Pumping Station, Firepool, Taunton

This pumping station is located between the railway and the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Firepool Lock in Taunton. Its purpose was to pump water from the canal into steam trains.  It was built on top of two lime kilns.  The lime kilns were built of grey lias stone and can clearly be seen underneath the pumping house. The red brick pumping house was built by Thomas Poole of Wellington sometime after 1866 when the canal and limekilns were bought by the Bristol and Exeter Railway Company. In 1877 a steel water tank with a capacity of 63,400 gallons was built on top of it.  

The pumping station became disused with the transition to diesel power in the 1960s.   There used to be additional railway lines much closer to it but I understand that these were removed in the 1980s.  The Northern Inner Distributor Road now separates the pumping station from the railway.  The road, which took four years to complete, finally opened to traffic in the summer of 2017.

As part of the redevelopment of the Firepool Lock area, there are plans to convert the pumping station into a café and restaurant.  I'll believe it when I see it!  It is a listed building, which has presumably saved it from demolition.

Update May 2020 - the pumping station is still derelict but it now has blocks of flats on either side of it.  A new cycle and footpath has been built on the northern side of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, so it is now possible to get closer to the pumping station.

Firepool Pumping Station from the canal

Firepool Pumping House from the railway side
 

The wording which can still be seen on the side of the pumping house says "British Railways.  Taunton Freight Concentration Depot."  I'm not entirely sure what a freight concentration depot is but I presume today it would probably be described as "logistics".  Taunton was designated a freight concentration depot in 1963 and remained one until 1972 when it was closed due to competition from road transport.

Pumping Station, May 2020

Pumping Station, May 2020

Routes to the River Tone - North Taunton Murals

The North Taunton Art Trail consists of 4 very large murals of 4 native wild animals, all of which are currently declining in numbers: bees, water voles, bats and hedgehogs.  All 4 murals were painted in August 2015 by Brazilian artist Louis Masai.  They are part of Somerset Wildlife Trust's Routes to the River Tone Project and were done in conjunction with Somerset Art Works.

Two water voles are located on the side of the Priorswood Co-operative store in Eastwick Road; the bees are on the side wall of the fish and chip shop on the corner of Cheddon Road and Wedlands; the bat is on the side of a house in Grange Drive (the Lyngford Road end) and the hedgehog is on the side of a bungalow down a service road where Wedlands meets Grange Drive.

I don't think the North Taunton Art Trail has been particularly well publicised, as I live in the same part of Taunton and had not heard any mention of it, until a chance comment by a colleague a few days ago. Admittedly I am not an avid reader of the Somerset County Gazette.

More information about the Routes to the River Tone Project, which has the aim of "connecting local people with the amazing wildlife of Taunton's waterways" can be found here:
http://www.somersetwildlife.org/routestotherivertone

 

 

Fish and Chip Shop, Cheddon Road

 No food for bees, no food for humans

 Hedgehog

"Hedgehog decline. 36 million to less than 2 in 60 years."

Hedgehog Close-Up

 I think this is the least realistic of the murals but I do like the flowers in his/her ears!

 

 Water vole no 1, Priorswood Co-op, Eastwick Road

It may look like he has been covered with graffiti but I think it was painted like this. The writing says "9 out of 10 water voles have disappeared in my lifetime."

 Water vole 2

 Bat

I'm not sure what kind of bat this is.  

The writing says "50 million years alive, now endangered."

Woodland Play Zone, Yeovil Country Park

This lovely Woodland Play Zone is located in Yeovil Country Park. It was vandalised in 2013 and 2014 but since I took these photos in October 2015 it has been repaired. There are plenty of benches and some slightly disturbing carved wooden creatures.

 

 Welcome sign

 This chap didn't look overly pleased to see us!

 A fairy grotto?

 This long necked creature  doesn't look to be too friendly either

 Seating Area

 I think this is meant to be a fish of some sort

Dovecotes

Dovecotes were constructed by wealthy people to provide a source of meat (young pigeons) for themselves and their households.  Pigeons can breed up to 5 or 6 times a year, laying one or two eggs each time. The young pigeons are called squabs. They were killed as they were about to fledge at the age of about 4 weeks when their meat was still very tender because their flying muscles had never been used.    The down and feathers were used for bedding and the dung was used to fertilise gardens. 

Most surviving dovecotes in the UK date from the 14th-18th centuries.  They were built of stone, brick or timber and were either free-standing or built into the end of a house or barn. The inside of the dovecote was lined with nesting places for the pigeons - nest-holes if they were built into the solid walls or nest-boxes if they were constructed separately.  Until the 18th century the doorways were small, so that the pigeon keeper could block it with his body as he entered.  In Scotland dovecotes are called doocots.

Many dovecotes were in use until the French Revolutionary Wars began in 1793.  This had the effect of increasing the price of grain, which made it more profitable to sell it than to feed it to the pigeons. By the mid-19th century they had nearly all ceased to be used as dovecotes.  Many of the buildings were adapted for other uses. 
 
Historic dovecotes are not particularly common in Somerset.  These are the ones I have come across so far:

Blackford Dovecote

This dovecote at Blackford Farm near Wootton Courtenay dates from the late medieval period.  The first known mention of it is in a document dated 1393.  The manor house for which it provided meat burnt down in 1875.  The dovecote is built of Devonian sandstone and lime mortar.  The walls are 4 feet thick.  The roof is built of diminishing courses of rubble stone, with a round hole at the apex, through which the pigeons flew in and out. There are 11 rows of nest holes set in an irregular chequerboard pattern.  There were originally 320 nest holes, but only 302 remain.  The others were removed when the doorway was enlarged in the 19th century. The surface of the interior has been lime-washed. The dovecote was given to the National Trust, as part of the Holnicote estate, by Sir Richard Acland in 1946.

Interior of Blackford Dovecote

 Bruton Dovecote

Bruton Dovecote was probably converted from an earlier building (possibly a house) in the 16th century.  It is now roofless and was acquired by the National Trust in 1915.  It is the biggest surviving dovecote in Somerset.  It has 200 nest holes

Bruton Dovecote

 Dunster

Dunster Dovecote was originally built in the 13th century as part of Dunster Priory.  After the dissolution of the monastery in 1539 the land was purchased by the Luttrell family.  The current building dates from the late 16th century.  It has a revolving ladder inside, which was the means by which the squabs were removed from their nests.

 Inside Duster Dovecote

Dunster

 Stogursey

This dovecote was once part of the Benedictine Priory at Stogursey, which was founded c1100 and dissolved c1442.  The priory church also survives as the current parish church.  The dovecote was originally medieval but was rebuilt in 1925 apart from the steps.

 Shapwick

This dovecote is located in the grounds of Shapwick Manor, which is on the west side of Station Road in Shapwick.  It was originally built in the medieval period but was rebuilt in the 18th or 19th centuries and was re-roofed in the 20th century.

 

 

Norton-sub-Hamdon 

The dovecote is located in the churchyard.

 Stoke-sub-Hamdon Priory

This is as close to the roofless dovecote as you can get without trespassing

West Camel

West Camel's dovecote is located on private land and this was the best photo I could get of it from the road.  It might be a bit more visible in the winter when the leaves are not on the trees.

 Lytes Cary 

This is not a dovecote but a water tower designed to look like a dovecote.

Replica dovecote at The Newt in Somerset near Castle Cary