Inspired by reports on similar places on this site I thought I'd post this,
A nice snowy day for a tour of local pump houses
Nothing epic here but these structures have facinted me ever since I was a kid. I remember seeing the steel enclosure filled with upstanding pipes and trying to guess what it might have been and often wondered what all the little brick buildings in the valley were really for.
There is very little info on the little buildings and they do not appear on any OS map, but from checking the borehole register it seems they are pump houses belonging to the Potteries water board. The whole valley is full of evidence of waterworks type infrastructure which leads down to what is known as "Caenas well" (the large steel ring).
Info on the well is little to none but from speaking with the land owner I'm told the well itself is where spring water meets the surface to form a pool. The steel ring was constructed by the Potteries water board to contain the spring water and keep out any flood water form the nearby river Churnet. Water from here was pumped by the now converted wall Grange pumping station and on up to a nearby (disused) reservoir before being gravity fed to Stoke on trent.
The little bore hole pumphouses are still full of equipment but are long forgotten and are slowly becoming victim to overgrowth and subsidence.
Not the world's most exciting finds but I'm a sucker for old pumps and waterworks.
A little bit of history on wall Grange pumping station..
construction of works to enable certain springs which discharged into the River Churnet near Wall Grange, to be collected and pumped to a reservoir to be constructed at Ladderedge.
Wall Grange
Wall Grange Water Works About 1854From Ladderedge the water was to be conveyed by a gravitation main to a proposed reservoir at the top of Hanley, from which mains were to be laid to Hanley, Stoke, Burslem, Tunstall, Fenton, Trentham and Newcastle. To compensate the River Churnet for the abstraction of water from these springs, an impounding reservoir was to be built in the Deep Hayes valley.
The construction of Wall Grange works was put in hand without delay. The new Company was, however, soon in difficulties for the Cornish beam steam pumping engine for Wall Grange made for them by Messrs. Sandys Vivian, of Hale, Cornwall, was unfortunately sunk in the Mersey, the vessel being completely lost with most of its cargo.
Another engine of the same type, named "Stafford", was constructed and the works were in operation in September, 1849. A second engine by the same makers and of almost identical design, named "Davenport", was erected and put to work in 1854.
The original beam steam pumping engines, which had been at work almost continuously since being installed , were replaced in 1933 by three electrically driven surface pumps. This new plant was installed in the original "Stafford" beam engine house which was re-modelled. The "Davenport" engine house and boiler house were demolished about the same time.
Caenas well from the air
It's a strange looking place
Soils Wood bore hole pumps.
There are 4 of these. Each secure but through a hole in the brickwork its clear that pump, motor and other equipment are intact. It was impossible to get a decent photo though.
Air valve
Internal
Nice old switch box
A bit further up the valley is this pumphouse. Also Potteries water board and a large very deep well near by.
And the open well
Plenty left inside this one including pump (submerged), motor, valves, guages, water meter and switch gear
Now off home to defrost myself, past this old well and borehole that belonged to the nearby railway.
A nice snowy day for a tour of local pump houses
Nothing epic here but these structures have facinted me ever since I was a kid. I remember seeing the steel enclosure filled with upstanding pipes and trying to guess what it might have been and often wondered what all the little brick buildings in the valley were really for.
There is very little info on the little buildings and they do not appear on any OS map, but from checking the borehole register it seems they are pump houses belonging to the Potteries water board. The whole valley is full of evidence of waterworks type infrastructure which leads down to what is known as "Caenas well" (the large steel ring).
Info on the well is little to none but from speaking with the land owner I'm told the well itself is where spring water meets the surface to form a pool. The steel ring was constructed by the Potteries water board to contain the spring water and keep out any flood water form the nearby river Churnet. Water from here was pumped by the now converted wall Grange pumping station and on up to a nearby (disused) reservoir before being gravity fed to Stoke on trent.
The little bore hole pumphouses are still full of equipment but are long forgotten and are slowly becoming victim to overgrowth and subsidence.
Not the world's most exciting finds but I'm a sucker for old pumps and waterworks.
A little bit of history on wall Grange pumping station..
construction of works to enable certain springs which discharged into the River Churnet near Wall Grange, to be collected and pumped to a reservoir to be constructed at Ladderedge.
Wall Grange
Wall Grange Water Works About 1854From Ladderedge the water was to be conveyed by a gravitation main to a proposed reservoir at the top of Hanley, from which mains were to be laid to Hanley, Stoke, Burslem, Tunstall, Fenton, Trentham and Newcastle. To compensate the River Churnet for the abstraction of water from these springs, an impounding reservoir was to be built in the Deep Hayes valley.
The construction of Wall Grange works was put in hand without delay. The new Company was, however, soon in difficulties for the Cornish beam steam pumping engine for Wall Grange made for them by Messrs. Sandys Vivian, of Hale, Cornwall, was unfortunately sunk in the Mersey, the vessel being completely lost with most of its cargo.
Another engine of the same type, named "Stafford", was constructed and the works were in operation in September, 1849. A second engine by the same makers and of almost identical design, named "Davenport", was erected and put to work in 1854.
The original beam steam pumping engines, which had been at work almost continuously since being installed , were replaced in 1933 by three electrically driven surface pumps. This new plant was installed in the original "Stafford" beam engine house which was re-modelled. The "Davenport" engine house and boiler house were demolished about the same time.
Caenas well from the air
It's a strange looking place
Soils Wood bore hole pumps.
There are 4 of these. Each secure but through a hole in the brickwork its clear that pump, motor and other equipment are intact. It was impossible to get a decent photo though.
Air valve
Internal
Nice old switch box
A bit further up the valley is this pumphouse. Also Potteries water board and a large very deep well near by.
And the open well
Plenty left inside this one including pump (submerged), motor, valves, guages, water meter and switch gear
Now off home to defrost myself, past this old well and borehole that belonged to the nearby railway.
