Claymills Victorian Pumping Station — Attraction in East Staffordshire

Visited as part of a group on Land Rover day. I'd not been here before and was presently surprised that I hadn't, as I'd seen the signs around Burton. After a bit of chit chat we were invited to a guided tour of the works and 'wow', did they go into detail. The guide was very knowledgeable and took us into nearly every building, nook and cranny and from top to bottom. If this old industry interests you or you just fancy something different, then this is worth a visit and children will like it too. From memory, I recall that this fell out of use in the late 60's or early 70's and fell into disrepair. The complex was handed over to the charitable Trust in 1993. Since then they have gradually brought the buildings back to life as well as the Beam engines. At the time of writing this, the last Beam engine is due to be started for the first time since 1969 on 23rd September 2023 at 12.00. There's also an event on October 28th and 29th where all four Beam engines are due to run. Clay Mills has been and continues to be restored back to how it was back in the last century, as such, there are area's that are not suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs and most of the staircases aren't for the faint hearted. There are toilets and again, these are from the last century. There is also a nice cafe serving hot and cold drinks and sandwiches. There is also plenty of car parking. Overall, my experience of Clay Mills is positive and I would visit again, especially on a...

A retired engineer, I still enjoy researching and sampling our industrial heritage and on those points, Claymills Victorian Pumping Station provides a wealth of information and hands on activities that link back to the Victorian era. Pay it a visit and marvel at the four huge steam driven beam engines, soak up the drama of a proper boiler room and Lancashire boilers that are still coal fired and manually operated. Take a trip into the engineering department and witness skilled engineers working on the machine tools, lathes, shapers, milling machines to repair or make the parts needed to keep this heritage facility in a perfect state of working preservation. Outside of the pump house there are stationery steam engines of various sizes and power outputs together with a working blacksmiths forge and steam hammer, a steam engine driven electricity generator, a joiners/carpenters shed, a tea shop, information centre and the odd vintage motorcycle or motorcar to tickle the fancy of the most discerning petrol head. You can pay on the door for a day visit or become a member and get a years entry for your membership fee. Step beck in...

We had a private tour from an extremely knowledgable sixteen year old volunteer. He’s been working at the pumping station for five years now, and knows all the machinery intimately. There are four huge beam engines. Two of them have been lovingly restored by a team of volunteers over the past few decades, and the others are in progress. What’s more, they are doing all the restoration work with period tools and workshops. So what was the purpose of all this pumping? To get water to the breweries for which Burton-on-Trent is famous, perhaps? Nope, it was to get raw sewage (and industrial waste from the breweries) out of town. Back in the early seventeenth century, Burton was dumping all its sewage and waste into the river Trent. Then came the long hot, dry summer of 1858. Water flow in the river almost stopped. The sewage and beer sludge just stayed there. That’s the year they call The Great Stink. After that it was clear that something must be done, so funds were raised to pump the sewage to the neighboring village of Egginton and make it...