Sometimes you turn up at the site of a hydraulic ram to find remains of other pumps as well - here are two examples in Yorkshire.
All photos are phone.
The first is near Catterick, the ram appearing on maps between 1891 and 1920, serving a large estate.
The reservoir for the drive water…
…is not far from the sunken ram hut.
The small brick structure behind is probably where the water that was pumped came from.
Inside is a large compound ram.
About ten yards away is a small roofless hut, with a bricked up entrance in the side and a partition down the middle.
On one side of the hut are the remains of something electrically-powered.
On the other is a small water wheel, which may have driven a pump, now gone.
So it looks like there were several generations of pump in use here.
The boggy area where the ram lives is partially covered by waste from a semi-disused gravel quarry next door.
This has a few empty buildings and another small pump house, housing a centrifugal pump - nothing to do with the older pumps, but it makes a modern contrast.
The other site is near Market Weighton, and is another ram on a large estate.
The ram hut after a bit of tidying up.
Inside are three pumps - two Blake rams and a reciprocating pump in the far corner.
The big ram is another compound one, partly buried in the mud and powered from a source up the hill behind.
The other ram.
The reciprocating pump was made by J. Villiers of Beverley (East Yorkshire) - Beverley is not far away, just north of Hull.
Not much seems to be known about this maker other than being described as a ‘well engineer’.
According to villagepumps.org.uk some of those village pumps with handles in this part of Yorkshire were also made by Villiers.
The pump rods go through the roof and were originally connected to a crank shaft, although the shaft and the drive shaft next to it have gone.
The upstairs bits would presumably have been under a lightweight shed.
It looks like the pump was powered by something on the plinth behind, like this engine block, now at the bottom of the stairs.
Poking around in the mud I found the remains of the last iteration - an electric pump.
A local inhabitant looks on.
All photos are phone.
The first is near Catterick, the ram appearing on maps between 1891 and 1920, serving a large estate.
The reservoir for the drive water…
…is not far from the sunken ram hut.
The small brick structure behind is probably where the water that was pumped came from.
Inside is a large compound ram.
About ten yards away is a small roofless hut, with a bricked up entrance in the side and a partition down the middle.
On one side of the hut are the remains of something electrically-powered.
On the other is a small water wheel, which may have driven a pump, now gone.
So it looks like there were several generations of pump in use here.
The boggy area where the ram lives is partially covered by waste from a semi-disused gravel quarry next door.
This has a few empty buildings and another small pump house, housing a centrifugal pump - nothing to do with the older pumps, but it makes a modern contrast.
The other site is near Market Weighton, and is another ram on a large estate.
The ram hut after a bit of tidying up.
Inside are three pumps - two Blake rams and a reciprocating pump in the far corner.
The big ram is another compound one, partly buried in the mud and powered from a source up the hill behind.
The other ram.
The reciprocating pump was made by J. Villiers of Beverley (East Yorkshire) - Beverley is not far away, just north of Hull.
Not much seems to be known about this maker other than being described as a ‘well engineer’.
According to villagepumps.org.uk some of those village pumps with handles in this part of Yorkshire were also made by Villiers.
The pump rods go through the roof and were originally connected to a crank shaft, although the shaft and the drive shaft next to it have gone.
The upstairs bits would presumably have been under a lightweight shed.
It looks like the pump was powered by something on the plinth behind, like this engine block, now at the bottom of the stairs.
Poking around in the mud I found the remains of the last iteration - an electric pump.
A local inhabitant looks on.
