rural

I’m calling this Harwood mill because it’s near Harwood lake and farm - other than appearing on maps between 1896 and 1916 I haven’t found any specific information about it at all. Now I’ve been in many defunct saw mills and there’s usually not much to see; typically a rickety wooden shack...

This was an accidental find - I was looking at the remains of a watermill (Stichill Mill) and walked over to see what the deal was with a sluice and tank marked nearby. The ‘sluice’, which takes water from a grill near the top of a small waterfall (Stichill Linn), looked like the forebay...

Another disparate collection of water pumps powered by water wheels, in alphabetical order from a folder where they accumulate. Cartington (Northumberland). I went to look for a hydraulic ram near Cragside, the home of Sir William Armstrong, a famous engineer/inventor (think guns ’n...

I was down in Co. Carlow for something else and stopped off at Huntington Castle for a spot of tea and tourism since old maps show an electricity generating station in its grounds which can only have been (water) turbine powered. Huntington is like a smaller version of Birr, a stately home...

Having found the first water turbine generating electricity in the UK I decided to check out some early hydroelectric setups in Ireland. Dating from ca. 1879 this one supplied electricity to Birr Castle and subsequently some of the surrounding town houses before a proper power station was built...

A few more water pumps powered by water wheels, in alphabetical order from a folder where they accumulate. They’re almost never labelled on maps as water wheels and usually turn up when looking for other things. Ddol (Flintshire). After failing to find to find a hydraulic ram I had a look on...

This place is not much to look at but is of some historical significance as the world’s first hydroelectricity plant. It supplied Cragside, the home of Sir William Armstrong who, apart from being the first international arms dealer, was also interested in water powered devices. Armstrong...

More pumps by R A Lister and Co, byproducts from trips looking for water- or wind-powered pumping equipment. I won’t repeat the background from the previous post (# 14), but Lister are probably best known for their engines although they made all sorts of stuff, including pumps. Their...

We visited this huge former ceramic/ brick factory in Montijo near Lisbon. I’m unable to find any history on the specific site, but the original company Cermon was founded in 1978, and it looks like it was overtaken by another company Cerâmica do Liz before the site was abandoned sometime in the...

Three more wind-driven pumps I did on the drive home form Taunton as a change from looking at water-powered things. They all happened to be Climax pumps overtaken by trees, hence the title. Assuming they are Climaxes - if a name appears at all it only seems to be on the air ballast - they were...

I had to drive down to London recently, so stopped off at Panshanger Park near Welwyn, where three hydraulic rams are marked on old OS maps. All are on the Mimram River, which meanders through the valley of the former Panshanger Estate, landscaped by Repton into a series of artificial lakes...

Another dose of water wheel pumps - the first three, in alphabetical order, from a folder full of these things. Although essentially completely unrecorded, water wheel pumps are one of the older types of mechanical device that can still be found. Amesbury. Maps show this as a hydraulic ram...

Wind-powered rather than water-powered pumps for a change. These were once quite common, occurring in the same areas as water wheel and ram pumps, typically pumping water for a farm. The other major use was for land drainage - Mr Mutt did a couple of nice posts about wind pumps on the Norfolk...

Another Turgo turbine, this time in a pretty location in the Wicklow Mountains - for more information about these things see the previous post about one in Wales. It’s not marked on maps but the route of the water feed pipe (penstock) can just about be made out on satellite view. Starting at...

Another outing to Wales looking for water turbines - photos are phone. Carreghofa. A former corn mill in which the water wheel was replaced by a turbine. It’s located next to the wheelpit and is readily identified as an early Gilkes spiral-cased Francis type. The dynamo was...