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Markfield Beam Engine and Museum

Museum · Tottenham, England

Markfield Beam Engine and Museum is in Markfield Park on Markfield Road, N15 4RB, and keeps an 1886–88 beam engine in the building it was built for. Open days run 10am to 3.30pm and steaming days 10am to 4pm, usually the second and fourth Sunday of the month plus many bank holidays, with the engine running at 12.30 and 2.30; entry is free and donations are welcome, and the calendar is worth checking before travelling. The building is Grade II listed, NHLE 1358862, listed 10 May 1974 under the title 'Pumping Station Building and Engine', so the entry covers the engine as well as the building.

History

Wood Brothers of Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire, built the engine between 1886 and 1888 and it was commissioned on 12 July 1888, replacing an earlier 45 horsepower beam engine; it is rated at 100 horsepower, 75 kW. Its 27-foot, 8.2 m, flywheel drives a 21-foot, 6.4 m, beam working two single-acting plunger pumps, each 26 inches in diameter with a 51-inch stroke, and at a working speed of 16 rpm each pump could move 2,000,000 imperial gallons a day. The sewage works opened in 1864 under the Tottenham and Wood Green Drainage Board and pumped Tottenham's sewage towards Beckton, closing in February 1964 when Deephams at Edmonton replaced it. Restoration of engine, building and grounds cost over £3 million, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Football Foundation, DCLG and the Big Lottery Fund, and the park and museum reopened in April 2010. In 2025 the museum merged with the Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum to form the Heritage and Communities Trust. The River Moselle joins the River Lea at this point.

Visit

Markfield Park, Markfield Road, London N15 4RB

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