Leawood Pump House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Leawood Pump House |
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Cromford |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 53°05′51″N 1°31′51″W / 53.09750°N 1.53083°W |
| Ordnance Survey | SK3152855682 |
| Designations | Grade II |
The Leawood Pump House (also called High Peak Pump House) is a really old and interesting building. It's located near Cromford, in Derbyshire, England. This special building was finished in 1849. Its main job was to pump water into the Cromford Canal. The canal itself was built about 50 years before the pump house. Today, the Leawood Pump House is considered a very important historic site. It is listed as a Grade II* building.
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Discovering the Leawood Pump House
The Leawood Pump House stands proudly near the River Derwent. You can find it a short walk along the canal path from High Peak Junction. The building is about 45 feet tall. It has a tall chimney stack, which is about 95 feet high, topped with a cast-iron cap. This chimney helped the steam engine work by letting out smoke.
The Giant Engine Inside
Inside the pump house is a huge steam engine. It's a special type called a Watt-type beam engine. This powerful engine was designed and built by a company called Graham and Company. They were from Milton Works in Elsecar, Sheffield.
The engine has a very long beam, about 33 feet long! Its piston is 50 inches across. The piston moves 10 feet with each stroke. This giant engine works at 7 strokes every minute. The boilers that power the engine were replaced in 1900. They create steam at a pressure of 40 pounds per square inch (p.s.i.).
How the Pump House Moves Water
The Leawood Pump House pulls water from the River Derwent. The water travels through a 150-yard long tunnel. This tunnel leads to a reservoir located in the pump house basement. From there, the engine lifts the water about 30 feet high. Then, it releases the water directly into the Cromford Canal.
This pump is incredibly powerful! It can move almost four tons of water with every single stroke. Since it makes seven strokes a minute, it can pump over 39,000 tons of water in just 24 hours. This huge capacity was important because there were rules about taking water from the River Derwent. The pump was only allowed to take water between 8 p.m. on Saturdays and 8 p.m. on Sundays.
History of the Pump House
The Leawood Pump House worked without stopping from 1849 until 1944. That's almost 100 years of continuous operation! It stopped working when the Cromford Canal officially closed down.
However, the story didn't end there. In 1979, a group called the Cromford Canal Society worked hard to restore the pump house. Thanks to their efforts, the Leawood Pump House is now a preserved piece of history. It is run from time to time, allowing visitors to see this amazing old machine in action.
