1930s water pumping station and site of late 19th century reservoir tank, Spital Road (EHER 15371)

A brick-built pumping station constructed in 1937. It is a long rectangular plan five bay flat roofed building comprising a two bay double height pump room to the front and a lower single storey three bay engine room projecting to the rear. The walls are all laid in Flemish bond, the external elevations faced in the red brick and the internal walls of the pump room decorated using poly-chromatic brickwork in a chequer pattern. The building was recorded in 1998 prior to its conversion to a dwelling, and the extant machinery was removed to the Langford Museum of Power (EHER 8014). The building was extensively researched and again recorded in 2005 during demolition and renovation works at the site. This pumping station was built on the site of an earlier pump house, sited slightly to the west and set back from the road than the original structure. The original pump house was constructed sometime before 1876, probably in 1870 at the same time that the boiler house was excavated. Surviving plans show that it was divided into two halves with a three-bay engine house closes to the roadside and a larger three-bay pump room to the rear. It contained two wells (one for each room) and was powered with steam until 1909 when it was replaced with a gas engine and suction plant, and later a diesel engine in the new building. The Maldon Waterworks Co. bough the complex in 1899 by which time the site was well developed and included a 65,000 gallon reservoir tank. Upon completion of the water tower in Cherry Garden (EHER 15607) in 1934, the reservoir became redundant and was subsequently dismantled. By 1937 the engine house was no longer operational and, shortly after, the present pumping station was constructed.

March 1998. Rapid photographic survey. A late 19th century pumping station being converted to residential use, and with the redundant machinery being given to Langford Museum of Power (EHER 8014). <1> <2> 1999. Field survey. The Maldon Waterworks Co. was founded in 1863 and the Corporation bought it in 1899 by which time this site was well developed. It comprised four structures including a large circular structure, probably the 65,000-gallon reservoir/tank, and a well in the boiler house. A second well was dug before the end of the 19th century known as an engine house well. In 1922 the 'Engine House' was marked on the site of the extant building. Between 1922 and 1960 the reservoir was dismantled and since 1960 all the other structures have been lost except the extant former pumping station. This is a brick building with a flat corrugated iron roof. The north façade has a central section, which projects forwards and upwards slightly and contains a tall metal-framed window with an arched head in contrasting brick. Other windows are also metal and the double doors in the east side are wooden. Internally there is a tiled floor. All the machinery, a 7½ ton gantry crane over the well head, pumps, winches and drive belt pulleys which was still present at the time of the 1998 survey has been removed to the Museum of Power at Langford (EHER 8014). Latterly the prime mover was diesel although it would appear that the original power was steam. <3> 2005. Rapid building recording. This report details the results of a rapid survey carried out during demolition and renovation works made to the Spital Road pumping station as part of its conversion to residential apartments. The principal building works involved the demolition of the single storey bays to the rear and the renovation of the double height pump room to roadside. During these works all of the extant pumping technology, ancillary fixtures/fittings and internal finishes were removed and the pump house well was sealed below a modern floor. No formal recording was undertaken prior to these works as the application was not picked up at planning stage. Location The Spital Road pump house is a small unassuming building lying adjacent to the junction with Cherry Garden Road and approximately 200m south-east of the Cherry Garden Road water tower (EHER 15607). Historic Extract The Maldon Waterworks Co. was founded in 1863 but by 1899 the water company was acquired by the Maldon Corporation. The original site plan comprised a pair of 65,000-gallon reservoir/tanks situated to the rear of the plot and a slightly larger pump house built along the eastern boundary. This earlier pump house was demolished and replaced by the present building in 1937. It is unclear when the original pumping station was first built but it must predate the 1876 1st edition OS map and a date of around 1870, coinciding with the excavation of the boiler house well seems most likely. Surviving plans (D/B 3/14/31) of the earlier pump house show that it was divided into two halves with a 32ft 3 bay engine house closest to the roadside and a larger 37ft 3 bay pump room to the rear. It was built using 9 inch and 13½ brickwork and had plain rendered elevations. The pump house contained two wells, the engine house well excavated to a depth of c. 200ft and the boiler house well excavated in 1870 to a depth of 234ft. The pumping station was fully powered by steam up until 1909 when the Corporation decided to dispense with steam power and install a new suction gas engine and drive train. Early in 1909 quotes for the work were received from four prospective contractors, including two local firms, Davey, Paxman and Co. Ltd of Colchester and J.R. Todd and Co. Ltd of Maldon plus Tangyes Ltd, Cornwall Works Birmingham and Grices Gas Engine Co. Ltd of Carnoustie and Birmingham. The specifications vary in detail but were generally based upon the installation of a 18 to 24 BHP town or suction gas engine, shafting, pulleys and gearing for two pumps and gearing arrangements for the 6 inch pumps to be driven at 50 or 30 revolutions per minute (rpm) and the 7 inch and 18 inch pumps at a much slower 10 and 20 rpm. The contract was finally awarded to Messrs J.R Todd and Co Ltd, Motor and General Engineers on the 11 May 1909 for the supply and fixing of a gas engine and suction plant at a cost of £228 (less 5% for cash). The gas engine supplied was a 22 BHP Stockport engine with magneto ignition which drove the pump in the engine house. The contractor also supplied and fitted an overhead countershaft, wall boxes, J hangers, spur wheels, a system for taking up the slack belt on change speed pulleys, gearing for the engine room pump (3:1 ratio), connection of the retained steam engine to the countershaft (with the option to use either pump) and the removal of the redundant steam engine. The existing well head pumps were not replaced. These works were carried out during 1909 to the satisfaction of the Maldon Borough Chief Engineer T.R. Swales. Following the construction of the concrete water tower in Cherry Garden in 1934 the reservoirs to the rear of the plot became redundant and were later dismantled. By 1937 the engine house well was no longer in operation leaving the boiler house well pump to be driven solely by the gas plant in adjacent engine room. Presumably it was at this point that the one surviving steam engine was removed. In 1937 plans were approved by the Borough Engineer Fredrick Raith AM.Inst.CE for the construction of a new pump house. It was built on the site of the older building but was re-sited slightly to the west and further back from the roadside. The new pump house retained the pre-existing boiler house well and the treble ram pump unit but the disused engine house well was not incorporated within footprint of the new building and was subsequently capped and buried. Technological improvements included the replacement of the suction gas engine with a new diesel oil powered engine and improvement of the 19th century treble ram pump by the use of an electrically driven borehole pump which worked in tandem with the older system. The pump/mechanics within the well bore were also renovated with the installation of new pump barrels (at 150ft below floor level) and suction head (at 220ft below floor level) and an overhead travelling crane used for maintenance of the well was incorporated from the outset. It is interesting that the type of engine appears to have changed from steam (1870) to gas (1909) and latterly to diesel oil (1937) as engines become more efficient but this trend was not applied to the pump which appears to be the original system installed in 1870s. Description Constructed in 1937, the pumping station is a long rectangular plan five bay flat roofed building comprising a two bay double height pump room to the front (17’ x 19‘) and a lower single storey three bay engine room (22’ 6” x 16’) projecting to the rear. The 9” brickwork is constructed using two types of mechanically produced frogged bricks, including a good quality red shallow frogged brick and a more utilitarian white/pink PHORPRES brick (named after the four-press technique which produced stronger bricks) manufactured by the London Brick Company (Bedfordshire). The walls are all laid in Flemish bond, the external elevations faced in the red brick and the internal walls of the pump room decorated using poly-chromatic brickwork in a chequer pattern. The angles to the front are dressed with protruding brick quoins and the brick parapets are topped with an on-end soldier course brick coping. The replacement flat roof to the front comprised modern corrugated steel panels supported on BS 8" x 4 " H section steel binding joists, which in turn are set either into the flank walls or onto internal brick piers at bay intervals. Heavier built piers with York stone caps are built into the front bays to support an overhead travelling crane, latterly updated with a 7.5 ton crane manufactured by Vaughan Crane Co Ltd of Manchester. The roof over the rear bays no longer remained but documentary evidence (D/B 3/14/31) shows it to be a flat insulated steel section roof supported on H section purlins. This presumably also applied to the original roof over the front bays. The windows of the flank walls are all flat headed metal framed casements manufactured by Crittall while a tall arch headed casement lay central to the front elevation and within the slightly set-forward and elevated central section (characteristic of industrial Art Deco styling) of the facade. This window is set into a full concrete surround, obscured externally by the brick facing course and a decorative arched tile head with faux keystones. External access to the pump room is via a single door in the east wall and to the engine room through a pair of modern double doors latterly replacing the southernmost window. Internally the walls are white-washed and in both the rear engine room and front pump room the floors are covered in red quarry tiles with a matching tile skirting. Lying approximately central to the pump room and measuring c. 5-6 ft in diameter is the boiler house well. Inspection of the well, its construction and technology was unfortunately not possible due to restricted access. To either side of the well opening are the floor mountings for the well head pump unit, which had been removed and relocated immediately north from its original position over the well. A rectangular raised concrete engine bed (c. 60 inches wide) specifically built for the diesel engine of 1937 which drove the well head pump and at the time of the survey was partially buried below brick rubble is located within the rear bays of the engine room. To the south of the building and adjacent to the engine bed is a concrete base of the diesel tank that supplied the engine. Fixed to wall in the north-west corner was the electrical supply and switch gear which operated the electrically driven borehole pumping set installed when the new pump house was built and the overhead crane. Immediately east of the well head is a sub-floor valve chamber into which the 5” rising main from the well pump connected and further to the east and just outside the building a meter chamber supplying the 8” rising main to the water tower. An extensive survey of the pumping station in 1998 (see above) recorded the presence of ‘All the machinery – 7½ ton gantry crane over the well head, pumps, winches and drive belt pulleys’. A significant amount of this machinery was still present in 2005, although most of the components had been either repositioned and/or disconnected. The most significant historic survival is the cast-iron well head pump unit. As the pump displayed no manufacturers mark it is difficult to attribute an exact date of manufacture to it, although it predates the installation of the gas engine in 1909, which it is shown on plan, and may be dated to around 1870 when the well was originally excavated. The pump unit comprised two main elements, a three-throw crankshaft driven via a flywheel pulley and drive belts from the oil engine and an independently operated drum hoist originally used for the maintenance/removal of the pistons, barrels and connecting rods within the well shaft. By 1937 the drum hoist component of the pump became redundant as its tasks were carried out by the overhead crane. The crankshaft provided the main vertical pumping motion, through a series of three wrought iron connecting rods and pistons, to a treble ram water pump positioned within and below the water line of well. The connecting rods and pistons still remained within the pump room but had been removed following the relocation of the pump unit. The band driven pulleys, although disconnected from the pump unit and the engine, showed through disparity in their size a variable speed system for operating the pump as detailed in the specifications of 1909 and is therefore likely that they date to this phase of re-engineering. A free-standing drum hoist, possibly associated with the disused and capped engine house well remained within the pump house. Ground reductions for the laying of new services in the area to the front of the pump house uncovered the previously buried engine house well. Measuring about 6ft in diameter and built using yellow stock brick the well was sealed below a concrete slab and back filled to the surface using building debris. It was reported in the 1998 survey of Public Water Supply Industry (see above) that all the extant pumping machinery ‘had been removed to the Museum of Power at Langford’. Unfortunately the 19th century well head pump and associated technology was not re-housed with the Museum after they decided not to take it on the grounds that it did not itself provide power but performed a secondary process. The site developer was keen for an interested party to remove the machinery and an attempt to rescue the well head pump was made by the Brede Steam Engine Society from Rye, Sussex. However, this proved to be unsuccessful as the cost of transportation proved to be prohibitive. <4> Archaeological Potential: Much of the site has been redeveloped and the pumping station is being converted to residential use. A full record was made prior to conversion. The machinery to be moved to the Langford Museum of Power. <2> <3> Site Significance: The architecture of the pumping station is not outstanding; of local importance only. <3>