SANDFIELDS PUMPING STATION
Sandfields is the oldest pumping station site belonging to South Staffs Water, having once formed part of the original scheme implemented by the Company, shortly after its formation. Under the South Staffordshire Waterworks Company Act 1853, the Company was authorised to provide `a more ample supply of pure and wholesome water' to Lichfield, Walsall and other towns in the Black Country area. Originally Sandfields Pumping Station was the Company's sole source of supply, it was opened, as a tablet records, by Lord Ward the Earl of Dudley, on the 26th October 1858.
Part of the Company's original scheme comprised the construction of a 14 feet diameter by 77 feet deep pilot well connected to three sump wells each 8 feet in diameter by 70 feet deep, together with a new pumping station, all located at the Sandfields site. A ¾ mile long tunnel was driven under the city of Lichfield to connect the new pumping works with two impounding reservoirs, Stowe and Minster Pools, located near Lichfield Cathedral. A system of valves enabled Stowe Pool (a storage reservoir) to discharge water into the tunnel feeding the Sandfields Works in times of shortage, but otherwise Stowe Pool would fill by the natural supplies from Leomansley and Trunkfield Brooks reaching it via an overflow weir sited at one end of the Minster Pool. Water gravitated along the tunnel from the two reservoirs to the sump wells, where it was raised by pumping plant and delivered to supply in one lift. The supply main comprised a 22" diameter pumping pipeline to a brick built surge stack at Brownhills, and a 24" diameter gravitating pipeline terminating at the Moat, a reservoir at Walsall. This 11 mile long cast iron supply main was laid alongside the Lichfield to Walsall and Dudley railway line between 1856 and 1858. Later in 1880 the source of supply was supplemented by the addition of a 3 ½ mile long tunnel linking the pumping station to a newly constructed impounding reservoir at Hanch some 4 miles to the north of Lichfield.
The original pumping plant was designed and erected under the supervision of the Company's first engineer and originator, John Robinson McClean M.P. a well known engineer and railway contractor. The original buildings (demolished in 1966) were designed and erected by Branson and Gwyther (Birmingham). Originally the pumping plant installed in 1858, comprised two (Nr.1 and Nr.2) double acting, expansion and condensing, single cylinder beam engines, built by James Watt & Company (Birmingham). The two engines were connected by a common crankshaft to a single flywheel positioned between them. Foundations for a similar, but independent Nr.3 engine, were laid at the same time as those for Nr.1 and Nr.2 engines. The Nr.3 engine was installed in 1866. Each engine developed 120 HP at 9 RPM and had a capacity for pumping water at the rate of 1,250,000 gallons per day with a delivery head of 355 feet on the force pumps.
In 1873 an additional sump well was constructed, and the original beam engine house extended to accommodate the Cornish beam engine (Nr.4) which has been preserved in its original setting. The single acting expansion and condensing Cornish beam engine was constructed by George and Jonah Davies (Tipton) and ran until 1927, when it was retired from its standby duty service. It has a steam cylinder of 65" diameter and a stroke of 9 feet and once developed 190 HP at 7 strokes per minute, whilst pumping at a rate of 2,000,000 gallons per day with a delivery head of 355 feet on the force pump. A Tuscan arcade of three arches with fluted columns, supports the bearings for the beam and the whole construction even the smallest moulding, illustrates the close relationship between architecture and engineering prevalent in the second half of the 19th century.
The pumping system associated with the Nr.4 beam engine comprised a single acting well pump of the bucket type, with a force pump in the same lift which was of the bucket and plunger type with a weight box on the top of the plunger, all worked from the beam. The cost of the Cornish engine, pumping plant and three boilers was £6,690.
A surface condenser is located in a cast iron cistern located underneath the engine The circulating water gravitated into the cistern from the Wyrley and Essington canal (now infilled) which ran alongside the station, a circulating pump was employed to return the water to the canal.
GEORGE AND JONAH DAVIES STEAM ENGINE DETAILS
Power 190 HP
Speed 7 Strokes per minute
Engine House Size 52 Feet long, 20 Feet wide, 42 Feet high
Beam Length 36 Feet
Beam Weight 20 Tons
Steam Cylinder 65" Diameter x 9 Feet stroke
Well Pump Bucket 2 Feet 1 Inch Diameter x 9 Feet stroke
Originally in 1858 engines Nrs 1 and 2 were steamed by a battery of four Lancashire boilers, each 7 feet diameter by 32 feet long, at a daily working pressure of 25 psi. Two additional boilers were installed in 1867 to steam the Nr.3 engine. In 1873 three additional boilers were added to steam the Cornish engine at a daily working pressure of 40 psi.
Therefore there were originally a total of nine Lancashire boilers employed to steam the the four beam engines. The original boilers were eventually condemed and in 1907 four were removed and three new Lancashire boilers each 8 feet diameter by 30 feet long and suitable for a working pressure of 100 psi. were supplied by Edwin Danks & Co. (Oldbury).
In 1922 the pumping station was remodelled to facilitate the installation of a new filtration scheme, work on which commenced in 1924 and was completed in 1927. The original plant (engines Nrs 1, 2, 3 & 4) pumped the water from their individual sump wells in one lift to supply. This lift could not be divided to feed the new filtration plant and although the beam engines were reliable they were inefficient and so became redundant. The three rotative beam engines (Nrs 1, 2, & 3) were removed and the engine house transformed. Sulzer horizontal Uniflow engines were installed in 1922, they developed 390 HP each at 158 RPM. Each engine drove a 255 volt dc. electric generator which powered electrically driven vertical spindle well pumps (to deliver water to the filtration plant) and a belt driven horizontal centrifugal pump (to deliver the filtered water to supply). The duty of each Uniflow engine was 3,000,000 gallons per day against a delivery head of 400 feet (80 feet to the filtration plant and 320 feet to supply). Together with the installation of the Uniflow engines the three boilers previously installed in 1907 were fitted with superheaters to steam the new engines more efficiently.
In 1966 the pumping plant was fully modernised with the construction of a new pump house building and the installation of new electrically powered pumping plant. The new pumphouse was constructed on the site of the 1858 engine house using the original basement and wall footings. The chimney stack and boiler house were demolished.
By 1968 Stowe and Minster Pools were no longer required for supply purposes by the Company and were subsequently returned to the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of Lichfield by conveyance on 11th October 1969.
Finally in 1996 negotiations were entered into with the Environment Agency to reduce groundwater abstraction in the Lichfield area in order to improve base flows in Leomansley Brook. It was subsequently decided to cease pumping completely from Sandfields and the pumps were shut down in September 1997. The filtration plant was demolished in June 1998 leaving the Cornish engine house and the empty 1966 pumphouse as the only major structures still standing.
The Cornish engine house is a Grade II listed building and will be retained in perpetuity. A group comprising a number of enthusiastic South Staffs Water employees and like minded individuals from the nearby Burton on Trent based Clay Mills Pumping Engine Trust have formed the "Friends of Sandfields Pumping Station" who have commenced cleaning and restoration work on the Cornish engine with the primary objective of cleaning and restoring the engine to first-class condition and periodically opening the premises to the general public.