Another collection of byproducts from looking for water-powered machinery, this time featuring pumps made by H J Godwin Ltd.
Background. The Cotswolds is pump country with several manufacturers, including Lister in Dursley, and East and Sons in Burford, the subjects of previous posts.
Godwin are based in Quenington, a little village outside Cirencester, and like other local manufacturers started out (ca 1880) supplying a variety of equipment, mostly to do with water management.
By 1939 they were specialising in pumps of the reciprocating (piston) sort, which continued to made until the late 1970s and were widely exported.
They’re still going in Quenington but now under the umbrella of another company (Xylem) who sell ‘water solutions’, the new name for pumps.
Some more company history here: https://gloshistory.org.uk/sites/reprints/gh199812.pdf
A. Yanworth, Gloucestershire.
Starting with some modern Godwins, these were in a hut near a hydraulic ram.
They’re multistage centrifugal pumps and are very common - the cylinders below the motors contain stacks of impellers mounted on a single shaft.
Pumps are said to consume more than 10% of the world’s electricity, and most of these are probably centrifugal because they are simple and reliable (no valves, only two seals).
B. Another near Yanworth, Gloucestershire.
The pump house was on top of a well hidden reservoir fed by a spring but the original reciprocating pump has been replaced by a modern one.
The older Godwin was originally mounted on a plinth next to a Lister diesel but all that was left were some instructions for it.
C. Pocklington, Yorkshire.
The hut here appeared between 1909 and 1926 and contained a ram in one compartment and a Godwin pump in the other although whatever drove it has gone.
This is an OH0, one of the ‘OH’ series of pumps, OH0, OH1, OH2 etc. which have a pair of double acting pistons.
D. Little Dewchurch, Herefordshire.
Another OH series pump. Not marked on maps, I found this one near a spring while looking for something else.
E. Kington, Herefordshire.
A hydraulic ram was shown on maps, appearing between 1902 and 1927, but had been replaced by an OH pump.
Looking down the original line of the drive pipe for the ram, with a reservoir/overflow in the foreground and the partially collapsed hut beyond.
F. Malmsbury, Wiltshire.
This site appears as a ‘pumping house’ between 1899 and 1921.
The pump was driven by a combustion engine and then an electric motor, both now dumped to one side of the plinth in the middle.
The engine looks like a Crossley 1060 petrol/paraffin model from the 1920s.
The pump is a deep well Godwin model, with a mechanism for moving a pump rod up and down on the surface and the actual pump cylinder down the well.
Background. The Cotswolds is pump country with several manufacturers, including Lister in Dursley, and East and Sons in Burford, the subjects of previous posts.
Godwin are based in Quenington, a little village outside Cirencester, and like other local manufacturers started out (ca 1880) supplying a variety of equipment, mostly to do with water management.
By 1939 they were specialising in pumps of the reciprocating (piston) sort, which continued to made until the late 1970s and were widely exported.
They’re still going in Quenington but now under the umbrella of another company (Xylem) who sell ‘water solutions’, the new name for pumps.
Some more company history here: https://gloshistory.org.uk/sites/reprints/gh199812.pdf
A. Yanworth, Gloucestershire.
Starting with some modern Godwins, these were in a hut near a hydraulic ram.
They’re multistage centrifugal pumps and are very common - the cylinders below the motors contain stacks of impellers mounted on a single shaft.
Pumps are said to consume more than 10% of the world’s electricity, and most of these are probably centrifugal because they are simple and reliable (no valves, only two seals).
B. Another near Yanworth, Gloucestershire.
The pump house was on top of a well hidden reservoir fed by a spring but the original reciprocating pump has been replaced by a modern one.
The older Godwin was originally mounted on a plinth next to a Lister diesel but all that was left were some instructions for it.
C. Pocklington, Yorkshire.
The hut here appeared between 1909 and 1926 and contained a ram in one compartment and a Godwin pump in the other although whatever drove it has gone.
This is an OH0, one of the ‘OH’ series of pumps, OH0, OH1, OH2 etc. which have a pair of double acting pistons.
D. Little Dewchurch, Herefordshire.
Another OH series pump. Not marked on maps, I found this one near a spring while looking for something else.
E. Kington, Herefordshire.
A hydraulic ram was shown on maps, appearing between 1902 and 1927, but had been replaced by an OH pump.
Looking down the original line of the drive pipe for the ram, with a reservoir/overflow in the foreground and the partially collapsed hut beyond.
F. Malmsbury, Wiltshire.
This site appears as a ‘pumping house’ between 1899 and 1921.
The pump was driven by a combustion engine and then an electric motor, both now dumped to one side of the plinth in the middle.
The engine looks like a Crossley 1060 petrol/paraffin model from the 1920s.
The pump is a deep well Godwin model, with a mechanism for moving a pump rod up and down on the surface and the actual pump cylinder down the well.
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