Draining pump, Tower End, Middleton, Norfolk, December 2022

[HughieD]

1. The History
Remains of the draining pump to the west of Tower End, outside King’s Lynn. It was constructed in 1877 and was located at a junction with a number of sluices on the Middleton Stop Drain. Originally the site of a wing pump, it was built by Sir Lewis Whincop Jarvis and powered by a 10hp non-condensing vertical steam engine. The pump house closed in 1934 but machinery was not dismantled till 1975.



2. The Explore
It was a relaxed wander out to this place on a pretty horrible December morn. Big up to @Mikeymutt for giving me the head’s up about this one. It was nice to see the chimney still intact and the water wheel still in situ. Nothing earth-shattering but a lovely bit of our industrial heritage in a lovely rural setting.

3. The Pictures
Approaching from the east:



Graff gangs have reached here:



The very fine chimney that still remains:



The now collapsed pump house:



On to the waterwheel:





Bit of remaining ironwork:



On to the chimney base:



Chimney up-shot:



That's all Folks!!!

 

[BikinGlynn]

Nicely done, quite photogenic place that.

 

[HughieD]

Nicely done, quite photogenic place that.

Cute, innit?

 

[Mikeymutt]

Nice mate. I could not believe the graffiti as it's really in the middle of nowhere and a trek to it. I never looked in the chimney. It's a real old one this.

 

[Hayman]

If "the machinery was not dismantled until 1975", did it go to a museum somewhere, or was it just taken for its scrap metal value? If the latter, what a shame. The oldest grafitti I have seen is visitors' initials carved - very neatly - into the rock at the top of Stone Mountain, just outside Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The date was the 1880s.

 

[Black Shuck]

Hughie beautifully shot, this looks like a great mooch.

 

[Pastybarm]

that's really nice, love abandoned brick stuff, nice one!!