Nordelph Pumping Station, (Old) Pophams Eau

Pumps at this location

years	power	location	engines	pumps/wheel	ouput
1748-1887	Wind	GR TL 545010 (see maps)	various; 1853? a smock mill, only top (cap) turned	20ft timber wheel on east	?
1877-1932	Steam	w of wind pump beyond tail pole path	40hp Appleby 2x20ft boilers 60ft chimney	24x4ft iron wheel on west	100 tpm
1932-1970	Diesel	on site of wind pump	2x3cyl Allen	2xAllen centrifugal	?
1970-today	Electric	behind diesel house	?	submersible?	?

data extracts from "Fenland Pumping Engines" by KSG Hinde, Landmark Publishing, 2006
To see how a wind drainage pump worked, go to Norfolk Mills page windmill machinery

Wind

The history of wind-powered drainage here is unclear, and the terminology confusing. Many people refer to those machines as wind-millsMost fens had such drainage by the 1750s, but the sucess was also a problem. As the peat soil dried it lowered the the level of the the fenlands, needing larger wheels to reach deeper into the drains. Some mills were strong enough to cope with the heavier wheels, but others had to be replaced. Maps did not record those changes.

Genuki lists four Acts covering drainage here. The earliest of those, 1748, could have authorised the first wind-pump at this location, those of 1772 and 1801 may have been for replacements. I think the 1872 Act was for Steam.

Samuell Well's map of 1828, published with his 1830 Vols 1 & 2, shows a windpump on the Eau (above the N of Neatmore in the pink section) draining (parts of?) Neatmore Fen/Common. I haven't discovered whether that was the mill shown in photos below or an earlier one

image: section of Wells 1828 map in my collection
Incidentally, Well's map seems to me to be based on Jonas Moore's map of 1658-1720; both show the "lots" (Allotments) in red.

The OS 25inch map of 1892-1914 (shown on National Library of Scotland's website) shows a 6-sided wind pump and its scoopwheel on its right side. The drain bringing water to the pump come up from bottom left. Pophams Eau runs left to right, flowing east at that time. Note footpath (dotted lines) leading to footbridge (F.B.) across thr Eau. Note also a small building on left of drain, possibly the home of the pump attendant/manager

image: OS 25inch map on National Library of Scotland website
Shows 6-sided windpump with scoopwheel on east side, and a roughly circular line around it which I belive may be the path of the tail-pole wheel, the main channel in, a branch channel to feed the steam plant, and the outlet sluice into the Eau.


photo: from a lithograph in WH Wheeler's 1868 book of Sth Lincs, taken from the cover of Darby's 1983 book
This is a smock-mill very similar to one at Nordelp in c1905. This would have been the view from the Eau's north bank. It had a brick base up to about 10ft, then a six-sided fixed timber tower. The top cap with the sails was the only part that turned.

The "V" shaped timber structure coming down from the cap is the "tail-pole". The lower end was moved around to set the sails into the wind. Some were wound by a hand wheel as in the picture, some had a wheel and were pulled. The circular path is shown on the OS map above. The actual scopwheel was 20ft diameter, which looked smaller than this one.


photo: Peter Cox, Feb 2022, Olympus E-PL1
I believe this is the actual sluice exit, as seen from the north bank of the Eau in 2022

The 1887 Steam plant on right (to west) was built just outside that ring. The chimney was said to be 60ft tall and demolished in 1936. .


photo: from Norfolk Mills website, captioned c1920 (from Ron Stannard?)
Despite the caption, this must be 1932 as the brick building on right is the new steam house built that year.
For names of the people, go to the Norfolk Mills site.. The sails have already been removed. The roof of the pump manager's bungalow on left. A new channel cut branching off from main channel fed the steam pumps.

Steam

photo: cropped from Norfolk Mills website photo, captioned c1905 (from Ron Stannard)
Seen from north bank of Eau. I guess the nearest building would have been the boiler house, containing 2 coal-fired Cornish boilers 20ft long x 5 ft diameter. The far building the engine house with a 40hp Appleby steam-engine driving the wheel outside by a 9inch diam iron shaft through the wall.


image from plate 6 of WH Wheeler's Drainage of Fens and Low Lands, 1888
Seen from the west; the Eau on the left, the low fens on right. Note, the wheel rotated clockwise, the bades pushing rather than scooping the fen water up (about 4 feet).