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But this
one looks very odd. The pump is on the outside of the house at Tyntesfield, in
the Inner Yard, but its handle extends inside to the Butler's Pantry (not open
to the public at the time of my visit). The delivery pipe - which is
wooden-boxed - travels up on the outside to the first floor of the house. My
first guess was that it supplied water to the upper storeys, perhaps to a
cistern in the roof area, but a guide said that was in fact a hydraulic lift
mechnism used to speed up the delivery of food from the kitchens. I therefore
assumed that it was part of a "dumb waiter", and wrote to the NT for further
information, but they replied that they were unable to confirm as they had a
lot on their hands there at that time. I must return. |
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