Ryhope village has one of the finest monuments to Victorian engineering
ability in the North East, Ryhope Pumping Station. The first water company in
Sunderland was at Bishopwearmouth formed in 1824.
It's first engineer was Thomas Hawksley whose work became renowned throughout
Victorian Britain. His work included designing the Ryhope Pumping Station
which is now a scheduled monument, where the finest pair of beam engines in
Great Britain were installed in 1868.
Mrs Omistan Chant of the British Women's Temperance League declared Sunderland
water was the most delicious she had tasted in ten years of drinking water.
Superseded now by reservoir supplies further inland, it no longer provides
drinking water for the area, Situated inside a huge Gothic hall, Ryhope
Pumping Station now opens as a museum on bank holiday weekends and other
special open days, made an important contribution to health in the 19th
century.
