Sunderland, Humbledon Hill Water Works

HER Number:
2919

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Sunderland, Humbledon Hill Water Works

Place:
Sunderland

Map Sheet:
NZ35NE

Class:
Water Supply and Drainage

Site Type: Broad:
Water Supply Site

Site Type: Specific:
Waterworks

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
Humbledon Hill pumping station, the earliest surviving pumping station in the area was began in 1846 by The Sunderland Water Company and was completed in 1852. A new reservoir was built on top of Humbledon Hill in 1873-4. The engine house at Humbledon survives and is a grade two Listed Building. It used a Cornish type sinking engine probably supplied by R & W Hawthorn of Newcastle. By 1851 two workers’ cottages had been built, along with a storehouse, blacksmith's shop, boundary walls, entrance gates, cooling ponds and layout of the grounds. The station was electricfied in 1924 but the engine probably survived until 1927. The surviving engine house has external buttresses to help support the beam pivot. The reservoir is surrounded by a stone wall, with a gate approximately 2.5 metres wide at the south end of the west wall. The reservoir roof was demolished in 1997 and it was then backfilled. There are no remains of any structures visible and it seems likely that the reservoir tanks have either been filled in or demolished. LISTED GRADE 2

Easting:
3818

Northing:
5518

Grid Reference:
NZ38185518

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 2919 >> 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map, 1896, 25 inch to one mile scale, Durham, 14 R.S. Roundthwaite, 1899, Plan of the Borough of Sunderland Sunderland Times, (May 27th 1873) Geoquest 2000, An Archaeological Desk-Based Assessmen at ... Humbledon Hill, Sunderland Geoquest 2000, Appendum to an Archaeological Desk Based Assessment ...at Humbledon Hill Pers comm. S.M. Linsley, Humbledon Hill Water-pumping Station, Notes compiled from AGMs of Sunderland & South Shields -Historic Environment Record S.M. Linsley, 1976, Thomas Hawksley and the Steam Powered Water Pumping Stations of Sunderland, The Cleveland Industrial Archaeologist, No 6, 1976, p11-18 I. Ayris & S.M. Linsley, 1994, A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Tyne and Wear, p 69