Cooling Pond

DATE AND ARCHITECT: 1866, attributed to George Devey.

MATERIALS: concrete-lined pool with brick wall copping and steel railings.

PLAN: elongated ‘tear-drop’ plan.

DESCRIPTION: the cooling pond was built approximately 12.18m to the north-west of the engine house that it served, it is concrete lined and is enclosed by a low brick wall that carries looped steel bar railings, which are supported on braced cast-iron posts set in brick piers. Gates, at the south-western and north-eastern ends on the southern side, allow access down into the pond by two flights of steps with tubular hand railings. The pond is 42.64 long by 12.57m wide, the water is 1.30m deep and the top of the low brick wall is 1.90m from the base. Water enters the pond by a 10cm pipe at the south-western end and it was drawn out for the boilers by a 10cm pipe through a circular filter bed set at the base of the pond at its widest point. The hot water from the boilers was returned to the pond by a 7.5cm ejector pipe for cooling. Two overflow pipes at the north-eastern end of the pond maintain the water level.