Later History
In 1937 it was decided to replace the borehole pump
driven by the Ashton Frost steam engine by electric motor driven pumps and to
provide one surface pump to deliver water into the rising main. Mather and Platt
supplied the equipment for just under £4,000 and a temporary wooden building was
erected over the well to house the electrical plant. A brick building, now known
as the Sutherland Room, was erected at the opposite end of the main engine room
to house the surface pump, motor and ancillary equipment.
In 1951 the possibility of replacing the reciprocating
steam engines and at the same time providing more capacity to deliver to the
reservoir was considered. The idea of using the existing boilers to supply steam
turbine driven alternators was dropped when delivery in 1957 was quoted and the
Board contented with the installation of a second Mather and Platt electric set
powered by mains electricity.
Then in 1965 it was decided to install mechanical stoking
equipment and a hopper and canopy was built at the end of the boiler house.
During 1978 it was planned to remove all four existing
borehole pumps and to deliver the water directly into the rising main by two
multistage submersible centrifugal pumps, each of two million gallons per day
capacity, located in boreholes numbers 1 and 2 at a lower level than the
existing pumps.
Text produced from:
An Industrial Archaeological Study of a Water Supply
Pumping Station in Staffordshire by the Industrial Archaeological Class
organised jointly by the University of Nottingham, Department of Adult
Education, and the Workers' Educational Association, Derby, 1977-1978.