Shore Road Pumping Station facts for kids
The Shore Road Pumping Station is a special building in Birkenhead, England. It's on the Wirral Peninsula, which is a piece of land near the sea. This building was once a pumping station, which means it had big machines to move water.
It was built in the 1880s by engineers James Brunlees and Charles Douglas Fox. They designed it to be part of the Mersey Railway. This railway has a tunnel that goes under the River Mersey. The pumping station's job was to keep this tunnel from flooding.
Inside, there were two huge steam-powered beam engine pumps. These pumps worked hard to remove water from the railway tunnel. By 1959, these old steam engines stopped working. They were replaced by newer electric pumps. One of the original steam engines, called the 'Giant Grasshopper', is still there. It has even been fixed up so it can work again!
The pumping station is a three-story building made of brick. It looks like buildings from Italy, a style called Italianate. Its roof is made of Welsh slate. In the late 1980s, a glass staircase was added to the front. This was when the building was turned into a museum.
There's another similar building, the Mann Island Pumping Station, across the river in Liverpool.
History of the Pumping Station
The Shore Road Pumping Station was given a special status in 1992. It became a Grade II listed building. This means it's an important historical building that needs to be protected.
Later, it became part of the Wirral Museum. They even rebuilt a street scene from Birkenhead in 1901 in the yard. This helped visitors imagine what life was like back then.
In 2009, the owners, Wirral Borough Council, thought about selling the museum. The museum then closed to the public sometime between 2012 and 2014.
In 2023, a group called Big Heritage announced plans to open the Pumping Station again. They held special open days in September, which many people enjoyed. The Pumping Station hasn't been open regularly since then. However, there are still plans to open it more permanently in the future.
External links
- Historic England listing for Shore Road Pumping Station
