Home»Leawood Pumping Engine, Derbyshire, August 2010
The Leawood Pump House was built in 1849 to supply water to the Cromford Canal, built some 50 years previously. Located a short distance along the canal towpath from High Peak Junction, it stands between the River Derwent and the canal. The Watt-type beam engine was designed and erected by Graham and Company of Milton Works, Elsecar, Sheffield. The beam length is 33ft, the piston diameter 50 ins with a stroke of 10ft and the engine works at 7 strokes per minute. The boilers, replaced in 1900 have a pressure of 40 p.s.i. Water is drawn from the river through a 150 yard tunnel to a reservoir in the Pump House basement. It is then lifted 30 ft and discharged into the canal. The immense size of the pump, which can transfer almost four tons of water per stroke making a total of over 39,000 tons of water every 24 hours, is explained by the fact that there were restrictions on removing water from the River Derwent. Pumping was only allowed between the hours of 8 p.m. on Saturday and 8 p.m. on Sunday. The Pump House worked continuously from 1849 until 1944 when the canal closed. The slideshow has a digital soundtrack of the engine in action which was recorded during the taking of the photographs. The sounds are a small water pump charging the boiler, coal being shovelled onto the fire, the engine steaming gently, now pumping and finally, the river water entering the canal.
© Images by David Monkhouse, Associate of the Royal Photographic Society