Steam Punk Pump: Temple or Church?

The crisp brick contoured facade of Papplewick pumping station

Papplewick pumping station just outside Nottingham was for me a fascinating visit; it piqued my interest in both mechanism and configuration: The mechanism was the dynamics of the two huge beam engines and the configuration was the architecture of the building in which the engines are housed. Today such highly functional machinery is likely to be housed in a plain utility-looking weather covering, but the Victorians of 1884 glorified their engineering endeavors with romantic decorative styling. They had immense pride in what they were doing and no expense was spared on what to us may seem unnecessary filigree; one may as well decorate a vacuum cleaner. The Victorians were, or so it seems, more at ease with progress than we are today. Lack of confidence in civilization and where it was going was not one of their faults.

The architecture of the pumping station is Romanesque with a classical entablature running round the outside of the building. The external effect is of it being either a church or a temple. However, the information boards at the station refer to it as a temple of water which is probably nearer the mark than a church. The early church builders used not the model of the temples all around them but the basilica design which in Roman times was neither sacred nor housed a god. The basilicas had civic connotations; they were not built to house gods but to act as public meeting places where news would be shared. In the new religion of Christianity God was everywhere but he was especially where Christians met; the gathering and congregation of believers was sufficient condition for communion with the divine; in fact given Bible references to the human body being the temple of the Holy Spirit the Christian condition for divine communion is even broader than that.

But Papplewick was not a meeting place, in fact far from it: The Papplewick brochure marvels that the elegant and stylish hosing was never intended to be seen by the general public. Papplewick, then, is far more a temple than a church, a temple of power where only a "priesthood" of engineers administered to the needs of this very local "god".  But this 'god', in the final analysis, was no service demanding god, for this god really served the people: Papplewick lifted naturally filtered water from the sandstone bed rock and this clean water was piped down to the people of Nottingham.  The public did not give obeisance and offerings to this god; it was quite the reverse; this god served the people with pure water. Right from its introduction the new technology was sending out mixed signals as to how it should be regarded.

(See my Facebook album here for more pics and video of Papplewick)

The Papplewick Pistons of Power 

The pistons jostle with decorative pillars