Record Details
| NHER Number: | 4467 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Site of post medieval drainage mill and pumping station |
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Summary
A wind powered drainage mill is marked at this site on the Ordnance Survey 1 inch map made in 1836. This was replaced in 1849 by Wood Hall Estate Pumping Station. This large steam engine had two boilers. It was sold off in 1878 to Major Stocks and was then known as Stocks’s engine. In 1907 the station was converted to a vertical steam engine. This engine was replaced in 1940 by a Ruston diesel. This diesel was abandoned in 1974.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TL 6428 9792 |
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| Map Sheet: | TL69NW |
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| Parish: | METHWOLD, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
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Full description
Drainage pump.
Five sail mill on (S1).
E. Rose (NLA).
Ruins of a later engine house, disused and dilapidated. Inscription on north entrance 'erected by the proprietor Edward Lowton Jonks (Tonks?) Esq 1849'.
R. Silvester (NAU), 1 April 1987.
Photograph at Stretham Old Engine Museum, Cambridgeshire, labelled 'Hilgay, Wood Hall estate pumping station' apparently refers to this building even though it is just in the next parish. States that it worked from 1849 to 1907.
E. Rose (NLA), 22 April 2003.
(S2) confirms this was the engine known as Hilgay Wood hall. The plaque must have been very eroded at the time of R. Silvester (NAU)’s visit as it in fact reads William Lowton Jones. Large steam engine with two boilers; sold off 1878 to Major Stocks, hence known as Jones’s or Stocks’s engine. In 1907 the station did not close down, it was converted to a vertical steam engine driving a Dodmans Triton. The engine was replaced 1940 by a Ruston diesel. Abandoned 1974; remains derelict but intact.
E. Rose (NLA), 22 October 2004
December 2009.
Proposals for change of use from a pumping station to residential accomodation,
See Design and Access Statement (S3) and plans in file,
H. White, (NLA), 21 April 2010
Monument Types
- PUMPING STATION (Post Medieval to 21st Century - 1540 AD to 2100 AD)
- WIND PUMP (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. |
| --- | Secondary File: Secondary File. |
| <S1> | Map: Ordnance Survey. 1824-1836. Ordnance Survey First Edition 1 inch.. |
| <S2> | Article in Serial: Hinde, K.. 2004. Pumping Stations in the Norfolk Fens Part 3, East of Ouse.. NIAS Journal. vol 7, pt 4, pp 95-97.. |
| <S3> | Unpublished Document: CF Architects. 2009. Design and Access Statement. Former Pumping Station, Hilgay, Norfolk. |
Related records - none
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