King George V Pumping Station
Historic site · Enfield Lock, England
The King George V Pumping Station stands on Swan and Pike Road, EN3 6JH, at the edge of the King George V Reservoir in the Lee Valley Regional Park. The retort house and pumping station are listed Grade II as NHLE 1079455 and the pump house separately as NHLE 1079456. It is an operational water-industry site rather than a visitor attraction, seen from the towpath and the reservoir path rather than entered, and no source states any public opening, so none is given here.
History
The Grade II listing was made on 25 September 1989 under the statutory address 'Retort House and King George Pumping Station, Swan and Pike Lane'; the Historic England record gives the district as Enfield (London Borough). Historic England records the retort house as 'Opened 1913. Designed by William Booth Bryan for Metropolitan Water Board', in English bond red brick with limestone ashlar dressings on a blue brick plinth, with cast-iron roof trusses inside, and explains the process: 'The retort house stored gas, which was made from anthracite in Dowson producers, before it was passed through a scrubber into the gas bags of the Pump House', citing 'The Engineer, March 14, 1913, pp.269-275'. Five Grade II entries make up the group: the retort house and pumping station, NHLE 1079455, the pump house, NHLE 1079456, the water tower house, NHLE 1260935, the weir with inlet pipes, NHLE 1358747, listed on 14 January 1991, and the sluice gates and flanking walls at the intake from the Lea Navigation, NHLE 1260607, listed on 22 November 1991. Enfield Lock station is about 1,193 m away and Brimsdown about 1,331 m.
Visit
Swan and Pike Road, Enfield EN3 6JH