Water Powered Beam Pump

A water-powered beam pump dating to the early 19th century, originally associated with Mount Sion Mill in Radcliffe. The structure is primarily wrought and cast iron, with stone pillars, a spillway, wheelpit, and retaining wall. The rectangular building features two tapering sandstone pillars, approximately 2 meters tall, which support the cast iron rocker mechanism for the pumping rods, once driven by a waterwheel. The wheel had eccentric cams on its hub plates. While the timber water buckets have eroded, the wheel, axle, and driving gear remain within the wheelpit. It was a low breast wheel, with water falling into the buckets at its midpoint. Visible on the goit-side of the wheelpit walls are stop-plank beam slots used to retain water when the pump was not in operation. The pumps, pistons, and pipework remain in place. To the west of the pump is a stepped stone spillway taking overflow water from the goit to the river, while to the east is a partially filled stone-lined spillway with a retaining wall performing the same function. Mount Sion Mill is believed to have been constructed during the first half of the 19th century, appearing on an 1850 Ordnance Survey map as ‘Mount Sion Print Works.’ Reservoirs, a weir, and a goit are situated to the east of the mill. The goit provided water to turn the waterwheel, which powered the beam engine to pump water into the reservoirs. Subsequent maps depict the mill as a bleach works, and during World War I, it was used to manufacture guncotton. A fire destroyed the bleach works in 1918, after which the site became Mount Sion Papermill, and currently operates as a pulp processing plant. The pump is designated at Grade II for its rarity, remarkable level of intactness, and the clear illustration it provides of the former mill’s water management system, with the surviving goit and reservoirs.