Eastbourne Pump House - Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations

December 30, 2014 at 8:09 pm by v

Not a great deal here at the Eastbourne Pump House to be honest with you apart from butterflies, pigeon poo and urban decay! We had used an old metal wheelbarrow found in the yard as a step ladder to help us over the 8ft wooden fence but when it came to climbing back over, the wheelbarrow had gone! Somebody was having a laugh at our expense because once we were both back over I saw the wheelbarrow was back where I originally found it.

The following was nicked from here. “The site contains the 1881 Pumping Station building that is identified as a Building of Local Interest. The Pump House is built of yellow brick, with red brick detailing. The strong, clean lines are accented by deep cornice with machicolations. A slate roof with lantern to the main and subsidiary space Cast iron windows, with fixed glass accentuate the verticality of the building. Rainwater goods are run internally, maintaining the visual purity of elevations. The main and subsidiary spaces are top lit from lanterns.

Internal flooring where it still exists is a mix of red and blue brick, with cast and wrought iron stairs with original wooden block treads. To basement level, massive cast iron members and junctions are visible, which presumably had a function of supporting the floor to which the pumps themselves were housed, or the building generally. Each floor level of the building is single space, with the original metal ties and trusses of the roof space exposed. The Pump House was originally one space, with the boiler house as a subsidiary part to the main building. an internal floor has been introduced since the pumping machinery was removed.”

Built in 1881 but wasn’t a pumping station for long by all accounts (1883 – 1895) as the water was rank, and has been used as council depot, workshops and lastly by Serco. The whole site has now been razed to the ground and only this building remains of the old water pumping station complex with plans afoot to turn the Eastbourne pump house into a luxury apartment block with houses in the rest of the grounds. Another victim of Urban Decay. Visited with my Grandson.

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Eastbourne Pump House Water Pumping Urban Decay