Edmondthorpe Pumps (click on photographs to bring up bigger/better versions).

All photographs supplied by John Hurst - thanks, John

This wooden-boxed pump is set most unusually in the middle of a long estate wall in Edmondthorpe, Leics. It's fitted with two handles such as to allow access from either side of the wall (the second handle can be made out in the photograph on the right), connected via a common shaft to a single operating rod. The spout is within the line of the wall, so a chunk of wall has had to be removed in order to make room for the bucket, although this space has been partially bricked up again at a later date. The whole set-up is most odd and surely there must be a story behind it. Markings: None. Manufacturer: Unk.

The village seems to be blessed with unusual pumps. This second one at Edmondthorpe, Leics, is unique, as far as I can tell - certainly I've found nothing exactly the same anywhere else in the country to date. A magnificent spout in the form of a dragon's head. Markings: A heraldic bird, "WAP" and a date - 1856. Manufacturer: Unk.

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