Burton upon Trent’s Claymills Victorian Pumping Station commenced pumping pooh in 1885, so this year will be its 125th anniversary. Of course it hasn’t pumped pooh since 1969 and in the beginning it’s main role was to pump brewery effluent to the town sewage farm as during the 19th century Burton became the largest brewing centre in the world. Reading the local 1880’s newspapers is really fascinating because there are stories of the project being totally unnecessary and going over budget, so obviously some things just never change.
Frighteningly, in the early 1990’s, that bane of every heritage enthusiast "progress" reared its ugly head and the station only just escaped the dreaded bulldozers. But it lives again so that in itself is something to celebrate in this 125th year of its existence.
On Sunday August 29th and Monday August 30th the pumping station will be in steam and holding a Victorian themed celebration and we are reliably informed that Queen Victoria will be attending together with Mr James Mansergh, the eminent civil engineer who designed the sewage farm and pumping station. The present mayor will also be coming along and we're not quite sure what will happen when a second millennium person meets a Victorian.
Naturally pride of place will be given to the two huge operating Gimson of Leicester pumping beam engines but there will be plenty of other things to see. When in operation the site had over twenty steam engines and today over twenty of these are still on site chuffing away. The Victorian steam driven workshop will be in full swing and the blacksmith will be producing Victorian toys. Various local organisations will be involved in running Victorian stalls and a model layout of that wonder of the age, the railway, will be operating. A wood turner will also be giving demonstrations. Claymills also has the oldest known working example of that other Victorian technological device that revolutionised the way people lived, the electrical generator. The site is rather restricted but there’s room for a model Burrell traction engine that will be giving rides. The children will certainly not be left out, as they will be able to start a steam engine, blow a Victorian steam whistle and follow the trail of Victorian rats.
If all this joviality becomes too much you can enjoy a cup of tea and munch a sandwich or piece of delicious homemade cake. Next door to the refreshment area is the second hand bookshop. We're not sure how many Victorian books there are in there but it nevertheless is always very popular.
Just stick DE13 0DA into your Victorian navigation system and you’ll be there in no time or look at www.claymills.org.uk for further details. There will be a reduced admission charge for those visitors in Victorian dress.
We very much hope that you will be able to join in the celebrations with us from 10am until 5pm on both days.