More water pumps powered by water wheels in Shropshire.
Like hydraulic rams, these were common before the arrival of mains water and electricity.
As usual photos are a mixture of phone and camera, generally with the minimum number of pictures used to show what’s there and how it worked.
Starting with a rather skeletal one on the Tern, present by 1879, and probably for supplying the large house nearby.
The pump bit was practically invisible when I got there - covered in ivy and the collapsed remains of the little shed in which it used to live.
Just after I arrived a farmer turned up to cut the hay in the field next door blocking my exit, so I spent some time excavating half of the pump compartment until the farmer had gone.
The pictures are all from after pulling out all the bricks and roof shingles.
Waterwheel with the weir on the right which diverted water through the wheel via a short leat.
The thing that looks like a weighing scales is the pump.
The top beam was rocked like a seesaw by an offset on wheel axle, working the two cylinders below.
Some of the stuff dug up - the missing section of the air ballast tank along with various leaded fixings.
There were also some fragments of leather gasket.
I didn’t notice a maker’s name on the wheel or pump.
Another pump house near the Tern, present by 1920, possibly to supply a farm.
Water was piped to a standpipe behind the sluice over the wheel.
The equipment was made by W H Smith of Whitchurch who have been mentioned in previous threads.
A tiny pump house near Six Ashes, also for supplying a farm, included here because of its similarity to the last one.
The old water wheel was hidden behind a corrugated iron partition, with an electric motor now working the pump.
The wheel looks like an even narrower version of the one in the previous example, with a standpipe supplying the water - there was too much mud to see a maker’s name.
I don’t know if the pump is original, but Joseph Evans were well known makers of pumps in Wolverhampton, not far away.
Finally another water wheel pump near Ludlow, probably supplying a large house.
Maps suggest this may have started out as an ice house before being converted to a pump house.
A nearby lake is the source of the water and there’s also a wheel for driving machinery outside.
This one also had a compound hydraulic ram in one corner - probably a Blake’s although the maker’s plate has gone.
It was a bit like Aragog’s lair in there with dozens of spiders and cocoons hanging from the roof.
Like hydraulic rams, these were common before the arrival of mains water and electricity.
As usual photos are a mixture of phone and camera, generally with the minimum number of pictures used to show what’s there and how it worked.
Starting with a rather skeletal one on the Tern, present by 1879, and probably for supplying the large house nearby.
The pump bit was practically invisible when I got there - covered in ivy and the collapsed remains of the little shed in which it used to live.
Just after I arrived a farmer turned up to cut the hay in the field next door blocking my exit, so I spent some time excavating half of the pump compartment until the farmer had gone.
The pictures are all from after pulling out all the bricks and roof shingles.
Waterwheel with the weir on the right which diverted water through the wheel via a short leat.
The thing that looks like a weighing scales is the pump.
The top beam was rocked like a seesaw by an offset on wheel axle, working the two cylinders below.
Some of the stuff dug up - the missing section of the air ballast tank along with various leaded fixings.
There were also some fragments of leather gasket.
I didn’t notice a maker’s name on the wheel or pump.
Another pump house near the Tern, present by 1920, possibly to supply a farm.
Water was piped to a standpipe behind the sluice over the wheel.
The equipment was made by W H Smith of Whitchurch who have been mentioned in previous threads.
A tiny pump house near Six Ashes, also for supplying a farm, included here because of its similarity to the last one.
The old water wheel was hidden behind a corrugated iron partition, with an electric motor now working the pump.
The wheel looks like an even narrower version of the one in the previous example, with a standpipe supplying the water - there was too much mud to see a maker’s name.
I don’t know if the pump is original, but Joseph Evans were well known makers of pumps in Wolverhampton, not far away.
Finally another water wheel pump near Ludlow, probably supplying a large house.
Maps suggest this may have started out as an ice house before being converted to a pump house.
A nearby lake is the source of the water and there’s also a wheel for driving machinery outside.
This one also had a compound hydraulic ram in one corner - probably a Blake’s although the maker’s plate has gone.
It was a bit like Aragog’s lair in there with dozens of spiders and cocoons hanging from the roof.
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