St Brides Pump House

St Brides Pump House

St Brides Pump House

St Brides Pump House

The Pump House, containing a very interesting and rare Tangye pump engine, is located at St Brides Haven (SA62 3AJ), close to St Bridget’s Church.

It sits just above the beach, close to the church, and was built in 1913 as part of a major extension of nearby St Brides Castle to provide it and the nearby Home Farm with fresh water.  Beneath the Pump House is a 16,000 gallon reservoir, fed by a spring.  This water was pumped by a petrol-fuelled Tangye engine, located in the Pump House, for over half a mile and from sea level to a height of 185 feet to a second reservoir above the castle which in turn filled a cistern on the castle roof.  This system was used until the late 1960’s, including during the period when the castle was used as a hospital.  

Eventually, the Pump House became redundant and slipped towards dereliction.  Today, it is owned by the National Park Authority and was renovated by the Friends and National Park staff during 2000-2001.  The engine was brought back to life by the Friends in 2002 and in 2008 the pump became operational.

We are still responsible for the maintenance of the building, the surrounding garden, the engine and the pump.

The building is open every day and contains information panels about the pump house, the history of the Kensington Estate and the National Park.

We organise demonstrations of the pump periodically in the summer.  Sadly, the engine is not working at present and we are looking for spare parts - not easy to find for a 100 year old engine!

When it is again operational, we will publish running dates on this page and also in the National Park Authority's annual Newspaper, Coast to Coast.

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Friends of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

An independent voluntary charity helping to protect, conserve and enhance the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park for all.

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