Former Allermoor Pumping Station And Allermoor Cottage

The former Allermoor Pumping Station and attached cottage were erected in 1869, with 20th-century additions. Constructed of red brick with buff-coloured brick dressings in Flemish bond, the buildings have gable roofs of double-Roman tiles. A central ridge stack is present on the cottage. The complex is L-shaped, with the cottage attached to the right.

The pumping station is a single-story building, with a later 20th-century addition to the southwest. It features a central entrance on the left side, a large arched opening to the front (southeast), and a blocked opening on the northeast side. Original sash windows with glazing bars are present on the rear and side elevations, while French doors open to the front. The cottage is two stories high and has a symmetrical two-bay front to the roadside, featuring sash windows. A later 20th-century addition to the rear is not of particular interest.

The pumping station’s interior comprises a two-room plan, incorporating a single-story block on the left side that served as a former office. The main room houses a 1924 Lancashire boiler, enclosed in brick. A rear room contains a vertical, twin-cylinder steam engine and pump, constructed in 1869 by Easton, Amos and Anderson of Southwark. The attached cottage has a two-room plan, entered from the northeast into a hallway with a staircase to the first floor. It retains late 19th-century joinery, including doors and architraves, along with a small fireplace with a camber-headed brick lintel. The historic roof structure is believed to be intact.

The introduction of steam power to the Somerset Levels in the 1830s and the formation of Drainage Boards following the 1861 Land Drainage Act significantly improved land drainage. This pumping station drained water into an old channel of the River Cary and operated until 1955.

The buildings are designated at Grade II for their significance, being one of only two pumping stations on the Somerset Levels to retain its historic plant. They represent a rare example of historic land drainage technology, and possess strong group value as a complex of historically related late 19th-century structures.