The Starcross Pumping House

The Starcross Pumping House

The Starcross Pumping House is a pumping station designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1845 for the South Devon Railway Company. It was built to serve the South Devon Atmospheric Railway, a projected line running between Exeter and Plymouth. The building is constructed in ashlar red sandstone with Bath stone dressings, beneath a hipped Roman tile roof (a 1980s replacement of the original). A massive brick chimney, built within a rectangular sandstone ashlar tower, rises from the structure. The tower and chimney were reduced in height by 50 feet following storm damage in the late 19th century.

The building adopts an Italianate style, consistent with all pumping houses on the line. It is planned as an L-shaped structure, with the chimney positioned in the angle between two blocks. The west block originally contained the boilers, while the taller eastern block housed the beam engine. The chimney is a notable construction, built without scaffolding—a technique said to be unique. A spiral stair with slate steps wound around the brick shaft, allowing both the shaft and tower to be built simultaneously.

After the atmospheric railway's economic failure in 1848, the pumping house underwent various alterations. The west block was adapted as an engine shed for steam locomotives. In 1869, the east block was partly converted for use as a Wesleyan Chapel, a use that continued until 1950. The building subsequently fell into semi-dereliction until 1981, when it was sold away from British Rail, repaired, and opened as a museum dedicated to the Atmospheric Railway.

Externally, the west block is single-storey while the east block rises to two storeys. Both blocks feature impressive detailing in their heavy stone window surrounds. The east block displays two tiers of windows, a deep plinth, a moulded string below the upper windows, and deep eaves with a moulded cornice carried on well-detailed moulded stone brackets. The north elevation is symmetrical with a single window: a two-leaf door with glazed fanlight below a round-headed window with stone sill, keystone, and projecting jambs with bases and capitals. Paired first-floor windows feature stone sills on brackets, keystones, and eared architraves. The east elevation is asymmetrical across three bays. The lower-tier windows include sills on brackets, moulded cornices, and keyblocks with a rounded niche in the centre. Three first-floor windows repeat the design of those elsewhere, with keyblocks, stone sills, and eared architraves. A blocked round-headed doorway appears to the left. The south elevation has a ground-floor doorway with heavy moulded architrave and keystone, with windows above matching those of the north elevation.

The west block has a lower roofline and plinth. Its north elevation contains three windows: a central tripartite window with stone sill on brackets, moulded architrave and keystones, flanked by single-light windows of similar design. The south elevation has two two-light windows with stone sills on brackets and keystones. The west gable end, originally symmetrical, was altered after the atmospheric railway closed but retains an original round-headed doorway to the left, featuring a recessed rusticated Bath stone arch with keystone. A round-headed upper opening is blocked. To the right, a tall round-headed opening dates from the period of adaptation as a steam locomotive engine shed.

The rectangular tower, treated as a campanile, has a deep plinth and rusticated quoins between the plinth and moulded string course, with clasping pilasters above and pilasters centred on each face. The south and west elevations display round-headed slit windows with keystones and voussoirs above the plinth, with similar windows (without voussoirs) lighting the spiral stair around the chimney. The tower was originally crowned with a heavy cornice on moulded brackets.

Internally, no machinery survives, but the building's shell remains intact, including the roof trusses: queen post and strut over the boiler house, and king post over the taller block with original iron ties. Many details evidence the original function: the duct carrying smoke from the boilers to the chimney; recesses in the walls of the taller block for the flywheel; and the original massive crossbeams in the taller block, supported on corbels. These crossbeams were originally used for access to the upper machinery before being used to support a floor. The chimney, the only surviving example of its type, remains a notable construction achievement. Other features associated with the pumping house, including a massive water tank, exist below ground and are of historic and archaeological interest.

Starcross is the only complete pumping house to survive from the three operational atmospheric lines in the British Isles. The only other surviving artefacts from the short-lived South Devon Atmospheric Railway are two sections of atmospheric tubing—one held by the museum here, the other by the Swindon museum. Brunel's son allegedly destroyed many papers relating to his father's work on the railway, believing the scheme reflected poorly on his reputation.

The building is of considerable architectural distinction and is surprisingly well-preserved given its history between 1848 and 1981. The Italianate treatment of the chimney, executed five years before the publication of Ruskin's Stones of Venice, reflects Brunel's consciousness of design and current architectural ideas. The only other known example of the winding stair construction for a chimney is at Thomas Cubitt's Thamesbanks works (1846), which has since been demolished.