A roundup of the remaining hydraulic ram pumps in Lancashire.
‘Lancashire’ is used here in the original geographic sense to include Merseyside, Greater Manchester and a small chunk of what is now Cumbria.
Accrington, Lancashire, was the home of John Blake Ltd, who have been making rams here since 1867, so it’s not surprising that most (all?) of the surviving pumps in these parts are Blakes.
Seven pumps have appeared in previous reports - here are the rest, excluding a couple of fragmentary ones.
Dealing with Merseyside first, as far as I know there aren’t any since no rams are marked on old maps.
There are some water-powered rams left on the Liverpool docks and the Manchester Ship Canal, but these are the other sort of (solid piston) ram.
Also, strictly speaking these were coal-powered, water-mediated rather than powered by the flow of water itself.
All photos are phone.
1. Littleborough. There used to be about a dozen in the Greater Manc region although I only found one.
No label, but it’s a Blake, looking a bit sorry for itself with a hole in its head.
The next two were originally beside rivers, but are now more or less in them.
Field boundaries are immutable but rivers and streams can and do change course over the ca 100 years since the pumps were installed.
2. Burnley. Not much left of this one next to the River Don - if it wasn’t for the drive pipe you mightn’t even recognise it as the remains of a pump.
Water to power it may have come from a weir upstream which appears on maps at the same time as the ram.
3. Brockhall Village. There’s a bit more left here on Dinckley Brook.
The first thing I found was the reservoir tank which has ended up in the river with its drive pipe sticking out sideways.
A bit further down is the pump.
This could either have pumped to a couple of farms on one side of the valley, or to Brockhall Institute (now demolished) on the other.
The institute incidentally was originally for ‘inebriate women’, then ‘mental defectives’, and is now appropriately enough a gated village and football training ground.
4. Copster Green. Another one sitting in water, but this time because the outlet from the ram hut has become blocked.
I didn’t see a label, but it looks like a Blake.
5. Colne. The ram hut here was screwed shut, but by poking my phone through the ventilation hole over the door it was possible to make out two pumps.
Both probably Blakes, one a compound ram (driven by one source of water but pumping another purer source).
6. Another near Colne and an example of what often happens when looking for old pumps.
The pump has gone but there’s usually some sign of watery goings on at the location - this may have been a drinking trough.
7. Gisburn. In an odd location, installed between 1893 and 1907 right beside a railway, which predates the ram.
It seems to have taken water from a stream which has been diverted to run alongside the tracks, with a modest fall of about a yard.
Reservoir tank and a length of drive pipe.
Ram hut - no label but it’s another Blake.
8. Salterforth. This one looked like an early Blake from the neck down, with a double waste valve.
The pear-shaped air tank is unusual - I eventually convinced myself that the corroded writing says:
John Blake
Maker
Accrington
9. Lumb. A recent Blake, not on old maps - a chance find I heard thunking away while walking past.
John Blake Ltd used to be part of Allspeeds, an engineering firm specialising in hydraulic equipment.
However the Blake part of the business has recently been acquired by Green and Carter, their long time competitor, who now become the last remaining old-style (heavy metal) ram pump manufacturer in the UK.
So since it’s the end of the Blake era I’ll finish with a quotation from a 1907 book on pumps:
“Since then the ram has been improved by many inventors.…but principally by the late Mr. John Blake, of Accrington, who made it the study of his life.
As the ram then was, he found it little more than a toy or scientific curiosity, only suitable for raising small quantities of water.
By constantly experimenting, he added improvement after improvement until he brought it to the present high standard of efficiency, capable of economically supplying villages and small towns with water.”
‘Lancashire’ is used here in the original geographic sense to include Merseyside, Greater Manchester and a small chunk of what is now Cumbria.
Accrington, Lancashire, was the home of John Blake Ltd, who have been making rams here since 1867, so it’s not surprising that most (all?) of the surviving pumps in these parts are Blakes.
Seven pumps have appeared in previous reports - here are the rest, excluding a couple of fragmentary ones.
Dealing with Merseyside first, as far as I know there aren’t any since no rams are marked on old maps.
There are some water-powered rams left on the Liverpool docks and the Manchester Ship Canal, but these are the other sort of (solid piston) ram.
Also, strictly speaking these were coal-powered, water-mediated rather than powered by the flow of water itself.
All photos are phone.
1. Littleborough. There used to be about a dozen in the Greater Manc region although I only found one.
No label, but it’s a Blake, looking a bit sorry for itself with a hole in its head.
The next two were originally beside rivers, but are now more or less in them.
Field boundaries are immutable but rivers and streams can and do change course over the ca 100 years since the pumps were installed.
2. Burnley. Not much left of this one next to the River Don - if it wasn’t for the drive pipe you mightn’t even recognise it as the remains of a pump.
Water to power it may have come from a weir upstream which appears on maps at the same time as the ram.
3. Brockhall Village. There’s a bit more left here on Dinckley Brook.
The first thing I found was the reservoir tank which has ended up in the river with its drive pipe sticking out sideways.
A bit further down is the pump.
This could either have pumped to a couple of farms on one side of the valley, or to Brockhall Institute (now demolished) on the other.
The institute incidentally was originally for ‘inebriate women’, then ‘mental defectives’, and is now appropriately enough a gated village and football training ground.
4. Copster Green. Another one sitting in water, but this time because the outlet from the ram hut has become blocked.
I didn’t see a label, but it looks like a Blake.
5. Colne. The ram hut here was screwed shut, but by poking my phone through the ventilation hole over the door it was possible to make out two pumps.
Both probably Blakes, one a compound ram (driven by one source of water but pumping another purer source).
6. Another near Colne and an example of what often happens when looking for old pumps.
The pump has gone but there’s usually some sign of watery goings on at the location - this may have been a drinking trough.
7. Gisburn. In an odd location, installed between 1893 and 1907 right beside a railway, which predates the ram.
It seems to have taken water from a stream which has been diverted to run alongside the tracks, with a modest fall of about a yard.
Reservoir tank and a length of drive pipe.
Ram hut - no label but it’s another Blake.
8. Salterforth. This one looked like an early Blake from the neck down, with a double waste valve.
The pear-shaped air tank is unusual - I eventually convinced myself that the corroded writing says:
John Blake
Maker
Accrington
9. Lumb. A recent Blake, not on old maps - a chance find I heard thunking away while walking past.
John Blake Ltd used to be part of Allspeeds, an engineering firm specialising in hydraulic equipment.
However the Blake part of the business has recently been acquired by Green and Carter, their long time competitor, who now become the last remaining old-style (heavy metal) ram pump manufacturer in the UK.
So since it’s the end of the Blake era I’ll finish with a quotation from a 1907 book on pumps:
“Since then the ram has been improved by many inventors.…but principally by the late Mr. John Blake, of Accrington, who made it the study of his life.
As the ram then was, he found it little more than a toy or scientific curiosity, only suitable for raising small quantities of water.
By constantly experimenting, he added improvement after improvement until he brought it to the present high standard of efficiency, capable of economically supplying villages and small towns with water.”
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