Full Flight

Our latest evening dig session, as planned, involved clearing rubble and other infill material from the emerging flight of steps. But first we had to do a quick check of something discovered back on Day 9 – a curious length of iron pipe leading away from the western corner of the building. We quickly confirmed that the pipe lies more or less horizontal and below a layer of demolition debris, showing that it was most likely a functional part of the structure and not a length of pipe dumped there and buried. The most plausible explanation is that it led rainwater away from the building, possibly into a soakaway.

Our plan is to expose at least one complete side of the central pit of the pumphouse as this will identify the locations of three of its four sides, making it simpler to dig out the material originally thrown in to level the ground after abandonment. The side we are working on is the south eastern side, which only really leaves the north western side to find. With this in mind, we are also digging an exploratory trench in the centre of the north western wall towards the centre of the building with the goal of finding a hard edge. We did a little more digging at this location this evening but have still not found a definite edge to the pit.

At the main trench with the steps, we finished the evening having fully exposed steps leading in two directions down to a common landing from which we believe a ladder led further down into the engine room. With no further steps anticipated at this location, we have now exposed the full flight. The steps are rough and uneven. The pumphouse seems to have been constructed with a modest budget!