About Us

This is the original website of Lichfield Waterworks Trust, telling the story of how a Community Incorporated Organisation helped people to take responsibility for the local buildings and landscapes they love. Giving them the power to transform people, places, and communities

Lichfield Waterworks Trust a registered charity number 1160873 set up to save the Grade II* listed redundant waterworks at Sandfields, Lichfield.

The heritage of the modern water industry is almost entirely absent, despite its unarguable relevance to human developmen.

Sandfields Pumping Station is a Grade II* listed site that is possibly one of the most overlooked yet important pieces of social and industrial heritage that Britain has. There is a strong argument that this building and its Cornish beam engine possibly saved a million lives from death by cholera. Unfortunately it is also an example of our heritage industrial heritage that is at risk.P

Click the image to visit our 3D virtual Walkthrough

The objective of the Lichfield Waterworks Trust is;

(1) To promote and preserve for the benefit of the public the Grade II* listed nineteenth-century Sandfields Pumping Station complex and associated infrastructure, and to facilitate its safety, conservation, security and accessibility.

(2) To promote and preserve for the benefit of the public the unique 1873 Cornish Beam Engine and other fixtures and fittings situated at Sandfields Pumping Station, Chesterfield Road, Lichfield.

(3) To promote access to Sandfields Pumping Station for the purposes of education, arts, community development, and protection of the historic environment.

(4) To work in partnership, as appropriate, to promote the social and historical context of Sandfields Pumping Station in Staffordshire and the West Midlands, and to build a community of interest around these topics.

(5) To promote, manage, maintain and restore water supply industry infrastructure assets and archives which are of historical significance for the benefit of the public.

(6) To acquire, disseminate, publish and make accessible historical information, archival material, artefacts and experiences relating to Britain’s water supply industry for the purposes of education, recreation, tourism and community development.

Lichfield Waterworks Trust – Saving Britain’s Industrial Heritage from Morturn on Vimeo.

This engine and building is unique. It is the only surviving engine in the whole world of its kind in this condition. Built in the Black Country, to supply water to the Black Country, it is a magnificent monument to the lives of individuals, telling the extraordinary story of fresh drinking water and how this supported the Industrial growth of the industrial revolution. The philanthropic endeavours of the Victorian engineers shows us how the benefits of giving something back to society, improved the heath, welfare and working lives of many people, and lead the way to the formation of the National Health Service as we know it today.

Would  you would like to become a part of this exciting project and a guardian of our industrial heritage?

Then become a member of the Lichfield Waterworks Trust. We are free to join, we welcome everyone and we publish a monthly new letter.

Then become a member of the Lichfield Waterworks Trust. We are free to join, we welcome everyone and we publish a monthly new letter.