Smethwick Engine House
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Smethwick Engine House by John M as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Smethwick Engine House
Image: © John M Taken: 11 Sep 2016
The difficulties with providing water to the summit level locks at Smethwick on Brindley's canal became apparent soon after it opened in 1769. The solution was to recirculate the water lost in the lock operation by pumping. Two pumping engines designed by Boulton & Watt were installed at Smethwick and Spon Lane. These were replaced in the 1890s by a new pumping station at Brasshouse Lane. The beam engine is now in the ThinkTank museum in Birmingham. The foundations were excavated in 1984 and are contained within a protective building.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.49764
Longitude
-1.962248