Kew Bridge Steam Museum - History

History

The Kew Bridge Pumping Station was originally opened in 1838 by the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, following a decision to close an earlier pumping station at Chelsea due to poor water quality. In the years up to 1944 the site expanded, with the addition of more steam pumping engines as well as four Allen diesel pumps and four electric pumping sets. The steam engines were retired from service in 1944, although two were kept on standby up until 1958, when a demonstration run of the Harvey & Co. 100 inch engine marked the final time steam would operate at the site.

The Metropolitan Water Board decided not to scrap the resident steam pumping engines and set them aside to form the basis of a museum display at a later date. This action bore fruit in 1973 with the formation of the Kew Bridge Engines Trust.

Today the site remains an internationally-recognised museum of steam pumping engines as a reminder of the many pumping stations spread throughout London and the UK. In 1999, the United Kingdom government Department for Culture, Media and Sport described Kew Bridge as "the most important historic site of the water supply industry in Britain".{Listed Building Description TQ 1877 787/18/10064}