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An Edwardian original: Mill Meece

“Seen one beam engine and you’ve seen them all” is perhaps a little dismissive of some fine examples of steam engineering which enthusiasts have restored to working condition. Whereas there are several beam engines which can be seen working throughout the country, the same is not true of another type of steam engine used to pump water.

Mill Meece Pumping Station in Staffordshire is home to the only remaining examples of horizontal tandem compound steam engines which are still capable of being steamed. Indeed, the whole complex at Mill Meece is entirely original and today is still part of the water management facilities for Severn Trent Water. Although the steam engines are no longer ‘on line’ – their duties having been taken over by electric pumps – the pumping station remains part of our rich industrial heritage.

The Staffordshire Potteries Water Board selected an area of land at Mill Meece for the site of its proposed new pumping station to supplement the existing facility at nearby Hatton. The company purchased just over seven acres of land at Birch House Farm from Thomas Wibberly in May 1899 and an initial well was bored. The results were below expectations, probably due to the underlying geology. Over the next few years, further bore holes were sunk at different locations on the acreage which the company had bought but again they met with little success and were abandoned. In the hope of finding more consistent water supplies, an additional plot of land at Mill Meece Farm on the northern edge of the existing acreage was purchased in 1907 from the Swynnerton Estate trustees.

The principal trustee, Basil Fitzherbert, insisted on a free supply of water to estate properties and also stipulated that “furnace boilers shall be of the most approved design for lessening, so far as may be possible, the emission of smoke or noxious or offensive exhalations.” Messrs Mather and Platt were commissioned to drill the first bore hole in the new area and this was successfully completed in May 1909. It was 1242ft deep and 37in in diameter.

The first phase of work on the new pumping station saw the construction of the buildings, the laying of a rising main to the reservoir at Hanchurch and the supply and installation of the pumps, engines, boilers and ancillary equipment. The legacy of problems encountered with the initial boreholes seemed to continue during the construction phase, as the initial site for the engine house was found to lay over a minor geological fault. The contractors, Thomas Godwin & Son of Hanley, had to relocate the engine house, but unfortunately building work on the chimney had already started. As a result, the position of the chimney in relation to the boiler house seems illogical.

Once these initial problems had been dealt with, the project made good progress, with the construction work which started in June 1913 being completed in May the following year. Tenders for the engine, boiler and ancillaries had been issued in 1912 with the company seemingly in favour of the installation of two engines and three boilers. However, it was later decided to phase in the equipment and the contract was awarded to Ashton Frost & Co Ltd of Blackburn for the installation of one engine, two boilers and “certain supporting beams and pipework pre-fixed for the second engine” at a total cost of £10,401. The boilers, economisers, superheater and ancillaries were delivered and installed in April 1914 while the engine was erected at the Ashton Frost Works by May 1914 and delivered to Mill Meece in June.

Erection of the engine was duly completed and it was started for the first time on 25 November 1914. Although the engine performed satisfactorily, there were problems with the pumps. The plant began working in 18 January 1915 and was pumping four million gallons a day to reduce the water levels while the construction of the boreholes was completed. However, the Mill Meece ‘gremlins’ soon returned and problems with sand in the boiler system valves and the temporary bore hole pump meant that the plant was closed down for several years.