Pump House at Norris Castle

Pump house, early C19, for Lord Henry Seymour.

MATERIALS: constructed of coursed rubble with a red-brick water tank and slate roof coverings.

PLAN: a rectangular single-storey building with a single bay extension at the east end.

EXTERIOR: the Pump House is a single-storey building with a hipped slate roof. It is six bays long and a single bay wide, orientated north-west to south-east. The main façade faces south-west and comprises, from west to east; two bays of eight-over-eight sashes, a square-headed carriage entrance containing timber-boarded double doors with strap hinges, and two further sashes. An extension, added prior to 1845, is attached at the south-east end. It is formed of a single bay, recessed back from the main elevation, containing a timber-boarded door. A red-brick water tank, set on a squared-stone plinth, is situated to the rear. The north-west, north-east and south-east elevations are blind, without any openings.

INTERIOR: the main part of the building, at the west, has latterly served as a coach house. It is covered by a king-post roof with wrought-iron straps and dragon ties, and contains a well set into a flagstone floor. There is a blocked doorway in the south-east wall. The single bay extension contains two hand pumps; a mid-C19 cast-iron hand pump inscribed ‘J. TYLOR & SONS LONDON’ mounted on a wooden plank attached to the north-west wall, and a late C19 double cylinder hand pump inscribed ‘CLEMENTS JEAKES & CO. 51 GT. RUSSELL ST. LONDON’.