Description

BOXWELL WITH LEIGHTERTON

1177/0/10001 LASBOROUGH PARK
08-AUG-08 Pump House in Withy Wood

II
Pump house serving Westonbirt house of 1860's with later additions and alterations. Cotswold stone building with brick annex, built largely underground to accommodate a pump driven by an internal water wheel with a single set of arms. The machinery was accessed via a flight of steps leading down from the west. The hipped roof is supported by two machine cut trusses with raking struts and is partly covered by Cotswold stone slabs. A brick built underground annex chamber leading south from the access steps contains the remnants of iron pipe work associated with a disused hydraulic ram. The main room contains the waterwheel and machinery which includes an indirect-action water pump powered by a pitch back cast iron water wheel with a single set of arms, served by a penstock pipe with overflow valve, supplied by a leat leading from a pond impounded behind a dam. The rotary power from the wheel was transferred via vertical geared cog wheels to a horizontal crank shaft from which three crankpins linked to piston rods provided the plunging motion to drive the triple valve cast iron pump. The machinery is supported on two parallel brick built bases. The pump bears the name of the manufacturers who were Easton and Anderson, London.

HISTORY
The shortage of a reliable water supply in the vicinity of Westonbirt House led to the construction of a combined water extraction scheme which involved two hydraulic rams and a water pumping mill.
Conflicting historical sources make accurate dating of this scheme difficult, but it was certainly in place by the 1860's and may have been installed up to 20 years earlier. The water was pumped some 6km to the house. The hydraulic rams no longer survive and the waterwheel driven pumping machinery was updated in the late C19.

The most comprehensive account of the Westonbirt waterworks is an unpublished account of their history written by F. Godwin in 1912. In this account Godwin notes that 'On each side of the valley they fixed a pair of hydraulic Rams, fed by separate and independent springs, and in the rivulet at the bottom a dam was constructed forming a head of about 10 feet below which a small waterwheel was fixed, which worked a set of pumps or plungers. The waste from the rams contributed to turn the waterwheel.'

The pump surviving within the house was manufactured by Easton and Anderson a company with a long and distinguished history that traded under this name during the 1890's.

Reasons for Designation Decision
The pump house in Withy Wood, Lasborough Park is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Built to provide water for Grade I listed Westonbirt House
* Well preserved example of Victorian pumping machinery
* Pumping machinery manufactured by the internationally significant company of Easton and Anderson
* Unusual water wheel with a single set of arms
* Comprehensively documented history
* Association with early hydraulic rams
* Owners derived their fortune from supplying London with water

SOURCES
F. Godwin, History of Weston Birt Waterworks (unpublished manuscript dated 19.05.1912).

Reasons for Listing

The pump house in Withy Wood, Lasborough Park, has been designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Built to provide water for Grade I listed Westonbirt House
* Well preserved example of Victorian pumping machinery
* Pumping machinery manufactured by the internationally significant company of Easton and Anderson
* Unusual water wheel with a single set of arms
* Comprehensively documented history
* Association with early hydraulic rams
* Owners derived their fortune from supplying London with water

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671917

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.

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