#leicestermuseums

Abbey Pumping Station - Museums of Science & Technology, Leicester, England.

This impressive Victorian building is a fitting tribute to the importance of the hygienic disposal of sewage. Abbey Pumping Station was designed by local architect Stockdale Harrison. Home to four working, highly decorative beam steam powered engines in the pump house built by Gimson and Company.

It is also Leicester City Council’s Museum of Science & Technology - with the infamous poo flushing toilet display, narrow gauge railway and many wonderful vehicles and exhibitions about the public health of Leicester.

When the Public Health Act of 1848 came into force, Leicester Town Council was compelled to take responsibility for sewerage.  Plans were made for the cleansing of the town and for the refuse to be disposed of and used for agricultural purpose. Sewage works were built on the banks of the River Soar and the number of main sewers were extended. The mode of treatment of the sewage presented many problems and by 1884 the level of pollution in the River Soar below Leicester was a cause of grave concern. In 1885 the Borough bought land in Beaumont Leys which was farmed directly by the Corporation through a farm manager. Its essential purpose was as a sewage farm, which turned sewage into fertiliser, was disguised by naming it the ‘City Farms’.