A repost from the outage - another dose of ram pumps.
I’ve found eight in Cheshire of which one (at Edge Mill) has appeared in a previous report - this effort shows the other seven.
See wikipedia or the first post in this series in you are unfamiliar with rams, but in short these are water pumps powered by running water and were popular around 1900, before the electricity network had developed.
They’re best found from old Ordnance Survey maps although some are also shown on modern maps.
However the labelling on maps is not always reliable - objects called ‘ram’, ‘rams’, ‘hydraulic ram’, hydraulic pump’, ‘pump house’ etc. can be almost anything that pumps water - you have to go and look.
Starting close to home, the only pump I’m aware of in the Wirral - which I’m counting as Cheshire - was supposed to be in Arrowe Park, installed between 1872 and 1897.
And indeed it’s still there, sitting like a little bollard in the foundations of its brick hut.
There’s no maker’s name but it looks like one by John Blake - the most common manufacturer in these parts.
It was probably powered by a nearby lake, and may have supplied (lake) water to Arrowe Hall, now a care home.
The second one is south of Northwich and may also be a Blake.
Installed between 1897 and 1906 this probably pumped spring water to Dagenham Hall, now another care home.
The remains of a reservoir (bricks in the first photo) are situated up one side of a little valley with the ram hut below, the waste water exiting to a stream.
The third is near Audlem, called a ‘hydraulic pump’ on maps and installed between 1899 and 1908.
This one may have served a farm, or just topped up a local drinking trough for cattle or sheep.
It was hiding in a ditch out in the fields next to a stream, with only the top of the ballast tank visible.
Before excavation.
A few pictures taken from different angles after excavation since there was no obvious writing and I don’t recognise the make.
The level of the steam must have risen in the last 100 years because it’s now higher than the base of the pit which was filling up with water as I was digging.
The stream was presumably the source of the water, with a reservoir/filter tank somewhere nearby.
There was what looks like an old boiler at about the right location, but this could equally well have been a cistern to which the water was pumped.
The fourth is near Macclesfield, installed between 1897 and 1907 and shown as a pair of boxes called ‘rams’ on maps.
In fact this is just one ram, the other box being the filter tank/reservoir, probably filled from a nearby spring.
This one is a good example of a typical setup with a reservoir at the top of a pipe about 30 yards long and a fall of about 10 yards to the ram hut (the pipe follows the diagonal line in the view below).
Reservoir and ram hut.
The pump is another Blake, but with no serial number.
It looks like it may still be in use, just stalled - although it wasn’t thumping, water was still flowing out of the waste valve.
The fifth is near Chelford, shown as a ‘pumping house’ on an 1872 - 1876 map.
It took water from beside a weir on an artificial lake next to Astle Hall, which has now been replaced by modern housing.
There are two circular pits here - one contained some capped-off piping, the other a Blake.
The final two rams are nearby, below the embankment of another artificial lake in the grounds of Withington Hall, also replaced by a modern house (actually a fake Georgian pile).
The 1872 - 1876 map shows a ‘hydraulic pump’ and a tank at the location which turned out to have two flooded ram huts with round interiors.
The far one has a ram with small spherical ballast tank but no maker’s name that I could see.
The other hut has a ram with a larger, more cylindrical tank.
The only decipherable writing said ‘Congleton’ - two views, one with added slug.
This could be a ram by F W Pass of Congleton,
I’ve found little information about this firm other than they operated from about 1850, originally as plumbers, painters and glaziers.
Just one of several smaller outfits who started manufacturing rams in the few decades when there was sufficient demand.
I’ve found eight in Cheshire of which one (at Edge Mill) has appeared in a previous report - this effort shows the other seven.
See wikipedia or the first post in this series in you are unfamiliar with rams, but in short these are water pumps powered by running water and were popular around 1900, before the electricity network had developed.
They’re best found from old Ordnance Survey maps although some are also shown on modern maps.
However the labelling on maps is not always reliable - objects called ‘ram’, ‘rams’, ‘hydraulic ram’, hydraulic pump’, ‘pump house’ etc. can be almost anything that pumps water - you have to go and look.
Starting close to home, the only pump I’m aware of in the Wirral - which I’m counting as Cheshire - was supposed to be in Arrowe Park, installed between 1872 and 1897.
And indeed it’s still there, sitting like a little bollard in the foundations of its brick hut.
There’s no maker’s name but it looks like one by John Blake - the most common manufacturer in these parts.
It was probably powered by a nearby lake, and may have supplied (lake) water to Arrowe Hall, now a care home.
The second one is south of Northwich and may also be a Blake.
Installed between 1897 and 1906 this probably pumped spring water to Dagenham Hall, now another care home.
The remains of a reservoir (bricks in the first photo) are situated up one side of a little valley with the ram hut below, the waste water exiting to a stream.
The third is near Audlem, called a ‘hydraulic pump’ on maps and installed between 1899 and 1908.
This one may have served a farm, or just topped up a local drinking trough for cattle or sheep.
It was hiding in a ditch out in the fields next to a stream, with only the top of the ballast tank visible.
Before excavation.
A few pictures taken from different angles after excavation since there was no obvious writing and I don’t recognise the make.
The level of the steam must have risen in the last 100 years because it’s now higher than the base of the pit which was filling up with water as I was digging.
The stream was presumably the source of the water, with a reservoir/filter tank somewhere nearby.
There was what looks like an old boiler at about the right location, but this could equally well have been a cistern to which the water was pumped.
The fourth is near Macclesfield, installed between 1897 and 1907 and shown as a pair of boxes called ‘rams’ on maps.
In fact this is just one ram, the other box being the filter tank/reservoir, probably filled from a nearby spring.
This one is a good example of a typical setup with a reservoir at the top of a pipe about 30 yards long and a fall of about 10 yards to the ram hut (the pipe follows the diagonal line in the view below).
Reservoir and ram hut.
The pump is another Blake, but with no serial number.
It looks like it may still be in use, just stalled - although it wasn’t thumping, water was still flowing out of the waste valve.
The fifth is near Chelford, shown as a ‘pumping house’ on an 1872 - 1876 map.
It took water from beside a weir on an artificial lake next to Astle Hall, which has now been replaced by modern housing.
There are two circular pits here - one contained some capped-off piping, the other a Blake.
The final two rams are nearby, below the embankment of another artificial lake in the grounds of Withington Hall, also replaced by a modern house (actually a fake Georgian pile).
The 1872 - 1876 map shows a ‘hydraulic pump’ and a tank at the location which turned out to have two flooded ram huts with round interiors.
The far one has a ram with small spherical ballast tank but no maker’s name that I could see.
The other hut has a ram with a larger, more cylindrical tank.
The only decipherable writing said ‘Congleton’ - two views, one with added slug.
This could be a ram by F W Pass of Congleton,
I’ve found little information about this firm other than they operated from about 1850, originally as plumbers, painters and glaziers.
Just one of several smaller outfits who started manufacturing rams in the few decades when there was sufficient demand.
