Lade Bank Lock, Pumping Station And Chimney

Lade Bank Lock, Pumping Station and Chimney is a lock, pumping station, and chimney built in 1805 by John Rennie, with an addition in 1867. The structure is made of red brick and red and yellow brick, featuring slate roofs with raised stone coped gables and kneelers. Originally, it included a lock with four cutwaters and two abutments, all designed in a keeled plan with gritstone cappings, grooves, and fixings for lock gates.

In 1867, an engine house and pumping station with a tall chimney were added. The engine house is a single-storey building with a seven-bay front, arranged in a 4:3 pattern, where the right three bays are set back and built on arches over the earlier lock. The semi-circular headed windows have original cast iron glazing bars and are adorned with red and yellow banded voussoirs. The right gable features two similar windows and a blocked circular opening that was formerly louvred.

A tall square tapering brick chimney in Italianate style stands on the left, featuring a triple plinth at the base and tall red brick recessed panels with yellow brick angles and imposts. Above, there is a dentillated and projecting course with paired shorter panels, also with voussoirs. The top of the chimney is corbelled out with moulded bands. A contemporary wrought iron weather vane is located on the left gable. The interior has light cast iron roof trusses throughout.

The engine house originally contained six boilers to generate steam for two pumps. The pumping station has since been replaced by a modern station from 1938, which is also partly built on the original lock bases. The 1867 pumping station was constructed due to the shrinking of the peat in the East Fen, which made it impossible for the fen to be drained by gravity, necessitating the pumping of water into the higher southern half of Hobhole Drain.