The National Register of Village Pumps.
	The National Register of Village Pumps continues to grow, with information coming in from many sources; ever more people are contacting me to tell me of pumps in their area, or which they've seen on their travels. Thanks!
	The information goes into a simple database, which records the County, Town/Village, address/more detailed location, some scant notes, the source of the information, and whether the existence is confirmed (some information is dated, and by the time I get to check it out the pump is long gone.) I'll gradually add notes as to pump make/construction/state of repair, but this is a highly labour-intensive activity and it will take some long time before the Register is anywhere near completion. At the moment, although growing - thanks to some faithful reporters - records for Scotland are still less comprehensive than those for England and Wales. Northern Ireland is particularly difficult to research, and I've only recently (2012) found an official but unfortunately only partial survey which took place 1994-2006. Luckily, there's some very enthusiastic folk in Northern Ireland who have been doing a great job in making up for the lack of a more complete official record. I've made breakthroughs regarding Guernsey and Jersey thanks to some very helpful people there, and hope to visit the Isle of Man next, now I've done my Isle of Wight, Guernsey and Jersey surveys.
	It's a difficult decision whether or not to include privately-owned pumps, and there are many such pumps tucked away in the kitchens, sculleries, back yards or gardens of houses, inns, hospitals, etc. Whereas these were not originally prime candidates for the Register, I include them when I can, although confirmation of their existence isn't as easy as driving up to a village green and taking a look. Modern pumps which are currently available for purchase, typically from garden centres, are no longer included.
	At some stage I'll lodge the Register with a central authority, as I want it to be useful for others' research. In the meantime, as it grows, so it becomes more useful in examining the distribution of pumps around the UK. Take a look at the UK Distribution Map, and note how uneven this distribution is. Currently I'm exploring the reasons for this.

|Home|