Thyer family, who remained keepers until closure. Originally given a Grade II listing, the property was upgraded to Grade II* by English Heritage
; 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; this was used to provide steam. Next to it is a forge
, 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.
The pump at Westonzoyland originally comprised a beam engine
and scoop wheel
(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. A better method was sought, and in 1861 the present pump was installed. The engine was built by Easton and Amos of London, to a design patented in 1858 by Charles Amos. It is a twin-cylinder, vertical condensing engine, driving a centrifugal pump
. A similar engine was on display at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and was shown to be able to lift 100 tons of water per minute, to a height of 6 feet. The Westonzoyland pump lifts water from the rhyne
into the River Parrett
. The pump operated until 1951, by which time the local drainage system had been linked into King's Sedgemoor Drain
, 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 eight feet in the vicinity of the pumping station and the opening to the river, from the base of the pump-well, is now bricked up.
During times of heavy rainfall, when additional pumping might be needed, the Environment Agency
maintained a diesel pumping station next door with a capacity of 50 tons per minute. This is still operating today.
of the site, which included digging out tons of mud which had buried the bottom of the pump.
The Westonzoyland Engine Trust was formed and in 1990 bought the site from the owners, Wessex Water
. A collection
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. Most of these are now in running order.
The pump house has been Grade II* listed, and is on the English Heritage
Buildings at Risk Register.. 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.
Steam is provided by an elderly Marshall
portable boiler – essentially a portable engine
without the actual engine. This is a 1938 boiler, once used by Thames Water
and later moved to Kew Bridge
. It went to Westonzoyland on long-term loan, but was eventually handed over permanently; being restored to working order in 2005–2006.
Industrial heritage
Industrial heritage is an aspect of cultural heritage dealing specifically with the buildings and artifacts of industry which are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations, often forming a significant attraction for tourism.The...
museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
dedicated to steam powered machinery
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
in Westonzoyland
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 ground on the Somerset Levels between the River Cary and...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The museum is housed in the first of several similar pumping stations to be built on the Somerset Levels
Somerset Levels
The Somerset Levels, or the Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly known, is a sparsely populated coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, South West England, between the Quantock and Mendip Hills...
. The main attraction is the 1861 steam engine and pump, the only one still in its original location and in working order. The museum also displays a number of other steam engines and pumps, and even has a short length of narrow gauge railway.
History
The first mechanical pumping stationPump
A pump is a device used to move fluids, such as liquids, gases or slurries.A pump displaces a volume by physical or mechanical action. Pumps fall into three major groups: direct lift, displacement, and gravity pumps...
on the Somerset Levels
Somerset Levels
The Somerset Levels, or the Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly known, is a sparsely populated coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, South West England, between the Quantock and Mendip Hills...
in southwestern England was built in 1830 to drain the area around Westonzoyland
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 ground on the Somerset Levels between the River Cary and...
, Middlezoy and Othery. The success of the drainage
Drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
system led to the formation of other drainage board
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
s and the construction of other pumping station
Pumping station
Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites.A pumping station...
s.
The station itself is a brick-built property with a chimney rising to 71 feet in height. A cottage section was added alongside it in the 1860s, to provide accommodation for the station-keeper. The first keeper was appointed around 1845, named Robert Hurd. After him came the Thyer family, who remained keepers until closure. Originally given a Grade II listing, the property was upgraded to Grade II* by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
; 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; this was used to provide steam. Next to it is a forge
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
, 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.
The pump at Westonzoyland originally comprised a beam engine
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 Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall...
and scoop wheel
Scoop wheel
right|thumb|Rim driven Scoop wheel of the [[Stretham Old Engine]], CambridgeshireA scoop wheel may be a pump or an excavator.-Scoop wheel pump:...
(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. A better method was sought, and in 1861 the present pump was installed. The engine was built by Easton and Amos of London, to a design patented in 1858 by Charles Amos. It is a twin-cylinder, vertical condensing engine, driving a centrifugal pump
Centrifugal pump
A centrifugal pump is a rotodynamic pump that uses a rotating impeller to create flow by the addition of energy to a fluid. Centrifugal pumps are commonly used to move liquids through piping...
. A similar engine was on display at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and was shown to be able to lift 100 tons of water per minute, to a height of 6 feet. The Westonzoyland pump lifts water from the rhyne
Rhyne
A rhyne , rhine/rhyne , or reen is a drainage ditch, or canal, used to turn areas of wetland at around sea level into useful pasture....
into the River Parrett
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...
. The pump operated until 1951, by which time the local drainage system had been linked into King's Sedgemoor Drain
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 channel is used to help drain the peat moors of King's...
, 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 eight feet in the vicinity of the pumping station and the opening to the river, from the base of the pump-well, is now bricked up.
During times of heavy rainfall, when additional pumping might be needed, the Environment Agency
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
maintained a diesel pumping station next door with a capacity of 50 tons per minute. This is still operating today.
Restoration
In 1976, members of the Somerset Industrial Archaeology Society http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/sias began restorationBuilding restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
of the site, which included digging out tons of mud which had buried the bottom of the pump.
The Westonzoyland Engine Trust was formed and in 1990 bought the site from the owners, Wessex Water
Wessex Water
Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of the south west of England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, most of Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire...
. A collection
Collection (museum)
A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented...
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
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
engines and onward to the 20th century. Most of these are now in running order.
The pump house has been Grade II* listed, and is on the English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
Buildings at Risk Register.. 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.
Steam is provided by an elderly Marshall
Marshall, Sons & Co.
-External links:* – at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia...
portable boiler – essentially a portable engine
Portable engine
A portable engine is a small steam engine, mounted on wheels or skids, which is used for driving machinery using a belt from its flywheel. It is not self-propelled and is towed to the work site by horses or bullocks, or even a traction engine. Portable engines were used mainly for driving...
without the actual engine. This is a 1938 boiler, once used by Thames Water
Thames Water
Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is the private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in large parts of Greater London, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Kent, and some other areas of in the United Kingdom...
and later moved to Kew Bridge
Kew Bridge Steam Museum
Kew Bridge Steam Museum houses a museum of water supply and a collection of water pumping steam engines. The museum is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage...
. It went to Westonzoyland on long-term loan, but was eventually handed over permanently; being restored to working order in 2005–2006.