What Is Abbey Pumping Station?
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What is Abbey Pumping Station? Background information Why was it built? Abbey Pumping Station was built as a As the population of Leicester grew, pump house in 1891. It pumped sewage the city needed more fresh water and away from Victorian Leicester up to a new a way of hygienically getting rid of waste. treatment works at Beaumont Leys. The Public Health Act of 1884 forced local authorities to take responsibility for the Prior to the pumping station being built, city’s waste and provide proper facilities sewage from Leicester was deposited into the for managing sewage. River Soar. This building with the 4 huge steam engines was built to manage the The building you see before you is hugely increased amount of sewage from the city. significant and important to Leicester. Sewage drained to the site through pipes by It improved health and sanitation in what the force of gravity. (Abbey Pumping Station was fastly becoming a disease ridden city. is built in the lowest point in Leicester) but it needed a push to get uphill to the Beaumont Leys sewage treatment works nearly 4 kilometers away. Pumping the sewage uphill was the job of the steam engines. Discussion activity In small groups think of reasons which • Rats, fleas and other vermin could contributed to unsanitary living conditions cause infection both inside and and diseases during early Victorian times. outside the home. Reasons to discuss: • Industry brought many people into the cities to work long hours. The fumes • Overcrowding – Leicester’s population emitted from burning coal for steam had nearly doubled in 30 years. power and heating caused air pollution. In 1861 the population was 68 thousand. In 1891 it had increased to 142 thousand. • Babies feeding bottles became popular because many women had to go out • Poor diet - the poor lived on a diet to work, leaving their baby in the care of bread, dripping, tea and sugar. of someone else. The shape of the feeding People had difficulty obtaining more bottle was difficult to keep clean, and the protein and vitamin enriched foods such advice of only washing the rubber teat as vegetables, meat, fruit, fish and milk. once every 2 – 3 weeks meant that germs thrived. At this time 7 in every 10 children • Polluted water - the ‘9 o’clock horses’ died before their 10th birthday. was the term given to the men who collected the buckets of human waste • Poor houses, often built quickly to house from the house. The waste was dumped people coming to the city to work were on fields near the river and canal which often overcrowded and poorly ventilated. at times flooded into homes. D i s e a s e s s p r e a d q u i c k l y , w a t e r h a d t o be collected from a communal pump • Horses- cities like Leicester were at the end of the street and many houses dependent on thousands of horses for shared only one or two ash pail toilets. the transport of both people and goods. On average a horse will produce between six and 15 kilos of manure per day. The manure on the streets attracted a huge number of flies which spread typhoid, fever and other diseases. The manure also blocked street drains often creating cesspools of dirty water when it rained. Sewage and Water Introduction Imagination activity Before the Industrial Revolution most people The museum’s main gallery was originally obtained their water from wells, standpipes the pumping station’s boiler room. in the street or butts that collected rainwater. Here eight Lancashire boilers burnt coal, Wells often became contaminated with sewage heating up water to create steam for the that leaked through the ground from cesspits operation of the engines. The adjoining and ditches. Along with sewage, ditches often room was the coal storage area. contained domestic refuse and waste from the increasing population and factory industries. The windows which you can see along the far wall would have been openings Disease in Leicester was rife and between where the coal was delivered into 1882 and 1893 mortality rates in the city the building. were the highest in the country. Imagine this area full of coal. • Think about what it would feel like Discussion activity to work in an environment like this. Before the pumping station was built excess • Would it be dirty and smelly? sewage was pumped straight into the River Soar. Would it be noisy? Do you think In pairs or small groups look at the two sewage it would be hard work shovelling pipes which are on show in the gallery. coal into the boilers? • What shapes are they? • Imagine that you are working • Why do you think that the more modern in this environment. of the two pipes is a different shape? • Why are the pipes made from different materials? Write a short paragraph describing your • Discuss why you think pumping sewage imagined experiences. into the river was unsanitary. Investigation activity Go to the interactive flushing toilet. The force of the water rushing into the bowl creates another siphon effect as it pushes Flush toilets are a marvel of physics! water up and over the U-bend, pulling the rest of the water and the waste over the U-bend. Make sure the artificial poo is in the bowl and check that the cistern (tank) is full The water then flows away to the sewage of water. This tank containing water has pipes because of gravity. stored potential energy. • Why does the water need to reach Watch what happens when you pull a certain level in the tank? the chain. Wiggle the chain around a bit Research what is meant by: before you pull it to see what it does - • Potential energy it pulls a vertical rod up to release water • Kinetic energy into the bowl via a siphon effect. • Gravity Releasing the water converts the • Siphon effect potential energy into kinetic energy. Write a couple of sentences about each. How did the Beam Engines work? Introduction Abbey Pumping Station opened in 1891. In 1712, Thomas Newcomen developed It pumped Leicester’s sewage to a treatment a steam engine to pump water out of tin mines. plant in Beaumont Leys and away from His engine worked by condensing steam. the city, helping the city clean up and By the 1770s, inventor James Watt had improve its health. It pumped 208,000 improved on Newcomen’s and other inventors gallons of sewage per hour and the pumping work. His steam engine went on to contribute station operated 24 hours a day, 365 days towards the powering of machinery, trains of the year. and ships during the Industrial Revolution. The beam engines were built by Gimson’s, Why did the steam engine have an enormous a local engineering firm. The engines were impact as an invention? operated by high pressure steam. Before steam power, most factories and mills were powered by water, wind, horse or man. Water was a good source of power, but factories had to be located near a river. Steam provided reliable power Discussion activity and could be used to power large machines. The steam engine was one of the most Discuss the beneficial impact of steam power on: important inventions of the Industrial • Employment Revolution. • Housing When was the Industrial Revolution in Britain? • Transport • Hygiene What was the Industrial Revolution? • Production of goods Investigation activity The motion of the beam drove the fly wheels. What did all the pistons, wheels and rods do? The wheels ensured that the wheels worked in a smooth motion. Sewage was directed to the pumping station. The beam engines were designed to Look at one of the beam engines generate force to pump the sewage and point out the nearly 4 kilometres away. • beam The beam engines were powered by steam. • rods Steam was produced by burning coal • cylinder in huge boilers. • flywheel Steam under pressure was then injected into What did all these components do? the steam cylinders. The piston rods in the Research in more details how the beam cylinders moved up and down due to the engines worked. injection of steam pressure. The piston rods also moved the beam up and down. Fossil Fuels Background information Discussion activity The invention of the steam engine had In pairs or small groups discuss: a huge beneficial impact on society during the Industrial Revolution, but today there • What are fossil fuels? are environmental concerns about using List as many as you can. fossil fuels for energy. Environmentalists • What type of fossil fuels powered are concerned about pollution caused the steam engines at Abbey Pumping by cars, buses, trains, and other things Station? that contain engines. Investigation activity Literacy activity Research the following: There are two types of energy: • How fossil fuels were formed. • Re-newable • Types of modern-day machinery and • Non-renewable. transport which are powered by fossil Investigate the two types and write a fuels. Name machinery which is powered short paragraph to describe each one and by electricity, coal, petroleum, natural gas, discuss the pros and cons of each one. or coal. • How do you in your everyday life rely on fossil fuels? • The negative impact of burning fossil fuels. How does the burning of these fuels contribute to global warming? Decoration and Design Background information Introduction activity The Victorians were very proud of their Stand in the middle of the Beam Engine triumphs and inventions. Steam power House. You will see two large flywheels was one of the great achievements of the to your left and two to your right.