Gayton Engine
Preserved Working Pumping Station
The Gayton Engine Pumping Station was built and completed by H.M. Commissioners of Sewers in 1850, to pump the water from Gayton Fen and Marsh into the River Great Eau. Previously it had been drained by gravity through a set of sluice gates, known as Gayton Engine.The power for pumping was originally steam, but in 1945 a diesel engine was introduced, and this is what survives in working order.In 1956, the whole of the system of drainage in Theddlethorpe and adjoining areas was rearranged and a new electric pumping station, one third of a mile to the north-east, was constructed immediately alongside the Great Eau. The Gayton Engine Pumping Station was kept in repair, on standby, until the efficiency of the new pumps was assessed.
In the 1960s, the Board considered it would no longer be needed and the outfall to the river was allowed to be filled and the Station abandoned. In the early 1970s the Board resolved not to demolish the Station but to carry out the minimal amount of maintenance on the building to preserve the engine and pump, in anticipation that interest would ultimately be attracted and a Society would undertake its refurbishment. The present pumping equipment comprises: Petter ”Atomic” 2-cylinder loop-scavenge 2 stroke ex-marine diesel engine, built in 1933, powering a 27” Gwynnes pump.
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The Station is situated in the parish of Gayton le Marsh on the south side of the Great Carlton to Theddlethorpe highway (O.S. grid reference 458 880). It is a delightful white painted small building with arched Victorian windows and cannot be passed unnoticed.
The Gayton Engine Pumping Station is of interest to many, architects, engineers, historians, and stands in the marsh as a monument to our forefathers who first wrestled with the flooding from the rivers and sea, embanking and erecting sluices to contain and direct the waters, and then lifting flood waters by wind driven and then steam driven pumps into the rivers. Such work enabled a living to be obtained from land which otherwise would be marsh and bog.
Catchment Map (1850-1956)
Following subsidence issues, the station is currently closed to the public, we are hoping to open again later this year.