Imagine Croydon without fresh piped water. Before 1851 inhabitants used the river Wandle streams and shallow wells. These sources were often contaminated. Seepage from privies and cesspools polluted the water. The Surrey Street Pumping Station changed everything.
This Grade II listed pumphouse stands as a testament to Victorian innovation. It was built in four phases. The Archbishop of Canterbury opened it on December 11 1851. Croydon was one of the first towns with a combined water and sewage system. This was thanks to the Public Health Act of 1848.
The Surrey Street Pumping Station used Chadwick’s arterial-venous design. Water was pumped from wells to a cylindrical brick reservoir on Park Hill. This reservoir with its domed roof provided a constant supply of fresh water.
The original 1851 engine house is in the northwest corner. It is furthest from Surrey Street. The brown brick building bears the date 1851. The well was enlarged to a depth of 77 feet. Its diameter decreased from 9 feet at the top to 1 foot at the bottom.
The engine house was built on a tall brick plinth. It housed two 24HP Cornish beam engines. These engines came from Sandys Vivian and Co of Hayle. A local builder William Harris rebuilt it. He used material from the atmospheric railway engine house at Croydon.
The Surrey Street pumping house needed to be taller. This accommodated the engines with their 9-foot piston stroke and plunger. Samuel Hocking invented the weighted balance valve to protect the engines. It closed if the mains riser broke preventing engine damage.
Each engine could raise 40 gallons per stroke. By April 1853 they raised over 450000 gallons daily. This supplied water to 1900 homes. By 1866 the engines pumped up to 1.5 million gallons daily.
The second engine house built in 1867 is closest to Surrey Street. It features a castellated gothic style. The white brick building has polychrome brick highlights. Baldwin Latham designed it drawing inspiration from Ely Cathedral. The engine house includes a hexagonal turret.
A new well was bored to a depth of 150 feet. The first attempt silted up and had to be re-bored. The borehole hit a fault in the chalk. This explained the large water flow but also brought debris.
The board sought authorisation to borrow £23000 for the works. The new engine house was nearly complete by September 1866. It housed a 120HP Cornish beam engine from the Kirkstall Forge Company of Leeds. Latham’s gothic tower had to be taller for the engine’s 10’6″ piston stroke.
In 1877 the third engine house was built. Thomas Walker designed it. This white brick building housed a horizontal Davey compound differential engine. It was not as tall as the earlier buildings. A deeper well was bored in 1876-7 increasing supply.
The Davey engine could pump 3200 gallons per minute. Cast iron pipes interconnected the wells. This allowed the engine to pump water from any or all wells.
In 1912 a new boiler house was built. The Corporation’s engineer George F Carter likely designed the new white brick building. Surrey Street remained Croydon’s most important water source.
In 1955 electric motors replaced the steam engines. Thames Water left the site around 1991. The surrounding buildings were demolished and rebuilt as Exchange Square.
Today the Surrey Street Pumping Station stands vacant. It awaits a new chapter in its long history. Its future use is key to the regeneration of Croydon’s Old Town. Discussions with the Local Authority are ongoing. This historic building once quenched Croydon’s thirst. It now stands as a reminder of the town’s industrial past.