Claverton Pumping Station
Encyclopedia
Claverton Pumping Station in the village of Claverton
, in the English county of Somerset
, pumps water from the River Avon
to the Kennet and Avon Canal
using power from the flow of the River Avon. It is a grade II listed building.
The pumping station
was built by John Rennie between 1809 and 1813 to overcome water supply problems on the canal. It uses a 24 feet (7 m) wide wooden breastshot water wheel
to drive two Boulton and Watt
18 feet (5 m) long cast iron
rocking beams, which power lift pumps to raise water 48 feet (15 m) up to the canal. The pumping station has undergone several modifications since its initial construction, including revising the wheel into two sections each 12 feet (3.7 m) wide separated by a 9 inches (22.9 cm) gap. The station's operational life ended in 1952, by which time its maintenance and repair had become uneconomical in the light of falling traffic on the canal.
In the 1960s and '70s restoration was carried out by students from the University of Bath
and the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, who replaced and repaired the buildings and equipment and returned the pumping station to a functional state by 1978. It is now operated by volunteers from the Trust, open to the public as an industrial heritage
museum.
At Claverton, the Kennet and Avon Canal
is cut into the side of the Avon valley above the River Avon
. The pumping station is located in a pump house built of Bath Stone
, located at river level and separated from the canal by the Wessex Main Line
. It was designed by John Rennie and built by Fox of Bristol
. The pump house has a slate
hipped roof
. The wheelhouse projects to the west of the pump house and has weatherboard
sides. The east gable wall has three doors allowing access to the wheel itself.
Water is diverted from the river by Warleigh Weir, about 200 yards (183 m) upstream. The water flows to the pumping station down a 30 feet (9.1 m) wide leat
, which is crossed by a single segmental arch bridge with a central keystone. The water passes over depressing sluice
s which can be raised or lowered by hand cranking, and then powers a breastshot water wheel
. The 24 feet (7 m) wide wheel is in two sections each 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and 17 feet (5 m) in diameter with a 9 inches (22.9 cm) gap between them. The wheel has 48 wooden "starts", supporting 96 float boards each of which is 13 inches (33 cm) by 1 inches (2.5 cm) by 12 feet (3.7 m) and made of Iroko
. The breastshot wheel is vertically mounted, and falling water strikes the blades. Breastshot wheels are less efficient than overshot wheels, more efficient than undershot wheels, and are not backshot.
At full power the wheel uses 2 ton
s (2 tonne
s) of water per second and rotates five times a minute. The water wheel drives a flexible coupling to a pit wheel with a diameter of 16 in 3 in (4.95 m), which has 408 hand-fitted wooden teeth that mesh with a 5 in 1 in (1.55 m) cast iron gear, increasing the speed to 16 rpm. From there, cranks drive vertical connecting rods that transfer the energy to two 18 feet (5 m) long cast iron
rocking beams made by Boulton and Watt
. Each rocking beam drives an 18 inch (0.4572 m) diameter lift pump, which also takes its supply from the mill leat. Each pump stroke raises 50 gallons (227.3 l) imperial gallons
(230 litre
s) of water to the canal via 150 feet (45.7 m) of 19 inch (0.4826 m) diameter cast iron pipe.
times, between 1558 and 1603, to take advantage of the proximity of the rivers Avon
and Thames
, only 3 miles (4.8 km) apart at their closest. Plans for a waterway were shelved until the early 18th century. In 1723 the Kennet Navigation through Reading
opened. The Avon navigation from Bristol
to Bath was opened in 1727. In 1788 the so-called "Western Canal" was proposed to improve trade and communication links to towns such as Hungerford
, Marlborough, Wiltshire, Calne
, Chippenham
and Melksham
. The following year the engineers Barns, Simcock and Weston submitted a proposed route for this canal, although there were doubts about the adequacy of the water supply. The name was changed from Western Canal to Kennet and Avon Canal to avoid confusion with the Grand Western Canal
, which was being proposed at the same time.
In 1793 a further survey was conducted by John Rennie, and the route of the canal was altered to take a more southerly course through Great Bedwyn
, Devizes
, Trowbridge
and Newbury
. The proposed route was accepted by the Kennet and Avon Canal Company. In July 1793 Rennie suggested further alterations to the route, including the construction of the Bruce Tunnel
in the Savernake Forest
. On 17 April 1794 the Kennet and Avon Canal Act received the Royal Assent
and construction began.
The new route added several locks to the canal, making water supply problems more severe. Because of the way the system of locks work, water is lost from the upper part of a canal each time a vessel passes through. This is a particular issue for the pound
between Bradford Lock
at Bradford on Avon
and the Bath Locks
, where a series of locks need to be opened each time the gates are opened. Most lock gates are not watertight, therefore some water leaks from the higher levels of the canal to those lower down. The water has to be replaced, or eventually the upper levels of the canal would not hold enough water to be navigable. Canals are usually fed by diverting water from streams and rivers into the upper parts of the canal, but if no suitable source is available or sufficient, a pumping station, such as the one at Claverton, can be used to maintain the water level. Crofton Pumping Station
was built to supply water to the summit pound of the canal, opening in 1810 but, unlike Claverton, was powered by steam.
Protracted negotiations over water rights with the owners of Saltford Brass Mill
and around 30 other mills on the river between Bath and Bristol, delayed construction until 1809; the wheel was installed in March 1810. Further delays relating to obtaining specific items of machinery meant that the pumping station did not open until early 1813, and until then boats were prohibited from using Bath Locks during periods of low rainfall.
The opening of the Great Western Railway
in 1841 led to a significant decline in the canal's traffic, even though the canal company lowered tariffs. In 1852 the railway company took over the canal's operation. In 1877 the canal recorded a deficit of £1,920 and never subsequently made any profit. The Somerset Coal Canal
and Wilts and Berks Canal
, which each supplied some of the trade to the Kennet and Avon, including freight from the Somerset coalfield
, closed in 1904 and 1906 respectively. At Claverton various minor repairs were needed to the wheel and pump, and the wheel had to be levelled at regular intervals during the later part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The 408 "green oak" teeth on the pitwheel also had to be replaced several times.
In 1926, following a loss of £18,041 the previous year, the Great Western Railway sought to close the canal by obtaining a Ministry of Transport
Order, but the move was resisted and the company charged with improving its maintenance of the canal. After the Second World War the Transport Act of 1947
meant that control of the canal passed to the British Transport Commission
, but by the 1950s large sections had been closed because of poor lock maintenance following a breach in the bank west of the Avoncliff Aqueduct
. Claverton Pumping Station ceased operation in 1952, after the failure of a number of the pitwheel's oak teeth. The British Transport Commission installed a 6 inches (15.2 cm) centrifugal pump
to maintain the statutory minimum water level.
Board that students from the University of Bath
conduct a survey and report on the viability of returning the pumping station to working order. Work started in 1969 with engineering students from Bath providing the labour under the supervision of John Butt, and the Trust providing the funding. Within the building rotten woodwork was replaced and electric lighting installed. To work on the sluices and the waterwheel the leat was dammed. Specialist wood and metal work was undertaken by apprentices from the British Aircraft Corporation
in Filton
. By 1972 some progress had been made; John Butt retired and Derrick Dudden took over as restoration manager, with more volunteers from the Canal Trust helping to provide the labour. Silt was removed from the pond, hatches replaced and the waterwheel restored. The 408 oak teeth on the pitwheel were replaced and the pumps overhauled with new rope packing. By February 1976 all the machinery was working and water could be pumped from the river to the canal. The pumping station was formally re-opened in 1978.
In 1981, British Waterways
installed two 75 hp electric pumps and presented the old diesel pump to the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust for preservation. Wessex Water Authority
agreed to the extraction of 1000000 gallons (4,546,090 l) per day from the Avon at Claverton to be pumped east; the costs of the pumps was £175,000.
The pumping station is maintained by volunteers from the Trust and is open to the public every Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday except during the winter maintenance period, when opening is only on Saturdays. There is a working model of the pumping station at the Kennet & Avon Canal Museum
at Devizes
. The restoration work received an Engineering Heritage Award from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
.
Claverton, Somerset
Claverton is a small village and civil parish about east of Bath at the southern end of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in Somerset, England...
, in the English county of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, pumps water from the River Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...
to the Kennet and Avon Canal
Kennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...
using power from the flow of the River Avon. It is a grade II listed building.
The pumping station
Pumping station
Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites.A pumping station...
was built by John Rennie between 1809 and 1813 to overcome water supply problems on the canal. It uses a 24 feet (7 m) wide wooden breastshot water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
to drive two Boulton and Watt
Boulton and Watt
The firm of Boulton & Watt was initially a partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt.-The engine partnership:The partnership was formed in 1775 to exploit Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser. This made much more efficient use of its fuel than the older Newcomen engine...
18 feet (5 m) long cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
rocking beams, which power lift pumps to raise water 48 feet (15 m) up to the canal. The pumping station has undergone several modifications since its initial construction, including revising the wheel into two sections each 12 feet (3.7 m) wide separated by a 9 inches (22.9 cm) gap. The station's operational life ended in 1952, by which time its maintenance and repair had become uneconomical in the light of falling traffic on the canal.
In the 1960s and '70s restoration was carried out by students from the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
and the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, who replaced and repaired the buildings and equipment and returned the pumping station to a functional state by 1978. It is now operated by volunteers from the Trust, open to the public as an industrial heritage
Industrial heritage
Industrial heritage is an aspect of cultural heritage dealing specifically with the buildings and artifacts of industry which are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations, often forming a significant attraction for tourism.The...
museum.
Description
Kennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...
is cut into the side of the Avon valley above the River Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...
. The pumping station is located in a pump house built of Bath Stone
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...
, located at river level and separated from the canal by the Wessex Main Line
Wessex Main Line
The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth.- Places served :The places served are listed below.*Bristol*Keynsham*Oldfield Park*Bath...
. It was designed by John Rennie and built by Fox of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. The pump house has a slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
. The wheelhouse projects to the west of the pump house and has weatherboard
Weatherboarding
Weatherboarding is the cladding or ‘siding’ of a house consisting of long thin timber boards that overlap one another, either vertically or horizontally on the outside of the wall. They are usually of rectangular section with parallel sides...
sides. The east gable wall has three doors allowing access to the wheel itself.
Water is diverted from the river by Warleigh Weir, about 200 yards (183 m) upstream. The water flows to the pumping station down a 30 feet (9.1 m) wide leat
Leat
A leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...
, which is crossed by a single segmental arch bridge with a central keystone. The water passes over depressing sluice
Sluice
A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at its head by a gate . For example, a millrace is a sluice that channels water toward a water mill...
s which can be raised or lowered by hand cranking, and then powers a breastshot water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
. The 24 feet (7 m) wide wheel is in two sections each 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and 17 feet (5 m) in diameter with a 9 inches (22.9 cm) gap between them. The wheel has 48 wooden "starts", supporting 96 float boards each of which is 13 inches (33 cm) by 1 inches (2.5 cm) by 12 feet (3.7 m) and made of Iroko
Iroko
Iroko is a large hardwood tree from west coast of tropical Africa. It is one of the woods sometimes referred to as African Teak, although it is unrelated to the teak family. The wood color is initially yellow but darkens to a richer brown over time....
. The breastshot wheel is vertically mounted, and falling water strikes the blades. Breastshot wheels are less efficient than overshot wheels, more efficient than undershot wheels, and are not backshot.
At full power the wheel uses 2 ton
Ton
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
s (2 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s) of water per second and rotates five times a minute. The water wheel drives a flexible coupling to a pit wheel with a diameter of 16 in 3 in (4.95 m), which has 408 hand-fitted wooden teeth that mesh with a 5 in 1 in (1.55 m) cast iron gear, increasing the speed to 16 rpm. From there, cranks drive vertical connecting rods that transfer the energy to two 18 feet (5 m) long cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
rocking beams made by Boulton and Watt
Boulton and Watt
The firm of Boulton & Watt was initially a partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt.-The engine partnership:The partnership was formed in 1775 to exploit Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser. This made much more efficient use of its fuel than the older Newcomen engine...
. Each rocking beam drives an 18 inch (0.4572 m) diameter lift pump, which also takes its supply from the mill leat. Each pump stroke raises 50 gallons (227.3 l) imperial gallons
Gallon
The gallon is a measure of volume. Historically it has had many different definitions, but there are three definitions in current use: the imperial gallon which is used in the United Kingdom and semi-officially within Canada, the United States liquid gallon and the lesser used United States dry...
(230 litre
Litre
pic|200px|right|thumb|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre...
s) of water to the canal via 150 feet (45.7 m) of 19 inch (0.4826 m) diameter cast iron pipe.
Construction
The idea of an east to west waterway link across southern England was first mentioned in ElizabethanElizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
times, between 1558 and 1603, to take advantage of the proximity of the rivers Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...
and Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
, only 3 miles (4.8 km) apart at their closest. Plans for a waterway were shelved until the early 18th century. In 1723 the Kennet Navigation through Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
opened. The Avon navigation from Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
to Bath was opened in 1727. In 1788 the so-called "Western Canal" was proposed to improve trade and communication links to towns such as Hungerford
Hungerford
Hungerford is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, 9 miles west of Newbury. It covers an area of and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 5,559 .- Geography :...
, Marlborough, Wiltshire, Calne
Calne
Calne is a town in Wiltshire, southwestern England. It is situated at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs hill range, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty....
, Chippenham
Chippenham, Wiltshire
Chippenham is a market town in Wiltshire, England, located east of Bath and west of London. In the 2001 census the population of the town was recorded as 28,065....
and Melksham
Melksham
Melksham is a medium-sized English town, lying on the River Avon. It lies in the county of Wiltshire.It is situated southeast of the city of Bath, south of Chippenham, west of Devizes and north of Warminster on the A350 national route. The 2001 UK census cited Melksham as having 20,000...
. The following year the engineers Barns, Simcock and Weston submitted a proposed route for this canal, although there were doubts about the adequacy of the water supply. The name was changed from Western Canal to Kennet and Avon Canal to avoid confusion with the Grand Western Canal
Grand Western Canal
The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End...
, which was being proposed at the same time.
In 1793 a further survey was conducted by John Rennie, and the route of the canal was altered to take a more southerly course through Great Bedwyn
Great Bedwyn
Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parish in the east of the English county of Wiltshire.-Location:Great Bedwyn is on the River Dun about south-west of Hungerford and south-east of Marlborough, Wiltshire. The Kennet and Avon Canal and the West of England Main Line railway follow the Dun and pass...
, Devizes
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The town is about southeast of Chippenham and about east of Trowbridge.Devizes serves as a centre for banks, solicitors and shops, with a large open market place where a market is held once a week...
, Trowbridge
Trowbridge
Trowbridge is the county town of Wiltshire, England, situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, approximately 12 miles southeast of Bath, Somerset....
and Newbury
Newbury, Berkshire
Newbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings. Newbury is best known for its racecourse and the adjoining former USAF...
. The proposed route was accepted by the Kennet and Avon Canal Company. In July 1793 Rennie suggested further alterations to the route, including the construction of the Bruce Tunnel
Bruce Tunnel
The Bruce Tunnel is on the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal between Wootton Top Lock and Crofton Locks in Wiltshire, England.This is the only tunnel on the canal and it is 502 yards long...
in the Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest is on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately .It is privately owned by the Trustees of Savernake Estate, the Earl of Cardigan, and his family solicitor. Since 1939 the running of the forest has been...
. On 17 April 1794 the Kennet and Avon Canal Act received the Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
and construction began.
The new route added several locks to the canal, making water supply problems more severe. Because of the way the system of locks work, water is lost from the upper part of a canal each time a vessel passes through. This is a particular issue for the pound
Canal pound
A canal pound, aka reach, is the stretch of level water impounded between two canal locks. Canal pounds can vary in length from the non-existent, where two or more immediately adjacent locks form a lock staircase, to many miles....
between Bradford Lock
Bradford Lock
Bradford Lock is situated at Bradford on Avon on the Kennet and Avon Canal, England.It was in Bradford on Avon that the first sod was cut for the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1794 and had wharves above and below the lock. The lock has a rise/fall of 12 ft 6 inches .There are moorings above...
at Bradford on Avon
Bradford on Avon
Bradford on Avon is a town in west Wiltshire, England with a population of about 9,326. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants make it popular with tourists....
and the Bath Locks
Bath Locks
Bath Locks are a series of locks situated on the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Bath, England.Bath Bottom Lock, which is numbered as No 7 on the canal is the meeting with the River Avon just south of Pulteney Bridge...
, where a series of locks need to be opened each time the gates are opened. Most lock gates are not watertight, therefore some water leaks from the higher levels of the canal to those lower down. The water has to be replaced, or eventually the upper levels of the canal would not hold enough water to be navigable. Canals are usually fed by diverting water from streams and rivers into the upper parts of the canal, but if no suitable source is available or sufficient, a pumping station, such as the one at Claverton, can be used to maintain the water level. Crofton Pumping Station
Crofton Pumping Station
Crofton Pumping Station is a pumping station near the village of Great Bedwyn in the English county of Wiltshire: it supplies the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal with water....
was built to supply water to the summit pound of the canal, opening in 1810 but, unlike Claverton, was powered by steam.
Protracted negotiations over water rights with the owners of Saltford Brass Mill
Saltford Brass Mill
Saltford Brass Mill is a brass mill on the River Avon at Saltford, Somerset, England. It dates from the 1720s is listed as Grade II* and is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument....
and around 30 other mills on the river between Bath and Bristol, delayed construction until 1809; the wheel was installed in March 1810. Further delays relating to obtaining specific items of machinery meant that the pumping station did not open until early 1813, and until then boats were prohibited from using Bath Locks during periods of low rainfall.
Operation and decline
The pumping station operated continuously, providing water for the increasing traffic on the canal. Problems with the size of the water wheel, which was supported at either end, meant that the middle of the wheel sagged, putting strain on the bearings and stays. In the 1840s the trussing was changed from stays to tension rods to strengthen and lighten the wheel, along with improvements to the pumps. The changes to the wheel were unsuccessful, and in the 1850s a central bearing was added dividing the wheel in two.The opening of the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
in 1841 led to a significant decline in the canal's traffic, even though the canal company lowered tariffs. In 1852 the railway company took over the canal's operation. In 1877 the canal recorded a deficit of £1,920 and never subsequently made any profit. The Somerset Coal Canal
Somerset Coal Canal
The Somerset Coal Canal was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800 from basins at Paulton and Timsbury via Camerton, an aqueduct at Dunkerton, Combe Hay, Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal...
and Wilts and Berks Canal
Wilts and Berks Canal
The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington, near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a branch to the Thames and Severn Canal at Latton near...
, which each supplied some of the trade to the Kennet and Avon, including freight from the Somerset coalfield
Somerset coalfield
The Somerset Coalfield included pits in the North Somerset, England, area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973.It is part of a wider coalfield which covered northern Somerset and southern Gloucestershire. It stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and...
, closed in 1904 and 1906 respectively. At Claverton various minor repairs were needed to the wheel and pump, and the wheel had to be levelled at regular intervals during the later part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The 408 "green oak" teeth on the pitwheel also had to be replaced several times.
In 1926, following a loss of £18,041 the previous year, the Great Western Railway sought to close the canal by obtaining a Ministry of Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
Order, but the move was resisted and the company charged with improving its maintenance of the canal. After the Second World War the Transport Act of 1947
Transport Act 1947
The Transport Act 1947 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under it the railways, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were acquired by the state and handed over to a new British Transport Commission for operation...
meant that control of the canal passed to the British Transport Commission
British Transport Commission
The British Transport Commission was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain...
, but by the 1950s large sections had been closed because of poor lock maintenance following a breach in the bank west of the Avoncliff Aqueduct
Avoncliff Aqueduct
Avoncliff Aqueduct carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over the River Avon and the Bath to Westbury railway line, at Avoncliff in Wiltshire, England.It was built by John Rennie and chief engineer John Thomas, between 1797 and 1801....
. Claverton Pumping Station ceased operation in 1952, after the failure of a number of the pitwheel's oak teeth. The British Transport Commission installed a 6 inches (15.2 cm) centrifugal pump
Centrifugal pump
A centrifugal pump is a rotodynamic pump that uses a rotating impeller to create flow by the addition of energy to a fluid. Centrifugal pumps are commonly used to move liquids through piping...
to maintain the statutory minimum water level.
Restoration
After its closure the pumping station lay derelict until the late 1960s, when the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust proposed to the British WaterwaysBritish Waterways
British Waterways is a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom, serving as the navigation authority in England, Scotland and Wales for the vast majority of the canals as well as a number of rivers and docks...
Board that students from the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
conduct a survey and report on the viability of returning the pumping station to working order. Work started in 1969 with engineering students from Bath providing the labour under the supervision of John Butt, and the Trust providing the funding. Within the building rotten woodwork was replaced and electric lighting installed. To work on the sluices and the waterwheel the leat was dammed. Specialist wood and metal work was undertaken by apprentices from the British Aircraft Corporation
British Aircraft Corporation
The British Aircraft Corporation was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs , the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1960. Bristol, English Electric and Vickers became "parents" of BAC with...
in Filton
Filton
Filton is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Bristol, about from the city centre. Filton lies in Bristol postcode areas BS7 and BS34. The town centres upon Filton Church, which dates back to the 12th century and is a grade II listed building...
. By 1972 some progress had been made; John Butt retired and Derrick Dudden took over as restoration manager, with more volunteers from the Canal Trust helping to provide the labour. Silt was removed from the pond, hatches replaced and the waterwheel restored. The 408 oak teeth on the pitwheel were replaced and the pumps overhauled with new rope packing. By February 1976 all the machinery was working and water could be pumped from the river to the canal. The pumping station was formally re-opened in 1978.
In 1981, British Waterways
British Waterways
British Waterways is a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom, serving as the navigation authority in England, Scotland and Wales for the vast majority of the canals as well as a number of rivers and docks...
installed two 75 hp electric pumps and presented the old diesel pump to the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust for preservation. Wessex Water Authority
Wessex Water
Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of the south west of England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, most of Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire...
agreed to the extraction of 1000000 gallons (4,546,090 l) per day from the Avon at Claverton to be pumped east; the costs of the pumps was £175,000.
The pumping station is maintained by volunteers from the Trust and is open to the public every Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday except during the winter maintenance period, when opening is only on Saturdays. There is a working model of the pumping station at the Kennet & Avon Canal Museum
Kennet & Avon Canal Museum
The Kennet & Avon Canal Museum in Devizes, Wiltshire, England and has a range of exhibits about the conception, design, usage and eventual commercial decline of the Kennet and Avon Canal, as well as its subsequent restoration....
at Devizes
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The town is about southeast of Chippenham and about east of Trowbridge.Devizes serves as a centre for banks, solicitors and shops, with a large open market place where a market is held once a week...
. The restoration work received an Engineering Heritage Award from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is the British engineering society based in central London, representing mechanical engineering. It is licensed by the Engineering Council UK to assess candidates for inclusion on ECUK's Register of professional Engineers...
.
External links
- Claverton Pumping Station website
- The Kennet and Avon Trust, whose members now maintain the pumping station