Bradwell Springs Pumping Station
One Friday night, Dan and I drove down to Essex to have a look at a lovely station which he found and photographed last year. It's not one I'd seen before and looked interesting, so was keen to see it.
Funnily enough, about 2 days after Dan's visit here last year, I bought a car from the exact same village as the station is located in. Should have had a look when I was down there the first time, really. It would have been better photography wise as I was really fighting with the light here. This was incredibly late in the day, you can see the light fading over the images.
The station was constructed in 1928 to supply nearby Silver End village with water. Silver End was a private village for the workers for the Crittall Manufacturing Company, who manufactured and distributed galvanized window frames. The idea was that the town would be self-sufficient as to not put strain on nearby Braintree. Schools, shops, places of worship, public services and the like were all constructed, think of it as a miniature 'fifteen minute city' everything you'd ever need is in the village. That's the reason for this pumping station, to supply the village with water, and not put strain on other stations or sources nearby. This may sound over the top but Crittall Manufacturing Company was big, in the 1920s, over half of the residents in Braintree were employed by the company. They are still actively manufacturing today.
We did take a detour through Silver End, there are some stunning Art Deco houses, I'd have liked to have photographed them but light completely faded and the rain set in.
Inside the station sits two Harland centrifugal pumps, each driven by an electric motor, independently powered with their own switchgear. They're quite a size. Before these were installed, there were two 'large oil engines driving pumps via long belts', unfortunately, I was unable to find what model.
The site was eventually taken on by Essex Water Company (now Essex and Suffolk Water Company) who were responsible for removing the old engines and fitting the new electric motors and pumps. The site ran for a short while until there were complaints regarding leaking copper pipes, potentially caused by the water from Bradwell Spring. After an investigation was carried out, it was determined that poor quality copper pipes were used.
A source online states, “It transpired that the river water produced small pinholes at the site where internal carbon deposits had not been fully removed from the manufacture of the copper pipe, but the corrosion products formed plugs in the holes. The plugs were then dissolved by the spring water, causing small leaks”. When the spring source was shut down, no further leakage was reported. Most likely around the late 70s judging by the paperwork inside the station.
Starting outside the station, quite overgrown this one, especially at this time of year.
Perfect amount of foliage coming through here
There is a toilet and sink in its own room here. The toilet was too dark to get a photograph of, sorry Mikey
This was the final shot I took, quite like the lighting here, even if it is a bit dark
This really dates the building, Sunday Express from November 25th, 1979
One Friday night, Dan and I drove down to Essex to have a look at a lovely station which he found and photographed last year. It's not one I'd seen before and looked interesting, so was keen to see it.
Funnily enough, about 2 days after Dan's visit here last year, I bought a car from the exact same village as the station is located in. Should have had a look when I was down there the first time, really. It would have been better photography wise as I was really fighting with the light here. This was incredibly late in the day, you can see the light fading over the images.
The station was constructed in 1928 to supply nearby Silver End village with water. Silver End was a private village for the workers for the Crittall Manufacturing Company, who manufactured and distributed galvanized window frames. The idea was that the town would be self-sufficient as to not put strain on nearby Braintree. Schools, shops, places of worship, public services and the like were all constructed, think of it as a miniature 'fifteen minute city' everything you'd ever need is in the village. That's the reason for this pumping station, to supply the village with water, and not put strain on other stations or sources nearby. This may sound over the top but Crittall Manufacturing Company was big, in the 1920s, over half of the residents in Braintree were employed by the company. They are still actively manufacturing today.
We did take a detour through Silver End, there are some stunning Art Deco houses, I'd have liked to have photographed them but light completely faded and the rain set in.
Inside the station sits two Harland centrifugal pumps, each driven by an electric motor, independently powered with their own switchgear. They're quite a size. Before these were installed, there were two 'large oil engines driving pumps via long belts', unfortunately, I was unable to find what model.
The site was eventually taken on by Essex Water Company (now Essex and Suffolk Water Company) who were responsible for removing the old engines and fitting the new electric motors and pumps. The site ran for a short while until there were complaints regarding leaking copper pipes, potentially caused by the water from Bradwell Spring. After an investigation was carried out, it was determined that poor quality copper pipes were used.
A source online states, “It transpired that the river water produced small pinholes at the site where internal carbon deposits had not been fully removed from the manufacture of the copper pipe, but the corrosion products formed plugs in the holes. The plugs were then dissolved by the spring water, causing small leaks”. When the spring source was shut down, no further leakage was reported. Most likely around the late 70s judging by the paperwork inside the station.
Starting outside the station, quite overgrown this one, especially at this time of year.
Perfect amount of foliage coming through here
There is a toilet and sink in its own room here. The toilet was too dark to get a photograph of, sorry Mikey
This was the final shot I took, quite like the lighting here, even if it is a bit dark
This really dates the building, Sunday Express from November 25th, 1979
