DANCERS END PUMPING STATION
Location/Address
None recorded
Type
Other site, structure or landscape
Assets that cannot fit any of the other categories. This category includes sites of archaeological interest, where the original form and function may not be apparent without the use of archaeological techniques and interpretation.Description
Nineteenth century pumping station and waterworks at Dancer's End, opened in 1867 and later extended.
ASSUMED SITED SO RESERVOIRS HAVE ALTITUDE TO FEED 3 ROTHSCHILD MANSIONS AT TRING, HALTON & WADDESDON. WAS IN POSITION TO OBTAIN LIME FROM CHALK FOR SOFTENING. COMPLETED 1866. NOW WORKING AUTOMATICALLY WITH ELECTRIC PUMPS. OLDER ITEMS OUT OF USE INCLUDE DOUBLE BEAM PUMPING STATION & SOFTENING TANKS (B1).
Monuments Protection Programme report and site assessment. Well composed group of buildings forming architecturally fine pumping station - at 1866 an early use of Artisan Mannerist style. Original steam engine is preserved at Kew. The site is also notable for the survival of its lime kilns and associated workings. Covered reservoirs on hill above site. Constructed for Chiltern Hills Waterworks Co. (B3).
Steam engine, dismantled in 1977 and taken to Kew Bridge, described by Hayes G 1981 (B4).
Photograph of the Boiler/Engine House (B5).
The compact grounds of a mid-C19 rural fresh water pumping station c.1866 in a hilly Chiltern setting, well preserved if somewhat neglected, with strong links to the Rothschild family. It is focussed on a central brick pumping house and ancillary structures by one of the main architects to the Rothschild landowners in the Vale of Aylesbury, George Devey. Devey was a nationally renowned architect. The layout was probably designed by the consultant engineer to the Chiltern Hills Spring Water Company, Samuel Homersham, in 1865, accommodating Devey’s buildings. An avenue of mature cedars of several varieties lines the drive, of types commonly found in the nearby Rothschild parks and gardens. The focal landscape feature, the oval cooling pond, is overlooked by the engine house, with on the opposite side of the drive the remains of a substantial kitchen garden for the associated staff cottages. The later Superintendent’s house (built by 1897) overlooks the whole site, standing in its own garden. The pumping station was built early in the development of C19 waterworks in England when most undertakings, both private and municipal, were architecturally impressive and many had ornamented landscapes (e.g. Bestwood in Nottinghamshire). See report for detail (B8).
Statement of Significance
Asset type
Nineteenth century pumping station and waterworks at Dancer's End, opened in 1867 and later extended.
Date Listed
n/a