Record Details

NHER Number:2559
Type of record:Monument
Name:Site of steam operated drainage pump

Summary

This steam operated drainage pump was worked by a single boiler. If required the boiler of the nearby ammonia factory (now a sugarbeet factory) would also be used for drainage. Unfortunately this system was not reliable and flooding resulted from a reluctance by the factory owner to use his engine for drainage. The steam engine was replaced by a portable steam engine in 1924 driving a centrifugal pump, and this existed until 1938.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TL 659 978
Map Sheet:TL69NE
Parish:METHWOLD, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Drainage pump. Destroyed or rendered inaccessible by extention of sugar factory.
E. Rose (NAU), 4 October 1978.

Photo owned by occupant of NHER 5446 (to be presented to Southery Drainage Museum) taken around 1900, shows this as a steam pumping engine.
Photo not seen.
E. Rose (NAU) 25 February 1981.

Or is this a confusion with NHER 2556?.

Described by (S1) as a steam operated paddle wheel scooping water out of drain into river; worked by one boiler,
the boiler of the ammonia factory which preceded the sugarbeet works would be switched in during heavy rain - in theory. Flooding resulted from a reluctance by the factory owner to lose steam. Photo could therefore easily be of either this pump or NHER 2556.
E. Rose (NAU), 16 July 1985.

(S2) states that this engine was replaced by a portable steam engine in 1924 driving a centrifugal pump, and this existed until 1938. No trace remains.
E. Rose (NLA), 22 October 2004.

Monument Types

  • PUMPING STATION (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
<S1>Monograph: Darsley, R.. 1984. The Wissington Railway: a Fenland enterprise.. p 13.
<S2>Article in Serial: Hinde, K.. 2004. Pumping Stations in the Norfolk Fens Part 3, East of Ouse.. NIAS Journal. vol 7, pt 4, p 99..

Related records - none

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