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Next to the National Space Centre in Leicester lies the less glamorously named but more impressive Abbey Pumping Station.
In the 19th century, Leicester’s population soared from 17,000 in 1801 to 120,000 in 1881, leaving Wicksteed’s Patent Solid Sewage Manufacturing Company overwhelmed, and causing unacceptable levels of sewage to enter the River Soar. To solve the problem, Leicester Corporation began a new sewerage scheme in 1887, which involving laying 11 miles of sewers, a new treatment works at Beaumont Leys, and the Abbey Pumping Station.
Abbey pumped all of Leicester’s sewage from 1891 until 1964 when a new treatment works was built at Wanlip, 5km away. The sewage flowed to Wanlip by force of gravity alone, making Abbey redundant. Four years after Abbey’s closure, the site became the Leicester Museum of Technology and was officially opened in 1973.
Today Abbey Pumping Station remains largely intact. Designed by architect Stockdale Harrison to look like an Elizabethan country house, it is an attractive building considering the job it did. Inside the beam house you can view the jaw-dropping sight of the four huge highly-decorated Gimson engines and pumps, which have been restored back to working condition by the Leicester Museums Technology Association. This is the only engine house in the world where you can see four working examples of the same beam engine in one building.
The engines are the largest surviving and working Woolf compound rotative beam engines in the country. They were made to a design patented in 1803 by Cornish engineer Arthur Woolf and are rated at 200hp, at 12-19rpm, and pumped 208,000 gallons of sewage an hour. The engines have two cylinders to power them: the first uses steam at high pressure, while the second uses it at low pressure. The engines drive the pumps and flywheel via a beam. The museum holds special steaming days throughout the year when you can see them in action.
Next is a building, added in 1923-26, which houses a set of electric pumps made by Tangyes of Birmingham. These assisted the beam engines and pumped storm water. Other later additions to the site included grit tanks and a railway – a reconstruction of which can be seen today. Originally the line was supplied with a small Simplex petrol locomotive, which was previously used for civil engineering. In 2003 the museum secured the steam locomotive Leonard on long-term loan. It is regularly used to haul passenger trains.
The pumping station is also said to come with a special added extra – a ghost believed to be that of engineer Robert Richardson. Several volunteers have reported feeling the presence of the Gimson engineer, who missed his footing on scaffolding in the roof and fell 45ft, sustaining fatal injuries.
The museum also has a range of informative displays, an old-fashioned film theatre, and collections of artefacts and pictures ranging from domestic appliances to trams. An eclectic collection of larger items of industrial archaeology can be found in the museum’s grounds.
For more details, see the website: www.abbeypumpingstation.org