Foundation trenches about 4.50m from the edge of College Baths Road revealed part of a long disused water pumping system installed to supply the College Baths. The Baths were built in the 1880’s. The section of the system exposed was of a large circular brick construction 2.13m high by 1.52 across, with inlet and outlet pipes entering at either side, just above two decorative cast-iron circular cylinders standing about 120cm high by 38cm in circumference (fig 11). A metre or two to the west was a square brick shaft capped by a metal manhole cover with a tunnel connecting with the circular construction. An extension to this system was revealed further into the field under the southern edge of the new access road and nearer to a probable pumping house that existed on the site in the early 20th century. The assumed pumping house was erected further into the field alongside a short road that was cut through the site in the 1880s. House foundation trenches sliced through the area where this pumping house had been, and exposed rubble trenches sitting on a 90 to 120cm-deep silty soil in which a boars tusk was found. The pumping house and system appear to have been abandoned by about 1920. From observations on the ground, a parallel system appears to exist in the grounds of the College baths, approximately 3m from the edge of College Baths Road.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:12:12 +0000
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