Coleham Pumping Station 3.01

English Heritage said in a report - The Pumping Station at Coleham, Shrewsbury, is a remarkably complete example of a relatively small plant, which has survived with few losses and little alteration. Such alterations as there have been as with the addition of the automated coal hopper installed in the mid-C20, or the removal of the original 'Economiser', serve to show advances in the technology associated with the industry and the refinement of the machinery on site to allow for its better functioning. Such alterations are to be expected on an operational industrial site and do not detract from its overall interest, provided that the majority of the original machinery is in situ, as is the case at Coleham.

Original machinery includes two Woolf compound rotative beam engines and two Cornish boilers, all of which are in working order. In addition, the building has a characterful architectural treatment with elaborate decorative stone dressings and a tall, panelled chimney stack to the rear. The street front is particularly effective and gives the building the appearance of a small, decorative Non-conformist
chapel. All the principal parts of the original pumping station - engine house, boiler house, coal store and
chimney are intact on site and relatively fragile features such as the octagonal louvered vent on the ridge of the engine house are complete as originally built. The original features extend to the brick walls at either side of the site and the low wall with piers and railings facing the street.