Mill Meece Pumping Station facts for kids
Mill Meece Pumping Station is a special old building in the village of Mill Meece, Staffordshire, England. It used to have big steam engines that pumped water from deep underground. This water then traveled to a reservoir and from there, it supplied water to homes in the Potteries area.
How Water Was Pumped
Mill Meece Pumping Station is about 5 miles west of a town called Stone. It was the second pumping station built in this area. There are four deep holes, called boreholes, on the site. Water is taken from these holes.
Inside the station, water was first lifted by special lift pumps. These pumps sent the water to an underground tank. From there, other pumps called ram pumps lifted the water even higher. Both types of pumps were powered by two huge steam engines. These engines used steam made by three large Lancashire boilers. A clever device called a Green's economiser helped make the steam process even more efficient.
The Story of Mill Meece
Building the pumping station was approved by a special law in 1912.
The pumping station started working in 1915 with one engine, two boreholes, and two boilers. However, it didn't start pumping water for public use until 1919. The second engine, which used two new boreholes, began pumping water in 1928. Both engines worked hard until December 22, 1979. Today, electric pumps still move water from the Mill Meece site. But the old steam engines are still there, in their original spots!
Since 1979, a group called the Mill Meece Preservation Trust has worked hard to fix up the pumping station. They held their first open day for visitors on May 30, 1981.
On July 18 and 19, 2021, the middle boiler was fixed and started working again. This meant both the Ashton Frost Engine and Hathorn Davey Engine could move with steam once more!
Come and Visit!
Mill Meece Pumping Station is now run by a charity called the Mill Meece Pumping Station Preservation Trust. You can find out when it's open to the public by checking their website. It's a great place to see how things worked in the past!
