Engine House and Boiler House at Mill Meece Pumping Station

Engine House and Boiler House at Mill Meece Pumping Station

This engine house and boiler house form part of a water pumping station, now operated as a museum. Built around 1914 for the Staffordshire Potteries Waterworks Company, they were designed by William Campbell and constructed by Thomas Godwin and Son. The station also includes later buildings—a control-panel building of 1978, a public convenience of 1979, and a chlorine treatment building of 1993—which are not included in this listing.

The buildings are constructed of Accrington red brick in English bond with stone dressings, brick stacks, and clay-tile roofs. They form a T-shaped range, with the engine house as the horizontal section and the boiler house as the vertical section. Both are single-storey structures.

Both buildings rest on chamfered stone plinth bands and feature round-headed window and door openings with gauged brick arches and keystones. Windows are fitted with chamfered stone lintels.

The engine house, the principal building on the site, is aligned north-east to south-west and stands on a deep plinth to accommodate the impounding chamber beneath. It measures six bays in length and three bays in width. The exterior displays raised banded quoins and paired banded pilasters that define recessed bays with dentilled heads. A shallow stone frieze runs round the building, linked above by an oversailing course, with a bracketed eaves cornice at roof level. The roof is hipped with a louvered ridge vent. At the south-west end of the long north-west and south-east sides are doorways with moulded surrounds, half-glazed doors with fanlights and side lights. Each doorway is accessed by short flights of stone steps with stone-coped brick walls and piers. Air vessels stand beside each set of steps. The remaining bays contain tall eight-over-eight horned sashes with radial glazing bars to the heads. In 1937, the central window at the north-east end was converted into a doorway to accommodate a small brick-built extension, now known as the Sutherland Room, which houses centrifugal pump sets and now serves as the museum's main entrance.

The boiler house adjoins the south-east side of the engine house, aligned north-west to south-east, and measures six bays long and three bays wide. The bays on the long south-west and north-east sides are defined by plain pilasters forming recessed panels with dentilled and corbelled heads. An oversailing course and moulded stone cornice run above. The roof is hipped with a louvered ridge vent. Each bay contains a window with square-paned glazing and pivoted panels, with radial glazing bars to the heads. Attached to the south-east end is a late twentieth-century coal store of brick with reinforced concrete columns supporting an open front and a flat roof covered with corrugated asbestos sheeting. Adjoining the south-west end of the north-east face is the Boiler Feed Pump Room, which stands at a lower ridge height than the boiler house and is square on plan. It features raised quoins, brick cogging, and a pyramidal roof with exposed rafters and a louvered ridge vent. Its south-east and north-west faces each have two casement windows, while its north-east side has a central doorway with a stone lintel.

Standing at the south-west end of the engine house is the rocking quadrant belonging to the 1927 engine. It stands over number 2 well and is enclosed by a steel-framed superstructure. Two pulleys at the top of the superstructure allow the rope from the winch house to pass through, lifting the borehole pump rods and valves for regrinding. The rocking quadrant for the 1914 engine, which stood over number 1 well, was removed in the late twentieth century. The well is now capped with concrete and remains in use with submersible pumps.

Within the engine house, the walls are tiled to dado level, above which is gault brick with gauged red brick arches to the windows. Red brick pilasters define the bays on the long north-east and south-west sides, with the frieze on the south-east wall inscribed '1914'. The engine house houses two horizontal tandem compound rotative steam pumping engines. The engine on the south-east side, known as the 'right-hand engine', was installed in 1914 along with its barring engine by Ashton, Frost and Co Ltd of Blackburn. The engine on the north-west side, known as the 'left-hand engine', was installed in 1927 by Hathorn, Davey and Co Ltd of Leeds; its contemporary barring engine is by Marshall, Sons and Co of Gainsborough. At the south-west end are two double-acting ram pumps, one of 1924 and one of 1927. Four air vessels are fitted to the pumps: one stands in front of the ram pumps, one is fitted at the outlet junction of the pipes from the ram pump, and two stand beside the steps leading to the building's south and north doorways. These air vessels were originally supplied with compressed air from a Westinghouse steam-powered compressor attached to the wall beside the 'left-hand engine', and later supplied by two petrol/paraffin stationary engines which remain in place. The original gantry crane is still present above. A door to the right-hand side of the air compressor leads into a small office protruding into the west corner of the boiler house. This office contains three Kent Venture flow recorders, now disconnected, that recorded the volume of water pumped to Hanchurch reservoir. A second doorway on its left provides access to the boiler house. At the north-east end, a central doorway leads through to the Sutherland Room, which contains an exhibition on the history of the Staffordshire Potteries Waterworks Company.

The boiler house contains three Lancashire boilers: two of 1914 by HT Banks of Netherton, Dudley, and one of 1927 by W and J Galloway and Sons of Manchester. Attached to the boilers are Hodgkinsons and Bennis electric-driven stokers of 1965. Retained in the engine house is the Green's economiser of 1914 by E Green and Son of Wakefield. Attached to the south-west end of the north-east side is the Boiler Feed Pump Room, which contains two steam-powered boiler feed pumps of 1914 by G and J Weir of Glasgow.

A Second World War refuge is built into the embankment to the south-east of the workshop. Constructed of reinforced concrete, it is largely concealed by an earthen mound, now held in place by a coursed rubble retaining wall, probably of later date. This structure contributes to the special interest of the principal buildings and is included in the listing.