Hatfield Chase - Watercourses

Watercourses

Today the watercourses of Hatfield Chase are managed by the Corporation of the Level of Hatfield Chase Internal Drainage Board. They are responsible for the drainage of an area of 30.8 square miles (79.8 km2), and the maintenance of 84.5 miles (136.0 km) of watercourses, which includes the operation of nine pumping stations. In addition, the Environment Agency maintain and operate several pumping stations within the area where the water is pumped into high level carriers, which consist of embanked waterways where the water level is generally above that of the surrounding land.

The River Torne, which rises to the west of Tickhill, crosses the middle of the area. Candy Farm North and South pumping stations are situated on the area's western edge. The South Engine Drain and Folly Drain form the eastern boundary, and run parallel to the River Torne after it has crossed the Chase. Bull Hassocks pumping station is located at the start of the South Engine Drain, and is on the site of the first steam powered pumping station. Hatfield Waste Drain and the North Engine Drain run along the northern boundary. Tunnel Pits North and South pumping stations are located on the Hatfield Waste Drain, while Dirtness pumping station is at the head of the North Engine Drain. The buildings here were erected in 1862. All of these watercourses converge on Pilfrey Junction, from where three parallel channels, called Three Rivers, flow to a pumping station at Keadby. The Hatfield Waste Drain crosses under the North Engine Drain before the junction, and then becomes the north channel. The centre channel is formed by the North Engine Drain and the River Torne, while the south channel carries the waters of the South Engine Drain and the Folly Drain.

Bull Hassocks pumping station was designed to handle water from the South Idle drains, but prior to 1970 also had to handle water from the Folly Drain. This was altered in that year, by building a new pumping station at Greenholme, which pumped the Folly Drain into the South Level Engine Drain. The station was built by the Trent River Board for the West Axholme IDB, and contained three pumps, two of 24-inch (610 mm) diameter, capable of pumping 109 Mld, and one of 15-inch (380 mm) rated at 29 Mld. The area was affected by the motorway construction programme of the late 1970s and early 1980s, which saw the M18 motorway running along the western edge of the Chase and the M180 motorway crossing it, broadly parallel to the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, but a little further south. The roads produced large volumes of run-off water, which entered the drainage system.

The river authorities used the opportunity to upgrade the system to cope with this run-off and to solve several local problems. Low Bank pumping station was built in 1977, incorporating three pumps. Another three pumps were installed on the former Sandtoft Airfield (now the location of a Trolleybus museum) at Wood Carr pumping station, built in 1978, and a single pump was installed at Belton Grange in the following year. All three stations discharge water to the Hatfield Waste Drain. The Internal Drainage Boards also had to upgrade some of their pumps to cope with the extra volumes of water.

The pumping station at Keadby is equipped with six concrete culverts and six pumps. It was built in 1940, when six Crossley diesel engines, rated at 420 hp (310 kW) and driving 60-inch (150 cm) Gwynnes pumps were installed. Five were refurbished by the National Rivers Authority in 1994, and the sixth was replaced by an electric motor. Discharge into the River Trent is through the culverts when the water level in the river is low enough, and through the pumps when it is not. A number of the pumping stations within the Chase are reversible, so that water is pumped from the drainage ditches to the high level carriers when there is a risk of flooding, and from the carriers to the ditches when water is needed for irrigation. The Environment Agency also have pumping stations at Belton Grange, Goodcop and Low Bank, which pump into the Hatfield Waste Drain.