Detached chimney at Cleadon Pumping Station

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Overview

Chimney. c1863, by Thomas Hawksley, consultant engineer for the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company.
Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1416041
Date first listed:
31-Jul-2013
List Entry Name:
Detached chimney at Cleadon Pumping Station
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1416041
Date first listed:
31-Jul-2013
List Entry Name:
Detached chimney at Cleadon Pumping Station
Location Description:
Detached chimney at Cleadon Pumping Station, off Sunniside Lane, South Tyneside

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
South Tyneside (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
NZ3871563584

Summary

Chimney. c1863, by Thomas Hawksley, consultant engineer for the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company.

Reasons for Designation

The detached chimney at Cleadon Pumping Station is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* Date: an early example of a 'campanile'-style chimney, a design much in fashion in the 1860s;
* Architectural interest: a handsome and imposing example which is outstanding in terms of its scale and grandeur;
* Designer: designed by the eminent Victorian engineer Thomas Hawksley.

History

Sunderland and South Shields Water Company was created by Act of Parliament in 1852 to address the urgent need on health and economic grounds for better provision of clean, accessible drinking water for the increasing population of industrial Wearside and Tyneside. A number of wells were constructed, from Cleadon in the north, to Hesledon in the south; the works were all designed by Thomas Hawksley (1807-1893), and built between 1859 and 1862. Hawksley is entered in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; he was an eminent and nationally renowned water supply engineer and an expert in his field.

Cleadon pumping station was built between 1860-2 and it began working in 1862. The tall chimney, also known as Cleadon water tower, provided a draught for the boilers as well as the dispersal of waste gases. During the Second World War the chimney was used, in conjunction with other local landmarks, as a navigation aid. The opening of the Derwent Reservoir in the 1970’s led to the closure of the pumping station.

Details

Materials: red brick with light coloured lime-rich mortar and rusticated sandstone quoins and one high level stone string course.

Plan: square with central flue, around which spiral 141 stone steps.

Exterior: tall Italianate chimney in the form of a three-stage campanile with a bracketed upper string course and pyramidal roof. Each face has twelve deeply inset vertical windows in groups of two or three with brickwork recessed around each group; those to the upper stage have round-headed surrounds. There is a ground floor entrance and a cantilevered gallery to the top floor.

Sources

Websites
Thomas Hawksley, accessed from http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12691?docPos=2
Cleadon Hill Conservation Area Character Appraisal, accessed from http://www.southtyneside.info/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2973&p=0

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Detached chimney at Cleadon Pumping Station

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 15:51:12.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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