Broomy Hill Pumping Station

Broory Hill Pumping Station

This is a former water pumping station, now a waterworks museum. It was built in 1856 in Classical style for the Hereford Corporation by the municipal engineer Timothy Curley. The building was expanded in 1862, 1864, 1882, 1895 and 1906. A glazed extension built in 2006 to the east and south elevations is excluded from the listing.

The building is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish and English bond, with a brick chimney stack and stone plinth. The hipped and pitched roofs are covered in Welsh slates.

The structure comprises eight parallel blocks arranged from east to west: the former pump annexe (1882), the former coal store and reserve boiler house (1864), the original boiler house and original engine house with boiler chimney behind (1856), the second engine house (1862), the triple-expansion engine house (1895), and the two-cylinder engine annexe (1906). A large single-storey extension (2006) extends across the east end and south elevation but is not of special interest.

The principal elevation faces north. The flat-roofed, single-storey former water-tower pump annexe to the east, now toilets, is set back from the former coal store and reserve boiler house. These two double-height, gabled bays are each three bays deep with frontages articulated by shallow recessed surfaces between brick pilasters and dentil cornices, topped by an oculus to the pediment. Both have segmental arched entrances with timber doors and round-headed windows above with glazing bars. The original boiler house (1856) is lower with a hipped roof and steam ventilator to the ridge. Its two-bay frontage features arched recesses with a round-headed sash window to the left and a timber door with round-headed fanlight to the right. The two engine houses to the west (1856 and 1862) have round-arched doorways with panelled doors. The engine house at the west end (1895) is wider with a pair of timber doors and Diocletian fanlight window above, repeated to the set-back, flat-roofed 1906 engine annexe. The rear elevation has similar architectural treatment. Behind the original engine house stands the square chimney stack with moulded stone cornice.

The 1906 annexe has been converted to toilets. The former coal store and reserve boiler house are now exhibition space with offices at mezzanine level and plasterboard ceilings inserted. The 1856 boiler house has King post roof trusses with angled struts, with exhibition space in the left-hand bay and a 1895 Lancashire boiler by Rileys of Stockton in the right-hand bay. The engine has been removed from the 1856 engine house, but beneath it the sump survives with a circular brick shaft and surviving air vessel set behind a round brick arch. The west wall retains its round-headed sash windows with glazing bars. The attached second engine house has also had its original engine removed, though the sump survives beneath. The triple-expansion engine house with 'A' frame roof trusses and the attached engine annexe form a single space with glazed cream and brown tiles to the lower parts of the walls. Both the Worth McKenzie inverted triple-expansion engine (1895) and the inverted double cylinder engine (1906) survive in situ.