Engine House, Boiler House and Chimney at Clevedon Pumping Station, Clevedon, North Somerset

Summary

Engine house, boiler house and chimney. 1901. Designed by James Mansergh, engineer and Henry Dare Bryan, architect, for the Clevedon Waterworks Company.

Description

Engine house, boiler house and chimney. 1901. Designed by James Mansergh, engineer and Henry Dare Bryan, architect, for the Clevedon Waterworks Company.

MATERIALS: constructed of squared and coursed Pennant rubble stone with ashlar dressings and a plain clay tile roof.

PLAN: parallel engine house and boiler house. The chimney stack is connected to the north side of the boiler house by an inspection chamber.

EXTERIOR: it is built in the Domestic Revival style with some Free Renaissance influences. The principal elevation (south) of the engine house is arranged as three bays, and the central bay is set forward and has a segmental-pedimented gable. The four-centred arched doorway, with a pair of timber doors with iron door furniture, has foliate carvings to the spandrels and scroll carvings to the curved keystone which supports the entablature above surmounted by a cartouche with the Clevedon Waterworks Company coat of arms. Above is a four-light stone mullion window. The outer bays have six-light mullion and transom windows. To the corners are battered diagonal buttresses surmounted by consoles. The gable ends of both the engine house and boiler house have coped verges terminating in decorative stone finials. To each side of the engine house is a twelve-light stone mullion and transom window, with a keyed oculus between ashlar bands in the gable above. To the ridge of the roof is a timber lantern surmounted by an octagonal domed cupola with louvered sides and a weather vane. The boiler house is lower and wider than the engine house, and its west end has two round-headed carriageways with a four-light mullion window above. The rear elevation has four, three-light mullion windows, and to the ridge line is a timber roof lantern with louvered sides. The east elevation of the boiler house, which extends to the east, has two nine-light mullion and transom windows, with a four-light mullion window above. To its south elevation is a single doorway with ashlar surround and a three-light mullion window above. At the left-hand end of the rear elevation is a single-storey inspection chamber attached to the chimney stack. The stack is set on a square base, and rises as an octagonal shaft above moulded ashlar panels and corner consoles. The corbelled-out decorative top has corner water spouts and an octagonal, ashlar top section.

INTERIOR: within the engine house is a painted brick arch over the doorway, and side stone pilasters, with corbelled capitals, to support the gantry crane. The glazed bricks, which continue around the room to dado height, have been painted. The engine has been removed and the building now contains electric pumps and modern control equipment. The roof comprises arch-braced Queen-post, double-collar and tie-beam timber trusses with struts and cusped heads to the upper collar. The boilers have been removed from the boiler house which also now houses modern control equipment. A partition wall has been inserted at the east end.

History

Sir Arthur Hallam Elton (1818-83), 7th Baronet of Clevedon Court, was responsible for much of the civic work in Clevedon, and was a leading figure in the establishment of the Clevedon Waterworks Company in 1863. As a consequence, Clevedon’s first water and sewage works were completed in 1867 with a pumping station on Old Street and reservoirs to the north on Dial Hill. In the late C19, due to the growing popularity of Clevedon as both a resort and a place to live, the waterworks could no longer meet demand, and in 1901 a new pumping station was created on Tickenham Road, approximately 2km to the north-east. The old pumping station became the fire station.

The engineer, James Mansergh (1834-1905) was initially employed to design the pumping station, located approximately 500 metres to the east of Clevedon Court. Mansergh was a civil engineer who started his career in railway works but then designed a number of sewerage and fresh water schemes. However, Sir Edmund Elton, 8th Baronet of the neighbouring Clevedon Court was not happy with the proposals and the Bristol architect, Henry Dare Bryan (1868-1909) was brought in by the Clevedon Waterworks Company to enhance the design of the buildings which comprised the pumping station, coal shed and store, foreman’s lodge and associated boundary wall and gatepiers.

The pumping station originally contained a Glenfield and Kennedy vertical triple expansion engine; this was replaced in 1916 by a Marshal horizontal compound engine, and then in 1938 by a steam turbine engine. The Clevedon Waterworks Company was taken over by the Bristol Waterworks Company, now known as Bristol Water, in 1953. The engine and boiler house now contain modern control equipment and plant, and the site remains operational.

Reasons for Listing

The engine house, boiler house and chimney at Clevedon pumping station, built in 1901 and designed by the architect Henry Dare Bryan are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: an unusual example of an architect-designed engine house, boiler house and chimney in the Domestic Revival style. Designed by the distinguished Bristol architect, Henry Dare Bryan, they complement the architecture of the neighbouring Clevedon Court (Grade I) and are enhanced by their decorative embellishments;
* Intactness: the buildings survive intact externally and, although the original plant has been removed, the interior of the engine house retains its glazed brick walls, supporting pilasters and gantry crane, and its elaborate roof trusses;
* Group value: they form part of a complete ensemble of buildings at Clevedon pumping station, all of which are listed at Grade II.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.