Records and plans of Papplewick pumping station, including material relating to Salterford pumping station, Nottinghamshire, 1879-1960s

The collection consists primarily of records originally held at Papplewick Pumping Station, including a large number of plans, works/operational diaries and registers, engineers' reports, technical records relating to inspections and testing, as well as photographs and ephemera relating to staff social activities.

The records primarily relate to Papplewick Pumping Station, but there are also a number relating to Salterford Pumping Station (a pumping station only around a mile from Papplewick on the Old Rufford Road in Calverton, which opened in Nov. 1880), and Newstead water tower and booster plant.

The large group of plans comprises plans of buildings and apparatus at Papplewick Pumping Station. Buildings featured includes the engine and boiler house, stokers' cottage, chimney, sheds and workshops. Apparatus includes diagrams of engines and pumping equipment (and their components), the cooling pond, and pipes. Only about two thirds of the plans are dated but the plan number sequence seems to be roughly chronological.

Notably also present are a series of minute books and summary accounts of Northern Waterworks and Nottingham Water Works Company 1824-1880 (PPS/27-28 and PPS/29/1), summary capital book of Nottingham Corporation Water Department (PPS/29/2), and printed rules and regulations for the Corporation of Nottingham/City of Nottingham Water Department 1880-1914.

Note that other material relating to Papplewick Pumping Station can be found amongst the records of the City of Nottingham Water Department (R/HR).

In 1879, a reservoir was built near to the Nottinghamshire village of Papplewick by the Nottingham Waterworks Company to store water from its Bestwood Waterworks. In the same year, the Corporation of Nottingham took over undertakings of privately owned water companies by act of Parliament at a time when improvement in the amount and quality of water for the people and businesses of rapidly expanding Nottingham was of great concern. In 1884, the Corporation completed the construction of Papplewick Pumping Station near to the reservoir on land purchased from Andrew Montagu.. The station was driven by two beam engines made by James Watt and Co., with an elaborate pumphouse designed by Marriott Ogle Tarbotton. The construction of the station involved the installation of boilers made by Galloway and a cooling pond. The station pumped 1.5 million gallons per engine per year.

Despite the many technological advancements in pumping stations since 1884, Papplewick Pumping Station's steam driven Watt engines remained in service until 1969 when the engines were replaced by electric pumps to reduce costs. In the same year, the pumping station was placed on standby service and it was finally closed in 1973. It was replaced by a completely new electric pump house.

The physical condition of the redundant Papplewick Pumping Station deteriorated but was rescued by a charitable trust which was granted a lease from Nottingham City Council. A volunteers' group, the Papplewick Association, first met in 1975 and was initially set up to preserve the engines. It completed much restoration work: overhauling the machinery and cleaning out the cooling pond. The pumping station was first opened to the public on 15 April 1976. Construction of new accommodation for visitor and volunteer facilities designed by architects Cullen, Carter and Hill began in 1991 at the same time as the release of a funding prospectus to encourage 250,000 pounds of investment into the project. In 2002, the Heritage Lottery Fund granted 1.6 million pounds for restoration, conservation and improved facilities.

PPS/1-PPS/3: Plans of buildings and machinery at Papplewick pumping station.

PPS/4: Plan of the water supply network.

PPS/5-PPS/23: Works, operational and technical records for Papplewick, Salterford and Newstead.

PPS/24: Correspondence and memos

PPS/25-26: Staff photographs and ephemera relating to social clubs and activities.

PPS/27-28: Minute books of Nottingham Water Works and its predecessor Northern Waterworks (for related records see MS 880).

PPS/29: Summary acounts of the Corporation of Nottingham Water Department and its predecessors.

PPS/30: Rules and regulations of the Corporation of Nottingham Water Department and its predecessors.

PPS/31-32: Blank forms (retained because they show documentation/reporting procedures).

PPS/33: Product catalogues and instruction manuals.

PPS/34: Publications

PPS/35: Digital images of plans held elsewhere

PPS/36: Framed photographs of the pumping station during and after construction.

Most of the records have previous references written on them, these have been noted in the catalogue.

Accessible to all readers. Readers are asked to use surrogate copies of some materials.

Online: Online catalogue available from the Manuscripts and Special Collections website.

Good

Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Keeper of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk).

Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

The bulk of the collection was acquired by The University of Nottingham's Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections in May 2001, with accruals in December 2005 and September 2017.

Records of the City of Nottingham Water Department are held in Manuscripts and Special Collections (Ref: R/HR).

Manuscripts and Special Collections also holds the records of other departments of the Trent River Board/Authority (Clerk's Department Ref: RC, Treasurer's Department Ref: RT, Hydrology Department Ref: RH, Engineers Department Ref: RE; Governance records Ref: RG); also their predecessors (Trent Navigation Company Ref: RtN, Brigg Court of Lincolnshire Commissioners of Sewers Ref: Br, Court of Sewers for the Level of Hatfield Chase/Hatfield Chase Corporation Ref: HCC, Trent Fishery Board Ref: RTF); their successors (Severn Trent Water Authority Ref: RWA, Severn Trent Water Ref. RST, National Rivers Authority Ref: RRA, Environment Agency Ref: REA); also records relating to sewerage and water supply (City of Nottingham Water Department Ref: R/HR, Derwent Valley Water Board Ref: DVW, Stoke Bardolph and Bulcote Model Farms Ref: RSB, Papplewick Pumping Station Ref: PPS, Nottingham New Waterworks/Northern Waterworks Company Ref: MS 880); also papers of an employee of the Trent River Authority (H.R. Potter Ref: HRP).