Hatton Water Pumping Station And Chimney

The Hatton Water Pumping Station and Chimney is a complex of buildings dating from around 1892, designed by G Day Harrison, engineer to the Staffordshire Potteries Water Company. Further engine houses were added in 1898 and 1907, and the station was converted to electric pumps in 1959. The buildings are constructed of polychromatic yellow brick with stone, red brick, and terracotta dressings, and have a hipped slate roof. The layout is in a T-shape, comprising a central engine house, a rear boiler house, a chimney to the southeast, a parallel cross-compound engine house to the east, and a compound tandem engine house to the west. The design is Italianate in style.

The main engine house is two storeys high with a basement, and features rusticated pilasters, a moulded stone string, a dentil cornice, and a stone-coped parapet with urn finials. The entrance gable includes steps leading to a round-arched doorway with rusticated jambs, a moulded archivolt, round-arched niches, and two narrow round-arched lights above. Decorative terracotta panels depicting aquatic images, such as reeds, fish, and cornucopias, are present, along with a tall belvedere to the rear. The secondary engine houses are single-storey and echo the main building's style, with steps up to round-arched doors flanked by niches. The east and west elevations have tall, round-arched windows with glazing bars, rusticated pilasters, and parapets. The single-storey boiler house has arched windows and gable ends.

Internally, the primary beam engine house features an entablature beam support with four fluted Corinthian columns, a tiled dado, and the beam itself. The secondary engine houses have decorative tiled dados, moulded cornices along the window imposts to support gantry cranes, and metal trussed roofs. The octagonal chimney, against the east side of the boiler house, has a plinth and a wide terracotta cap.

Originally, the main engine house contained a pair of compound rotative beam engines. The buildings were constructed with a higher degree of architectural detailing than was typical for waterworks, a requirement due to an agreement with landowner Basil Fitzherbert of Swynnerton Hall. The pumping station is considered one of the most decorative in Britain, though an anachronistic example of the Italianate style, and serves as an important local landmark. It forms part of a group with the First and Second Engineman's houses and office, and the entrance gateway.