Introduction
Once again a fantastic 28 Days Later meet, this time in Bristol. It's a shame I didn’t get involved in Friday’s antics or the afterparty on the Saturday after the pub visits, but it was still great to meet both familiar and new faces.
I used the meet as an opportunity to visit a few pump houses that I have had my eye on for a little while now in the South West over the weekend, this was one of my favourites.
Information & History
This corrugated pump house originally provided water to the nearby Anglo Bavarian Brewery via a nearby spring. A tunnel 50 feet into the hillside provided the supply and was used up until the brewery closed in 1921. The Robey Oil Engine was originally housed in a stone structure and was later placed in a more modern (for the time) corrugated building along with the pumping equipment.
The Victorian brewery was built in 1864 as a Pale Ale brewery and later expanded becoming the Anglo Bavarian Brewery. The site was thought to be the country’s first lager brewery. 200 people were employed at the site by 1891 and the site was capable of brewing 4000 barrels per week. The site closed in 1921 and later, during World War II, the plant was requisitioned by the Air Ministry who dismantled the plant and reused the metal for the war. The site today is known as the Anglo Trading Estate and many of the original buildings remain standing, albeit probably modernised to quite an extent.
The pump house today consists of a collapsing corrugated iron shed in poor condition but most of the original pumping equipment remains. The engine was supplied by Robey & Co, a Lincoln-based engineering company supplying engines, steam vehicles and even aircraft for a short period. The company employed 114 men as of 1865 and saw significant expansion after this time but became defunct in the late 1980s.
The Explore
This was a pretty easy one to visit. It is nestled within a small wooded area but I had to cross a stream, I used a pipe going across the stream as a bridge, and used a tree branch to balance myself. I reckon the roof will cave in further after a few more harsh winters. I spent around 45 minutes to an hour here in total.
Photos
The structure itself is of cheap construction and is pretty uninspiring:
An oil tank which supplied the engine with fuel remains outside the main entrance, covered in vegetation:
Heading inside, there was some fab equipment in here:
The main highlight for me was the Robey oil engine, I haven’t seen a Robey before on my travels, Ruston and Lister seem to be the more common makes I see at these sort of sites.
Accompanying the engine, there were some large pulley setups, this equipment is very old, but looks like it would’ve been powerful for the time.
According to some engraved text, this particular contraption was manufactured by Robert Warner & Co, which were London and Walton-on-the-Naze based.
The old entrance and wall for the site can just about be made out, it leads straight onto the road:
Thanks for looking!
Once again a fantastic 28 Days Later meet, this time in Bristol. It's a shame I didn’t get involved in Friday’s antics or the afterparty on the Saturday after the pub visits, but it was still great to meet both familiar and new faces.
I used the meet as an opportunity to visit a few pump houses that I have had my eye on for a little while now in the South West over the weekend, this was one of my favourites.
Information & History
This corrugated pump house originally provided water to the nearby Anglo Bavarian Brewery via a nearby spring. A tunnel 50 feet into the hillside provided the supply and was used up until the brewery closed in 1921. The Robey Oil Engine was originally housed in a stone structure and was later placed in a more modern (for the time) corrugated building along with the pumping equipment.
The Victorian brewery was built in 1864 as a Pale Ale brewery and later expanded becoming the Anglo Bavarian Brewery. The site was thought to be the country’s first lager brewery. 200 people were employed at the site by 1891 and the site was capable of brewing 4000 barrels per week. The site closed in 1921 and later, during World War II, the plant was requisitioned by the Air Ministry who dismantled the plant and reused the metal for the war. The site today is known as the Anglo Trading Estate and many of the original buildings remain standing, albeit probably modernised to quite an extent.
The pump house today consists of a collapsing corrugated iron shed in poor condition but most of the original pumping equipment remains. The engine was supplied by Robey & Co, a Lincoln-based engineering company supplying engines, steam vehicles and even aircraft for a short period. The company employed 114 men as of 1865 and saw significant expansion after this time but became defunct in the late 1980s.
The Explore
This was a pretty easy one to visit. It is nestled within a small wooded area but I had to cross a stream, I used a pipe going across the stream as a bridge, and used a tree branch to balance myself. I reckon the roof will cave in further after a few more harsh winters. I spent around 45 minutes to an hour here in total.
Photos
The structure itself is of cheap construction and is pretty uninspiring:
An oil tank which supplied the engine with fuel remains outside the main entrance, covered in vegetation:
Heading inside, there was some fab equipment in here:
The main highlight for me was the Robey oil engine, I haven’t seen a Robey before on my travels, Ruston and Lister seem to be the more common makes I see at these sort of sites.
Accompanying the engine, there were some large pulley setups, this equipment is very old, but looks like it would’ve been powerful for the time.
According to some engraved text, this particular contraption was manufactured by Robert Warner & Co, which were London and Walton-on-the-Naze based.
The old entrance and wall for the site can just about be made out, it leads straight onto the road:
Thanks for looking!
