page_title: City of Nottingham Water Department
section_title: Nottingham Waterworks Company
hierarchical_section_title: City of Nottingham Water Department / Early History 1696–1880 / Nottingham Waterworks Company
caption_attribution_description: English: Reservoir, Basford Waterworks
context_page_description: The City of Nottingham Water Department, formerly the Nottingham Corporation Water Department, was responsible for the supply of water to Nottingham from 1880 to 1974. The first water supply company in the town was the Nottingham Waterworks Company, established in 1696, which took water from the River Leen, and later from springs at Scotholme, when the river became polluted. Other companies were set up in the late 18th century and in 1824, while in 1826 the Trent Water Company was established. They employed Thomas Hawksley as their engineer, who became one of the great water engineers of the period, and Nottingham had the first constant pressurised water supply system in the country. The various companies amalgamated in 1845, and Hawksley remained as the consulting engineer until 1879.
  Nottingham is located on top of a huge layer of Bunter sandstone, and Hawksley masterminded plans to extract filtered water from this aquifer. The Park Hill or Sion Hill pumping station was the first to be built in 1850, but was abandoned in 1880 as the water was too hard, and there were fears of pollution from the General Cemetery.
context_section_description: In 1845, the Nottingham Enclosure Act was obtained, which allowed the city to expand onto the surrounding land. The water companies had been in open competition for more than a decade, with no legal boundaries to define which areas each could supply, but to meet the challenges of the enlarging city, the Nottingham Water Act was also obtained in 1845, which formally merged the three companies into one, to be known as Nottingham Waterworks Company. Hawksley, as the most prominent engineer involved with any of the original enterprises, became consulting engineer for the new company, a position that he held until it was taken over by the Corporation in 1879.
  Nottingham sits on top of a huge area of Bunter sandstone, which holds large volumes of groundwater, which is prevented from seeping lower by an underlying layer of impermeable Permian marls. Bunter consists of loosely packed grains, which filter the water effectively, and does not contain soluble materials such as lime, resulting in the water being relatively soft. The new company looked to extract groundwater from the Bunter, and constructed the Park Hill or Sion Hill pumping station near The Ropewalk in 1850. A Cornish beam engine rated at 60 hp (45 kW) pumped water from two wells, which were around 240 feet (73 m) deep and 7 feet (2.1 m) in diameter. Water was pumped onwards to Park Row Reservoir through an iron pipe 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter, or to Belle Vue Reservoir through a 12-inch (30 cm) diameter pipe. The works supplied between 850,000 imperial gallons (3.9 Ml) and 900,000 imperial gallons (4.1 Ml) of water per day, but was abandoned in 1880 due to the hardness of the water, and fears of contamination from the General Cemetery.
  The new Park Row Reservoir was constructed where Park Row joins The Ropewalk. The site for Belle Vue reservoir was obtained in 1846 by compulsory purchase using the powers that the Inclosure Commissioners had obtained in 1845. Ichabod Wright was reluctant to sell, because Toad Hole Hill was one of Nottingham's finest beauty spots. Hawksley's partner Robert Jalland designed the reservoir, which was 160 feet (49 m) long, 80 feet (24 m) wide and 12 feet (3.7 m) high, with the roof formed of 288 brick arches. The work was completed on 16 May 1851, and the reservoir could store 1.5 million imperial gallons (6.8 Ml) of water. Subsequently, T C Hine designed a second reservoir, which was built by John Loverseed. It was 220 feet (67 m) by 133 feet (41 m) in size, held 2.5 million imperial gallons (11 Ml) of water, and opened on 9 May 1864.
  Bagthorpe Works, which was also known as Basford Works, was completed in 1857 on a site near the junction of Haydn Road and Hucknall Road. There were two wells which were around 110 feet (34 m) deep, and each was pumped by a 60 hp (45 kW) compound beam engine manufactured by R and W Hawthorn of Newcastle upon Tyne. The works was enlarged in 1868 when a third well was completed, pumped by an 80 hp (60 kW) single cylinder engine. Mapperley Hill reservoir was constructed at a similar time, being completed in 1859.
  The next major expansion was the construction of Bestwood Pumping Station, some 5 miles (8 km) to the north of the city on the Mansfield Road. 6 acres (2.4 ha) of land were leased from the Duke of St Albans in Bestwood Park, and two wells each 176 feet (54 m) deep were sunk into the Bunter sandstone. Two 125 hp (93 kW) rotative beam engines were supplied by J. Witham and Sons of Leeds, and the water was pumped to a new reservoir at Redhill. Both the pumping station and the reservoir were completed in 1871. As a result of subsidence from coal mining, the pumping station is now about 4 feet (1.2 m) lower than when it was built, but the settlement has taken place gradually, and has not disrupted the operation of the works. Construction of a further reservoir at Papplewick was completed in 1880, just before the company was taken over by the Corporation, but it had to be abandoned in 1906 when it was damaged by subsidence.
caption: Severn Trent Water occupy the site of Basford Waterworks. The reservoir was used for cooling the exhaust water from the three beam engines, one of which has been preserved.
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