# Dalton Victorian Pumping Station, Seaham nr Sunderland, Oct 07



## BrickMan (May 1, 2008)

Doesn't appear there is a thread on here, so I'll throw this up 

_This pumping station was built 1866/1880 by the South Shields and Sunderland Water Company. The station was closed in mid 1940's due to foundation movement that compromised the building and hence the gantry crane, used for maintenance. There is also evidence of movement in the bedwork, I believe. The £530k E.H. grant was for the structural repairs and conservation of the machinery. The building restoration was carried out by Peter Wakefield Restorations, to a very high standard. The Station is Grade 2 listed, and if EH want it to be preserved by the then owner in its original state, it is only right that they foot the bill. Why the new use venture failed, is another matter._
/taken from dirus-strictus

Meaning, that in the late 90's sometime someone bought it from the water board and 5yrs later managed to get a grant from English Heritage for approx half a million (or so I've heard), to turn it into a resturant, not to steam the engines, but to restore them to a good condition so they will not degrade, and also a lot a lot of money was spent on restoring teh EXCELLENT hand cut stone work of the exterior (and interior in places) of the building. 

Unfortunatly I have no exterior shots, but a quick search thru 28days will pull something up, i'll tag links on at the end (other peoples shots will prob be much better than mine!).

Ok the site, some explorers had visited before, although it was first discovered/visited by northern exposure, even though about everybody knew it was there 

Due to its proximity to some houses/owner I wanted to get in during dark, about an hour before sunrise then wait till sunrise for my photos, uber stealth 

And hell am glad I did, it made this my most memorable explore/favourite to visit, even though I didn't take many pics because I was jsut so conetent with looking at it, mostly in awe!!!






what greeted me when I woke up from my doze in the corner (until sun up).





got to love that morning sun





the pumping rods, the one on the left would recipricate up and down into the sump pumping fresh water for miles around. The column on the right was cleaned up and detailed from the heritage money, its all been done very well using correct materials so it won't rust/flake again.





damn BIG bolts to hold thing down, this is bigger than a humans head, although I didn't find the spanner that tightened it!





down in the boiler house, no boilers remain, but it was rumoured there was 8 double lancashire boilers in there? (not sure how true that is, but they'd have easily fitted!!!). I just love th victorians needless attention to detail, I mean this room would have been filled with hot grease and steam pretty much 24/7 and yet its got stained glass, fancy bits on the roof splay supports, hand cut stone window edging etc etc
I think the floor was cobbled as well, cna't remember.


Ok now some in film, most of my shots were in film (2reels) however a cockup at sainsburies mean't almost one entire film was damaged, and this one had barely any usable shots. My lense hood was also on 90degrees wrong so its in most shots LOL





more of that loverly paintwork





this is my fav film shot that survived, this is one big bush link! ceramic bushs too! and complelty mint! not a bit of play or signs of them cracking or degrading!!!





valve gear





one of the two low pressure cylinders, these things were 2storeys high and just plain massive!!

more digi I forgot about





this is downstairs, the bottom of the two enormous low pressure cylinders are visible left and right, and I had a play with some glowsticks in themiddle LOL





more needless atn to detail on the windows! inside aswell!! the inside of upstairs USED to be plastered! its now been removed, or probably fell down by itself, but still, amazing that they would plaster the inside of an industrial room!





the only decay in the whole building was the rust on this chain, and the colours were just loverly!





more huge bolts holding the thing down.

It was quite common for these pumps to vibrate the building to pieces! literally the 2nd floor would dettach from the lower floors part way round the building as the two beam engines fought to beat the water into submission, so the fact it ceased pumping in 1937 mean't this damage was extremely limited, and hence why it still stands today.

Easily one of my fav explores of all time, even though my pictures weren't exactly the best!

for better pictures see turkeys post on 28...

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=15855


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## Neosea (May 1, 2008)

I love these old beam engines, thanks for the pic's


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## Bunk3r (May 1, 2008)

i need to get to one of these old pumping stations, there is one in hull which opened as a museum but now it is back to yorkshire water only no public access.


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## Dirus_Strictus (May 2, 2008)

This pumping station was built 1866/1880 by the South Shields and Sunderland Water Company. The station was closed in mid 1940's due to foundation movement that compromised the building and hence the gantry crane, used for maintenance. There is also evidence of movement in the bedwork, I believe. The £530k E.H. grant was for the structural repairs and conservation of the machinery. The building restoration was carried out by Peter Wakefield Restorations, to a very high standard. The Station is Grade 2 listed, and if EH want it to be preserved by the then owner in its original state, it is only right that they foot the bill. Why the new use venture failed, is another matter. 

Unfortunately; the picture of a large vibrating engine fighting the water, is artistic license. I do not believe these engines are Watt's Patent Reciprocating Beam Engines, thus they have no rotating mass. The pump and power pistons were carefully balanced, and as such there is no vibration in normal operation. Also the beam has a slow working cycle, which means the large capacity (in gals/hour) is due to the huge volume of water lifted at each stroke. Dozens of pumping stations like this were built, and many were kept as standby units, when the new fangled electric high capacity pumps came on line. The fact that there are a number of much larger capacity stations still in full working order (Papplewick for instance with Watt's unique reciprocating beam engines), questions the veracity of this statement. Also the only place you will find ceramics used in a Victorian pump house is on the walls - as decorative tiles. All the bushes and bearings will be Bronze, carefully hand scraped and fitted.

Sorry if you all find this nit picking, it is not meant as criticism - far from it. However history is not worth a jot if the facts get scrambled in with urban myths and tap room gossip. The trouble with this media is that myths and incorrect facts get quoted by all and sundry, even ending up back in print! 

My working life was spent finding the facts and reporting same, and I believe very strongly that forums such as this should contain correct facts - if they are available. Other wise let the pictures do the talking. Which by the way, the ones posted here do very well.


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## BrickMan (May 2, 2008)

cheers dirus, much more useful facts there 

I knew there was damage to the building which was caused by the machinary itself, but how exactly I wasn't sure, just reckoned that the enormous weight of it pumping up and down would be what caused it to vibrate to pieces.

theres more pictures on the stonemaisons website of whats been done to the stonework.


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## Dirus_Strictus (May 2, 2008)

BrickMan said:


> cheers dirus, much more useful facts there
> 
> I knew there was damage to the building which was caused by the machinary itself, but how exactly I wasn't sure, just reckoned that the enormous weight of it pumping up and down would be what caused it to vibrate to pieces.
> 
> theres more pictures on the stonemaisons website of whats been done to the stonework.



Thanks for accepting my post in the way it was meant to be taken - a passing on of new information.

Yes the damage here is somewhat strange. However, given the foundation problems, I think that it was the slow rocking motion of the beams that was transfered down into the foundations. More of a slow, but powerful, hammering action - if you get my drift.


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## Foxylady (May 5, 2008)

Wow, that is truly an amazing explore. Superb photos. I especially like the one of the valve gear as with it's decorative background it almost looks like a church organ. And stained-glass windows to die for! Excellent stuff!


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## BFG316 (May 6, 2008)

Great pics there Brickman!

I drive past this place quite frequently, and some time ago it was said in the local press that the owners had applied for a licence to turn it into a pub/night club! 

Anyway well done fella!!

Regards.

BFG


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## sqwasher (May 6, 2008)

You've got some great pics there-well worth the effort of getting in before daylight!  Sorry to hear you've lost some pics though, you'll need to revisit?


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## King Al (May 6, 2008)

Excellent pics + report, great looking place, the first two pics are really good with the sun coming in


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## Scrub2000 (May 8, 2008)

Great pics there...thanks for the view!! :thumb


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## tarboat (May 10, 2008)

Just beautiful to see. I like the idea of getting in early to see the interior as the sun came up. Not so sure about whether the use of glow sticks adds anything.


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