Friday, July 30, 2021
If you're ever in Queen's Mead Recreation Ground in Bromley you can't miss the gothic chimney beyond the trees. But have you ever wondered what it might be? It can't be as old as it looks because Shortlands was all fields until the station opened in 1858. The answer can be found by crossing the footbridge over the railway and going to have a look. The first big clue is Pump House Close where a few lucky people get to live in a converted pump house. But a proper Thames Water pumping station still pumps away nextdoor, opened by the Kent Water Works Company in 1873, and that's where the Kentish ragstone chimney is.
Just inside the gates is part of the original 70 horsepower Cornish Bull steam engine once used to pump 1¾m gallons a day from a well near the Ravensbourne up to Eltham Reservoir. The steam was supplied by four boilers still in use on site as oil tanks. The cylinder was 50 inches in diameter. It's quite the most exciting thing in Shortlands, unless you count the blue plaque for the man who was the wireless operator aboard the Titanic. Just look for the chimney. #ashorthistoryofthesuburbs
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