Monument record MDR13537 - Ram pump (site of), below the bridge and cascade, Kedleston Park

A system below the bridge and cascade in Kedleston Park [SMR 21908], which was probably built to drive a ram pump to supply water from the Bentley Well [Lion's Mouth Fountain SMR 21917] to the house [SMR 21901]. It was possibly referred to in the 1900 accounts, when repairs costing £13-10-0 were carried out on the bridge and wheel race. There was a wheel race at the bridge referred to in 1886. There was also a pump referred to in 1910, and by 1916 water was being pumped from the bridge to the house for the central heating system. It takes advantage of the head of water contained behind the weir so that water is carried from the top of the weir through a cast iron pipe. The pipe curves to the south and probably feeds in to a square inspection pit lined with blue engineering bricks, measuring 1.9 metres from the outer edges. Heading away from the inspection pit in a south-easterly direction is a brick-lined culvert with straight sides, 1.45 metres wide and with a depth of c. 1.1 metres. After about 15 metres, the culvert enters in to a second brick-lined inspection pit covered with two massive concrete slabs. There are two further pits to the east; one is brick-lined and no more than 64 centimetres wide; the second is covered with two stone slabs and may well be unconnected with this system. Following the site visit made by Marshall in 1989, the two large inspection pits were infilled with soil and grassed over in the interest of public safety. (1)