Publications
Water-wheel Driven Beam Pump at Bignor Park, by R. M. Palmer and A. E. Baxter, published 1989 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 19, article, pp.11-21, ISSN: 0263-5151) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506526] Download PDF
Abstract:It was a tantalisingly brief mention of Bignor Park in the S.I.H. article on the Petworth Water Supply that set the first-named author on what proved to be a long and at times exhausting trail of discovery and detection. Armed with the statement that a beam pump similar to that at Coultershaw existed in Bignor Park, he set out with the, almost voluntary, aid of some S.I.A.S. colleagues to track it down. This article relates their endeavours to piece together the design and operation of the pump installation.
The article starts by tracing the history of Bignor Park and includes some comments on water supply to country houses. This is followed by a description of the excavation and recording carried out on site. The results are then set out, leading to a theoretical reconstruction of the layout and operation of the pump. Finally, the archival evidence available on the history of the pump is considered and some attempt made to date its origin.
Bignor Park is in West Sussex, situated just to the north of the Downs near Petworth and lies in the Gault Clay strip between the Upper and Lower Greensands. Through the Park runs a stream fed by springs which gush out from the foot of the Downs above Bignor Mill. By this stream was built the beam pump (GR 993153) to supply water to Bignor House.
The article starts by tracing the history of Bignor Park and includes some comments on water supply to country houses. This is followed by a description of the excavation and recording carried out on site. The results are then set out, leading to a theoretical reconstruction of the layout and operation of the pump. Finally, the archival evidence available on the history of the pump is considered and some attempt made to date its origin.
Bignor Park is in West Sussex, situated just to the north of the Downs near Petworth and lies in the Gault Clay strip between the Upper and Lower Greensands. Through the Park runs a stream fed by springs which gush out from the foot of the Downs above Bignor Mill. By this stream was built the beam pump (GR 993153) to supply water to Bignor House.