Sudbrook Pump House

The Sudbrook Pump House is a large, rectangular red brick building dating to the 19th century. It was constructed to house six massive Cornish beam engines, and is built over an immensely strong basement designed to support their weight. The bricks were made locally using clay excavated for the Severn Tunnel. The building appears to be three storeys high externally, but is a single volume internally. It has a hipped roof covered in Welsh slate. The main elevation is seven windows by three, with arched heads and small-paned iron frames. A few original basement windows have been blocked. A central, panelled entrance is accessed by a flight of steps, and is framed by four orders of brick arches, with plain windows above and a circular window in the attic. The windows are arranged unevenly (2 + 3 + 2), with the first-floor windows at each end being blind. A tall, narrow doorway in the centre provided access for machinery. A large wrought iron water tank, supported on a brick plinth, obscures much of the other short wall; this tank has a central entrance door, flanking windows, and single windows to the returns. The tank was built separately but is probably contemporary with the pumphouse. The rear, long wall facing the yard mirrors the street elevation, but the centre three windows are masked by a modern, gabled wing which rises to the second storey. The interior remains a single, large space. It originally housed three bucket pumps at one end and three plunger pumps at the other, each powered by beam engines whose beams weighed 20 tons. The immensely strong bob walls that supported these engines have been removed. The internal space is now largely redundant due to the use of smaller electric pumps.