Water pump, C18/C19, cast iron, straight undecorated column in three sections Larger upper section includes spout with bucket lug. Pump handle and cap to pump shaft lost. No maker’s mark.
On south side of Old Bath Road where it enters Theale, beside Horseman’s Commercial garage.
This is the same design as the four Georgian pumps in Thatcham, with a wide body constructed of three segments of cast iron, and a pump spout section attached above. The pump spout has a bucket lug on top where a bucket could be hung allowing the pump operator to work single handed. The pump is similar to others found on coaching roads and probably dates from the late 1700’s or very early 1800’s, it forms a set with the pumps in Thatcham.
The pump would have been erected after the road became part of the coach route from London to Bath. There is no evidence that this was a pump to water horses or provide water for the villagers, and the most likely explanation is that the pump served to bring water to the road to lay the dust after the coaches went past. The provision of such pumps is addressed by Daphne Phillips in her book The Great Road to Bath. Charles G Harper in The Bath Road pub 1899 gave an illustration of such a pump, and a description.
The pump lacks both the original pump handle, and the cap to the top of the pump. It stands just over seven feet high and the base plate is visible in the grass. The pump spout, which has a bucket lug, is slightly damaged, and there is a hole and rust damage to the far side of the pump opposite the handle lugs. The pump is leaning at a slight angle.
The pump forms part of an important historical record of the coaching period, along what was at the time the most important coaching route. Its positioning along the historic coaching route, indicates its important local and national historic value.
Location
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