British Engineerium facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids The British Engineerium
The former boiler house and engine rooms from the southeast
Location	The Droveway, West Blatchington, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, United Kingdom BN3 7QA
Built	1866
Built for	Brighton Hove and Preston Constant Service Water Supply Company
Architectural style(s)	High Victorian Gothic

Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name: Boiler and Engine House at British Engineerium; Chimney 2 metres south of the Boiler and Engine House at British Engineerium
Designated	7 June 1971
Reference no.	1187600; 1292285


Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Cooling Pond and Leat at British Engineerium; Former Coal Shed at British Engineerium; Walls enclosing British Engineerium
Designated	7 June 1971
Reference no.	1187601; 1210170; 1298616

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The British Engineerium is a cool museum in Hove, East Sussex. It's all about engineering and amazing steam-powered machines! The museum is inside the Goldstone Pumping Station. These are a group of High Victorian Gothic buildings that started being built in 1866.

For over 100 years, the Goldstone Pumping Station provided water to the local area. It was a very important place! After it stopped pumping water, it became the museum we know today. The Engineerium has been closed to visitors since 2006. In March 2018, the whole place was put up for sale.

At its biggest, between 1884 and 1952, the complex had two boiler houses with huge steam engines. It also had a tall chimney, places to store coal, a workshop, a cooling pond, and an underground water tank. It was built on top of a natural chalk area with lots of cracks. This allowed it to collect huge amounts of water for the fast-growing towns of Hove and Brighton.

As new ways to get water were found, the pumping station became less important. By 1971, the water department wanted to close it down. But then, an expert in old industrial sites, Jonathan Minns, stepped in! He offered to fix up the buildings and machines. He wanted to turn it into a museum. A special group was created to help him do this.

The people who worked and volunteered at the Engineerium became super skilled. They even helped start other museums around the world! They also taught young people how to save old engineering history. Another enthusiast later bought the complex. As of 2025, it is still closed to the public. More restoration and building work is happening there.

The High Victorian Gothic buildings are a famous sight in Hove. They show that in the 1800s, even industrial buildings could be beautiful! They have colorful bricks, fancy decorations, and cool windows. Even the 95-foot (29 m) chimney looks like a tall bell tower.

English Heritage has listed the complex as important because of its history and architecture. This means it's a protected site! The main boiler house and the chimney are listed at Grade II*. This is the second-highest level of importance. The old coal shed, the cooling pond, and the tall walls around the site are listed at Grade II.

Besides the restored pumping station equipment, the museum has many other exhibits. Less than a year after it opened, it had over 1,500 items! These include an old horse-drawn fire engine from the 1800s. There are also traction engines, old motorcycles, Victorian home items, and old tools. A French-built steam engine from 1859 is one of the most important exhibits.

Until it closed in 2006, the Engineerium used its exhibits to teach people about industrial history. It was even called "the world's only center for teaching engineering conservation." It played a big part in England's Industrial Heritage Year in 1993. For many years, the bigger machines worked and created steam on weekends!

History of the Engineerium
Architecture of the Engineerium
Exhibits at the Engineerium
Heritage Status
See also

History of the Engineerium

The chimney at the former pumping station is 95 feet (29 m) tall.

Brighton and Hove are towns on the coast of England. They were built on top of a huge natural underground water source called an aquifer. This meant there was always clean water available. In the early days, many wells were dug to get this water.

But Brighton and Hove grew very fast in the 1700s and 1800s. More water was needed! The wells started to get dirty from sewage. Some even had to be closed. This made the water problem worse.

The first local water company started in 1834. It built a waterworks and provided piped water for a few hours a day. This early system used two 20-horsepower beam engines.

More Water Needed

By the 1850s, even more water was needed for the growing population. The old waterworks only supplied water sometimes. So, in 1853, a new company was formed. Its goal was to provide a large, steady water supply. This company bought the older one in 1854.

By 1872, this company was pumping a huge 2,600,000 imperial gallons (12,000,000 L) of water every day! This went to 18,000 homes in Brighton, Hove, and nearby villages.

The two engine rooms (seen from the rear, with the cooling pond in the foreground) flank the boiler house.

This coal storage shed was added to the complex in 1875.

The on-site workshop had its own steam engine.

A cooling pond and leat were built behind the main buildings in 1884.

Two of the four Lancashire boilers were restored in 1975–76.

The company hired a famous engineer, Thomas Hawksley. He built more waterworks than almost anyone else in his time. In 1858, he suggested Goldstone Bottom as a good spot for a new pumping station. Test wells were dug, and he was right!

The company bought the land in 1862. In 1865, they got permission to build the pumping station. The old water source was getting polluted. Even new stations weren't enough to meet the demand.

Building the Pumping Station

Work on the Goldstone Pumping Station began in 1866. It opened that same year. At first, it had a boiler house, an engine room, coal cellars, and a "monumental" chimney. All these were built with colorful bricks.

The engine room held a 120-horsepower beam engine. It was called the "Number 1 Engine." This engine pulled water from a 160-foot (49 m) deep well. Three Lancashire boilers powered it, using coal from two cellars. It could pump up to 130,000 imperial gallons (590,000 L) of water every hour!

In 1872, Brighton Corporation took over the pumping station. They needed even more water! So, in 1876, they greatly expanded the station. A second engine room was added. A separate coal storage shed was built. They also added a workshop with tools and its own steam engine.

The new engine house got the "Number 2 Engine." This was a 250-horsepower unit. It could pump 150,000 imperial gallons (680,000 L) of water per hour! Three more Lancashire boilers powered it. The Mayor of Brighton started this engine for the first time on October 26, 1876. Tunnels were built underground to connect the coal shed, workshop, and boiler room. Coal trucks used these tunnels.

Further Expansions and Decline

The next expansion happened in 1884. A cooling pond and an artificial waterway (called a leat) were built. A new 1,500,000-imperial-gallon (6,800,000 L) underground water tank was also built. It stretched for 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) from the complex. This work cost a lot of money, but it helped provide even more water.

As the area around the station became more built up, the water had to be treated. From 1937, ozone was used to clean it. In 1934, the boilers for the Number 2 Engine were replaced. The new ones were more powerful.

However, the pumping station soon started to decline. Electric pumps became available in the 1940s. One was put in the Number 1 Engine room, and that engine was stopped. The new boilers were only used for 18 years. The Number 2 Engine was stopped in 1952. Many new pumping stations were built, and old water sources were reopened. The Goldstone Pumping Station was seen as old-fashioned. In 1971, the corporation planned to tear down the old buildings and scrap the steam equipment.

Saving the Engineerium

Jonathan Minns, an expert in steam and engineering, immediately tried to save the buildings. He asked for them to be "listed" as important historical buildings. This happened on June 17, 1971. A year later, a special order stopped anyone from tearing down or changing the buildings.

Minns got the right to use the complex in 1974. He planned to fix it up and create an industrial museum and education center. He also set up a special group to run it. The ownership of the water system had changed. It now belonged to a regional water company. This company gave Minns the lease.

Minns started with only £350, but soon more money came in. The water company gave £22,000. The government gave £40,000. In 1975, the trust received the biggest historical building grant in Sussex up to that time. In October 1975, Minns and eight volunteers began fixing the complex. It was in very bad shape!

The boiler house and Number 2 Engine were in terrible condition. The roof was broken, metal parts were rusty, and moss was growing everywhere. The Number 2 Engine hadn't run since 1954. It had to be taken apart and rebuilt while the building was fixed around it. Every moving part was cleaned by hand. The outside was repainted to its original color. The eight men worked for about six months. The Number 2 Engine was successfully started again on March 14, 1976!

Opening to the Public

The complex first opened to the public on Good Friday 1976. The official reopening was on October 26, 1976. This was exactly 100 years after the Number 2 Engine first started! The old coal store was turned into an exhibition area. At this time, it was called the Brighton and Hove Engineerium. It got its current name, The British Engineerium, on May 30, 1981.

By then, about 1,500 exhibits were on display. The boilers and Number 2 Engine were started up every weekend. Running the Engineerium and paying 18 people cost about £250,000 per year. Even though it was a leader in industrial heritage, it didn't get money from the central government.

Employees of the Engineerium helped set up or fix more than 20 similar places worldwide. The Duke of Kent visited the center in 1993. This visit was part of a request for £4 million to expand the museum. The owner also tried to get a National Lottery grant, but it didn't work out. However, Vodafone paid to put a mobile phone mast on the chimney.

Recent Years

Money problems caused the Engineerium to close in 2006. The complex and its contents were going to be sold at auction. But just before the auction, a local businessman, Mike Holland, offered £2 million for the buildings. He also offered over £1 million for the contents. This offer was accepted. On May 10, 2006, the Engineerium became Mike Holland's property.

The Engineerium stayed closed while the new owner made improvements. In February 2010, he said it would reopen within a year. On October 10, 2010, it opened for one day to raise money for charity. The Number 2 Engine was shown working. Many steam engines and other exhibits were on display.

In August 2011, the city council approved plans for renovation and an extension. Engineers found that part of the building was in poor condition. In January 2012, more permission was asked for to rebuild part of the machine room. General restoration work started in October 2012. Another open day was held to help with this.

Jonathan Minns, the man who saved the Engineerium, passed away on October 13, 2013, at age 75. Two years later, a fire damaged the chimney. In March 2018, the entire complex was put up for sale.

Architecture of the Engineerium

The walls have multi-coloured, multi-layered brickwork.

Coursed flint walls surround the Engineerium.

Historians have called the Engineerium a "splendid example of Victorian industrial engineering." The buildings have colorful, detailed brickwork. The 95-foot (29 m) chimney is also very detailed and is a landmark in Hove. Both the buildings and the machines inside show that Victorian designers believed everything should be fancy and decorated.

The main buildings have bands of red, yellow, and purplish-blue bricks. The ground floor has red bricks that look rough and strong. The cast-iron windows are set in round-arched openings. A decorative line of red and black bricks runs around the whole building. The slate roof has flat-topped gables above the engine rooms.

The two engine rooms are two stories tall. They have three sections with three windows each. They are on either side of the single-story boiler room. The boiler room also has three sections with windows like the engine rooms.

The chimney stands about 7 feet (2.1 m) south of the main buildings. It's a rectangular, bell-tower-style structure. It has a strong base and gets slightly narrower as it goes up. It has tall arched panels on each side. The brickwork is the same colors and style as the other buildings.

The old coal shed, now the exhibition hall, is made of red and brown brick. It has a shallow slate roof. The workshops are attached to the back, making the building L-shaped. Because the land slopes, the building looks like one story from the front and two stories at the back. The front has three arched entrances.

Behind the complex is the cooling pond. It measures 1,100 square feet (100 m²) and has a waterway (leat) around three sides. It's surrounded by small walls of red brick. Pipes connect the leat to the boiler house. Hot water from the boilers flowed into the pond to cool down. Then, the cold water went back to be used again.

Tall walls of flint and brick surround the complex. They were built in 1866. Most of the walls are made of small flints laid in rows. Other parts have red brick with flints inside. The main entrance has red-brick pillars with special flintwork. There are also iron railings and gates with the fleur-de-lis design.

Exhibits at the Engineerium

The Engineerium has a Corliss steam engine dating from 1859.

The Engineerium has hundreds of exhibits about engineering and steam power. Many are in the exhibition hall, which used to be the coal storage shed. The main exhibit there is a Corliss steam engine built in France in 1859.

An American inventor named George Henry Corliss created this engine design. The special valve system he invented made these engines much more efficient. The Engineerium's engine was built in 1859. It was shown at a big exhibition in Paris in 1889, where it won first prize! It was then used for over 50 years at a hospital in France. Jonathan Minns bought it, took it apart, brought it to the Engineerium, and put it back together in 1975. This engine can create 91 horsepower. Its 13-foot (4.0 m), 4-long-ton (4.1 t) flywheel spins 80 times a minute. The whole machine weighs 16 long tons (16.3 t)!

Exhibits include this 1890 steam-powered fire engine.

The Engineerium also has a horse-drawn fire engine from 1890. It used to belong to the local fire department in Barnstaple. The museum's team bought and restored it. It's a steam engine with two cylinders. A steam traction engine built in 1886 has also been restored. There are also many old motorcycles on display. The oldest is an Ariel Motorcycles vehicle from 1915.

Other parts of the complex show smaller steam engines. You can also see Victorian tools and household items like old stoves. Much of the equipment in the workshop is original. This includes the main forge and a heavy-duty metal lathe. The steam engine that powered the workshop tools was already old when the Goldstone Pumping Station got it in 1875.

From the very beginning, the goal of the museum was to show the history of engineering and British industry. This was done by fixing the pumping station's original machines. They also collected other items linked to famous engineers like James Watt and George Stephenson. For example, there's a model of Stephenson's Locomotion No 1 engine. It was valued at £75,000 when the Engineerium was up for auction in 2006.

Heritage Status

When Jonathan Minns found out the complex might be torn down in 1971, he worked to get it "listed" as a historic building. The Historic Buildings Council for England (now English Heritage) agreed. They gave it listed status in five separate parts on June 7, 1971.

The boiler rooms and engine house were listed together at Grade II*. The free-standing chimney also got Grade II* status. Three more structures were listed at Grade II: the cooling pond and leat, the coal storage shed, and the flint and brick walls around the complex.

Grade II* is the second-highest of the three levels for listed buildings. These buildings are "particularly important" and have "more than special interest." As of February 2001, the boiler house and chimney were two of the 70 Grade II*-listed buildings in Brighton and Hove. Grade II is the lowest status. It's given to "nationally important buildings of special interest."

In 1982, the whole Engineerium area became a conservation area. This means it's a special zone where the historical character is protected. It's one of 34 such areas in the city of Brighton and Hove.