Claverton Pumping Station

A winter of relentless flooding [Press release]

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Claverton Pumping Station is a unique surviving example of a Georgian beam engine, situated just two miles from Bath. The Grade I listed building has flooded 18 times since October, with the highest flood reaching 8 foot high inside the building.

January floods compared to normal conditions.

The building has a complex relationship with water. One of the few surviving historical canal pumping stations, it was the only major canal pumping station to be water driven.

“We rely on water for power” explains Dr Julian Stirling, Chair of Trustees for the charity that operates the pumping station. “We need two tonnes of water a second to drive the waterwheel. It is hard to think of a location that has enough water in the summer to drive the pump, which isn’t sometimes underwater in the winter.”

The building has flooded regularly for the last 200 years. The oldest flood mark carved into the wall dates back to 1815. But the relentless flooding of this winter is not usual and is starting to cause problems.

“The building is incredibly flood resilient, it has built in drainage channels so water can escape, loads of air flow to help the building dry out. But we have flooded every week or two for the past seven months, there is no time for the timber to dry, and rot is starting to set in.” said Julian.

Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to prevent flooding. A mill stream runs right through the building to power the waterwheel. When the River Avon bursts its banks the building can be sitting in a 300 metre wide valley full of water.

A view across the flooded valley

Each flood covers the building in a layer of silt. The layer of silt traps moisture in the building, making rot worse. After every flood, volunteers have to clean the building. As the floods get higher more surfaces need cleaning. Floors, cupboards, stairs, window sills. The highest floods reach the next floor, and the even the ceiling below needs cleaning.

“The best time to clean the building is when there is still two inches of water over the floor” added Dr Stirling. “We stir up the silt and the flowing river helps to move it out of the building. If the flood goes down overnight, then it takes much longer to clean up.”

Julian cleaning up during a flood

With with severe flooding predicted to become more common with climate change, the volunteers are worried about the future. They are trying to raise £5,000 to help them repair the building and to make changes where possible to become even more flood resilient.

“It is a lot of work to get ready for the open season after a winter of flooding.” said Julian “Everything from safety guarding, to benches and displays must be moved for the winter, timing when to bring them back into the building is difficult. We got it wrong this year and some of it had to be rescued from a rising flood. We hope to make some changes so that safety guarding is also flood proof and can be left downstairs.”

The pumping station last flooded on the 5th of April. Despite this volunteers have rallied and managed to get the pumping station ready to open for their first open days on the 9th of April and 13th of April.

“If we don’t get any more floods then we will be open. We won’t be able to run the waterwheel as planned on the 13th as the flood has brought down a tree blocking the leat. It has been an incredible effort to get the site ready for opening so soon after a flood. We really need to make some changes before our volunteers burn out.”

Online fundraiser can be found here:
https://justgiving.com/campaign/claverton-floods

Annual Report for 2023

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Claverton Pumping Station Trust CIO had its first AGM as a charity on the 10th of February.

We are happy to announce that our first annual report is now available on the Charity Commission website, or you can download it from here.

Download the report (PDF)

Waterwheel restored to full working order!

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Last year during routine inspections we identified cracks in the cast iron of the of the waterwheel. After a successful fundraising campaign we have been able to get the machinery inspected and repaired.

Cracks in cast iron are notoriously difficult to fix. While cast iron welding has improved significantly, for such a large structure under load, the heat involved will likely weaken the surrounding area, causing problems large problems to reappear.

The traditional method for cast iron repairs is to strap the wheel. A special clamp is designed that pulls the material together stopping the crack spreading. A detailed inspection of the wheel revealed multiple strapping repairs over the past 210 years.

Our volunteers helped to clear the area around the crack for inspection, and to prepare the area for strapping. The strapping work installed by Dorothea Restorations.

This week we tested the pumping station. We are delighted to announce that the machine ran very smoothly. We will be able to run the wheel on our last two Saturday open days of this year!

Our running days will be the 9th of September and the 14th of October.

Thank you to everyone who donated.

Late floods disrupt April opening.

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Flooding at Claverton Pumping Station is an almost annual event. Back to the early 1800s the building has flooded most winters, often multiple times each year. When the building is flooded we can do little but wait for the water to recede and then clean up the mess. Claverton Enginekeepers have done this for centuries, safe in the knowledge that if it was wet enough to flood the pumphouse the canal was not going to run dry!

As a museum we prepare for the winter floods by emptying the downstairs of the building to stop items becoming waterborne. Waterborne items can damage the building and machinery. We empty the building in mid October, and replace items through March, ready for the April opening. This year we have had a very wet year with our raised winter storage being flooded. With heavy rain threatening through March we have not been able to get the building ready to open for the 8th of April.

On the Saturday 1st of April we were hit by our 10th flood of this winter flood season. Unlike the very small flood we had in March this is a fairly serious flood. By Saturday afternoon there was almost 3 foot of water in the building:

As the rain stopped on Saturday we hoped the level would start falling quickly on Sunday. As of Sunday lunchtime there over 3 foot of water in the building and it has not yet started to go down.

We have had to cancel the open day on the 8th of April. The openday on the 11th of April remains unlikely, but every effort will be made to open in some form.

This closure comes at a bad time, we are raising money to repair the cracks in the cast iron of the waterwheel. Open days are normally our main source of income. If you are able to please consider donating to our crowdfunding for the repair of the waterwheel.

Cracks in the cast iron

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Last year during routine inspections we identified cracks in the cast iron of the of the waterwheel. We will not be able to run the pumping station until these cracks have been repaired. Before repairs begin we need to complete a thorough inspection of the machinery. We will then work with professional millwrights to plan and complete repairs.

We have started a fundraising campaign to help us complete the inspection and repairs.

More information

The cracks are on the rim castings of the main waterwheel itself. The cracks are on rims 5 and 6:

Both cracks are in the same place on the casting, in the webbing between spokes:

The crack on rim 6 is the larger of the two cracks identified so far

Annual Report for 2022 AGM

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Claverton Pumping Station Group had its AGM on the 15th of October. During the meeting the group’s constitution was changed in preparation for transferring operations over to the newly formed charity in the new year.

The management committee also presented the groups annual annual report which can be downloaded below.

Download the report (PDF)

Claverton Pumping Station Trust CIO

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Claverton Pumping Station is a truly unique part of British transport history. Not only one of the only surviving canal pumping stations, but already unique during the height of the canal era in its use of water rather than steam to drive a massive pumping engine.

Claverton Pumping Station has been managed and maintained by an active community of enthusiastic volunteers. This year it was decided that the best way to ensure that our volunteers had the resources they needed to maintain this fantastic machine was to form a charity.

We are delighted to announce that as of the 16th of August the Claverton Pumping Station Trust CIO is a registered charity with Charity Number 1200080. We are now in the process of transferring operation of the pumping station from our community group to the new charity. We will have more updates in the near future.

Rebuilding our winter storage: Fundraising goal reached and ongoing progress

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Claverton Pumping station was built by a fast flowing section of the River Avon, giving it the water power needed to drive the massive beam engine. Unfortunately this means that every year we must deal with flooding.

From October-March, our downstairs needs to be cleared to minimise flood damage. With little space in the pumphouse itself we rely on our outbuilding to store signs, benches, and parts of our machine enclosure for the winter. However our largest outbuilding has all but collapsed

In November last year we started a fundraising campaign to raise £2,500. This will allow us to build a strong raised outbuilding in place of the old collapsed one. This was our first attempt at crowd funding, we were blown away with the response. We are delighted to announce that we have reached our original goal.

Collapse of the access platform

Just weeks after we launched our fundraising campaign, the raised platform in front of two of our other raised storage shed started to give way!

A £200 grant from the Bath and North East Somerset Ward Councillor’s Empowerment Fund, and a £500 grant from Claverton Parish Council allowed us to start straight away in repairing safe access to our existing storage.

Progress Report

Once we came to repair the access platform it became clear that the embankment that held up the storage was poorly retained. A concrete structure was built to secure this embankment. This concrete structure was then clad in wood that we reclaimed from the collapsed storage building.

The old outbuilding has been demolished, and the new access platform is complete. The concrete steps leading to the platform remain from the old platform, these will be rendered at a future date to improve their aesthetic.

Annual Report for 2021 AGM

Fri, 19 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

It has been some time since our last news update. We have been busy at the pumping station, doing everything from repairing flood damage, to reorganising our management structure. Next year we plan to keep this news feed more active, but our twitter feed is normally the best way to see what the group is doing.

For those who want an in-depth look at what the group has been doing over the last year, the management committee have produced an annual report.

Download the report (PDF)

Engine Man's Walk

Sat, 04 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

New land use project starting at Claverton

The Claverton Pumping Station Group wish to announce the start of an interesting new project adjacent to the Pump House. The reluctant conclusion has been made, that due to the very difficult ground conditions on the proposed car parking area, the project was impossible to continue with. However, after some thought of what could be done with the land the group decided that after a little tiding of the existing parking space the rest of the land up to the tow path should be cleared of rubbish etc. and then a walk way made from the tow path at the far end down to the lower part of Ferry lane. Tree planting will take place and a few seats along the path will allow people to rest and take in the view. We are also planning to build some bug houses and install an owl box in one of the older trees.

The aim is to tidy up this piece of neglected land into a more natural landscape that will also have the advantage of a car free approach to the Pump House by diverting pedestrians away from the often busy Ferry Lane.

We think this is an exciting new project and very different from the normal Claverton Pumping Station Group activities keeping the 200 year and machinery working.

If anyone would like to take part in developing this project and then keeping the land in a better state, please contact Deborah Wray by email (enquiries@claverton.org).