Pump Room, Brine Baths And Reading Room

SO 5968 TENBURY TEME STREET (East side) 1424/8/130 Pump Room, Brine Baths And Reading Room 07.03.72 II*

Pump room, brine baths and adjoining reading room, now house. c1862 by James Cranston. Part orange brick with ashlar, yellow and blue brick dressings and some applied timber-framing with rendered infill, part iron spar construction with sheet iron cladding. Sheet iron roof cladding with scalloped edging pierced with quatrefoils, bracketed eaves and iron fleur-de-lys finials at ridge joints and ridge ends. Asymmetrical plan comprised of large assembly room range and smaller brine baths range aligned north/south and forming pointed arches in section, connected by a brick entrance hall. The pump room is octagonal in plan and linked to the south-west corner of the assembly room by a small wing. Single storey; plinth has chamfered base and dentilled course decorating upper part. Main south elevation: gable end of assembly room has a pair of pointed windows with scissor braces above 4-light openings with transoms and a small rectangular opening above. Gable end of brine baths has a pair of 2-light windows with splayed bases. The central entrance has a round archway with an outer dentilled course and inner courses of different widths and materials on a dentilled "impost" course and half-glazed double doors. The pump room has applied timber-framing with decorative bracing and a conical roof. There is a 2-light window with cusped pointed lights to the south-east. The linking wing has a gabled roof, with a similar 2-light window, and a doorway in its north-east side. The roof cladding is missing and the pumping mechanism is visible in the roof space. INTERIOR: Roof is partly barrel-vaulted. There is a large pointed archway on imposts flanked by small four-centred arches on the east side of the assembly room. The Reading Room adjoins the east side of the brine baths. Orange brick with yellow brick dressings and half-hipped slate roof with central brick ridge stack. 2 storeys. 2 bays with yellow brick quoins and dentilled course above and below first floor level. South gable end has a ground floor and two first floor 4-pane sashes with cambered heads. Main entrance at rear. The mineral springs were accidentally discovered in 1839 owing to the sinking of a well. The town experienced a period of considerable development and prosperity during the mid-C19 as- a result and was given the name Tenbury Wells. (Sources: Doubleday AH: The Victoria History of the County of Worcester: IV: 365-: Pevsner N: The Buildings of England: 279-:)

Listing NGR: SO5968768288