Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Original Prenton Waterworks

This is a bit of a long shot but.... does anyone out there have any photographs of the massive Victorian building that housed the pumping engines at the Prenton "Borehole" ??

It was demolished (with difficulty) in the early 1970's and replaced with electric pumps in the industrial "sheds" that are there now.

Used to walk past it every day when going to Prenton Primary School. Coal fired Lancashire boilers, that hot oil and coal smoke smell, massive flywheel revolving, slow thump-thump-thump of the engine.

Photographic opportunities missed !!!

Might drop a request to the local rag (B'head News ?).

were is it? can you google map it?

It "WAS" at BMW_Joe's arrow. Thanks for adding that Joe.

no problem

Where that arrow is i have been in that building a few times. When i was younger probberly 10 years ago now i went to Cubs. Originaly the building/hall we used was through a little road in the gap between the houses on Woodchurch Road opposite Kenmore Road. Unfortuantly that hall was burnt down so we moved to the building where the arrow is pointing to. Half of it was a sort of hall and the other half was this Waterworks thinkg. The actual site is not that big at all and i don't recall any old foundations or sign of a "massive Victorian building".
I later moved to the cub scouts on the Woodchurch which was in a hall behind the shops on Home Farm Road but i thuink that too has now been demolished sadly.

Thanks Jordan. The old building was massive. From memory the west end of it was almost up to the boundary wall on Prenton Dell Road. The block of flats was built on the cleared land. The other end was just short of the cottages back yard/gardens. In the "just short" bit was at least one shaft with an angle bob connected to the pump rods that went down the shaft.

If you can imagine the whole site with the modern buildings, roads and flats removed - that's how big it was. The concrete foundations were for the engine beds. Covered a big area and very deep. Many sticks of bang were needed to break them up. The land was cleared and 5 minutes later the flats were thrown up !

The gap in the houses in Woodchurch Rd (opp. Kenmore Rd) led to the Solly Rec. I remember the wooden hut there.

I noticed workers at the front of the Dell flats a few weeks ago and wondered what was going on:


· SES Ltd was commissioned to locate and subsequently treat an abandoned borehole, together with the treatment of a second borehole.
· The exact position of the borehole was determined by means of removing drilled cores from the assumed site, until the exact location and extent was proven.
· Due cognisance was taken of the immediate proximity to domestic dwellings and appropriate measures were implemented to minimise disruption.
· Precautions to safeguard the public, workforce, plant and equipment from the danger of falling were of prime importance and appropriate measures were taken to mitigate this risk.
· An inflatable bung was used and the borehole subsequently filled with a cementitious grout.
· This technique eliminated the need for persons to enter the borehole to facilitate the seal and prevented contamination of the potable supply.

For what it's worth....i was told that the engines in the old pumping station had sufferd frost damage by the time they met their end.
Also another small bit of info...in the 1950's a traction engine and heavy equipment owned by Bridson's of Neston worked at the pumping station for a couple of weeks, but sadly i have never turned up a pic of this or the pumping engines.

The lads who work on site from time to time told me that the owner of the waterworks cottage has pics of the old pumping station that include the big wheel. Dare I be cheeky to knock round and ask with my scanner?

This was one of the engines.

Risk document of waterworks. Some quite shocking information!