Smethwick New Pumping House Approximately 50 Metres North West Of Brasshouse Lane Birmingham Canal Birmingham Level

SANDWELL MB BIRMINGHAM CANAL SP 0188 NE Birmingham Level, Smethwick 19/14 Smethwick new Pumping House approximately 50 metres 29.12.78 north-west of Brasshouse Lane

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Pumping house between Smeaton's Old Main Line on the Wolverhampton Level and Telford's New Main Line on the Birmingham Level. 1892. Brick with slate roof. One storey to Old Main Line and two storeys to New Main Line. Lower storey has four-bay blind arcade with impost band, and a smaller doorway within right-hand arch. The upper storey has four windows with segmental heads, the two right-hand ones blocked, and a drip course. Miniature false machicolation to the eaves; adjoining to the left is the ashes hole with a doorway for removing the ash. Hipped slate roof in two spans, with louvred ridge ventilators. Right- hand return wall of three bays, with blocked windows. North-east wall, facing upper level, has two wide elliptical arches with smaller inner segmental arches. The right-hand one is blocked, the left-hand one is a doorway. In front of the right-hand archway are the foundation walls of the coal hole. Interior: steel roof trusses. History: This pumping house replaced two earlier pumping stations on the Engine Arm of the Birmingham Canal. It was the last to be erected on this section of the canal and housed two vertical compound engines driving centrifugal pumps capable of lifting 200 locks per day. In 1905 one engine was removed for use at Bentley, the remaining one being in use until the early 1920s. The pumphouse is a prominent feature of the canalside landscape.

Listing NGR: SP0192688913