History
The museum was previously a pumping station used to pump sewage to treatment works at Beaumont Leys, and was opened in 1891. The grand Victorian building, designed by Stockdale Harrison (city architect in 1890) and beautifully decorated beam engines were a cause of great civic pride. It continued pumping Leicester's sewage until 1964, and then underwent renovation. It opened as a museum in 1972. It is one of a number of historic pumping stations which have been preserved.
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Building viewed from Northeast
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Abbey Pumping Station entrance
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One of the educational displays
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Beam engines
Read more about this topic: Abbey Pumping Station
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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“What would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,—for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)