Crofton Pumping Station

Crofton Pumping Station, built between 1802 and 1809 for the Kennet and Avon Canal Company, was designed by chief engineer John Rennie. It was enlarged in 1843 and restored in 1971. The complex includes an engine house, boiler house, side boiler house, and various attached structures. The pumphouse is constructed of brick in English bond and features a large hipped slate roof. It has four storeys with four window bays and an off-centre round-headed entrance on the north gable, accessible via a header leat. The lower boiler house, attached by its gable to the south, is also brick with a slate roof and a large fanlight. The engine house contains 12-pane sash windows, with 6-pane windows on the top floor, while the boiler house has a gable window. A further boiler house was added in 1843.

Inside the engine house are two pumping engines. The first, built in 1812 by Boulton and Watt, features a condenser and parallel motion, with a six-ton cast iron beam measuring 9 meters. This engine was modified in 1843, with the condenser relocated. The second engine, made by Harvey & Co of Hayle in 1843, had its cylinder replaced in 1903. Both engines have a cylinder bore of 1.066 meters and a stroke of 2.44 meters, capable of raising one ton of water with each stroke at rates of 12 and 9 strokes per minute, respectively. Water is raised 12.19 meters from a tunnel connecting to the reservoir and canal pound, supplemented from canal lock No 63 after 1847. The water is directed into a now derelict header leat leading to the summit of the canal, located 1500 meters to the west, above lock 62. The boilers, which replaced the originals in 1896, are of the Lancashire type, measuring 8.2 meters by 2.28 meters in diameter. A subsidiary pump was installed in 1826 to supply water to Tottenham House. The engines at Crofton Pumping Station are the earliest steam beam engines still in working order. This pumping station is a key part of an important group of industrial and utilitarian monuments in Crofton, which also includes the reservoir outfall, locks, the Great Western Railway, and a pillbox from 1939-45.