Description

TL 58 SE
606-/10/10001

ELY
MAIN STREET (south side)
Prickwillow
Prickwillow Engine House

II

Drainage engine house and Mirrlees engine with pump; converted to museum of industrial archaeology. Single remaining bay of 1842 house; rebuilt in 1880; engine and pump opened in 1923. Constructed by the Middle Fen and Mere Board; the initials of its Clerk, Goodwyn Luddington Archer, are to be found on a stone on the inside of the west wall. Brick in English bond; gable-facing roof of 1880 block of corrugated metal with metal ventilators at either end of the ridge; lean-to roof to lower, earlier structure, parapeted. Single storey. Two-window range with earlier block of one bay set bay from main elevation and having one-window range. Interior of main block divided into five bays by timber trusses. Main elevation with round-arched openings in round-arched recesses; roundel to facing gable bricked in; below datestone with initials, W.H. and J.S., very likely those of the builder. Purlins and simply moulded barge board to gable eaves; common rafter ends on left return cut as volutes.

Interior: original roof receives additional support from a grid of steel "I" beams, set in interior buttress strips. Trusses comprised of strutted king and queen posts carried on a continuous brick corbel table. Documentary evidence indicates that the structure was built on timber piles overlaid with concrete base; brick-lined well to pump at west; In 1923, the original beam engine replaced by five-cylinder Mirrlees diesel engine, driving a centrifugal pump.

Listing NGR: TL5977282424

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26553143

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)