Description and History of Site:-
In 1693, George Sorocold, a noted hydraulic engineer of the time, proposed a plan to supply piped water to the inhabitants of Leeds. The proposal was accepted by the Borough on March 3rd and Sorocold tasked to

".. designe and lay an engine to convey water from the River of Aire through the streets to the sev'all houses within the town of Leeds".

To this end an existing fulling mill, Pitfall Mill, at the northern end of the Leeds Bridge was acquired and adapted to pump water through 3" diameter lead pipes to a storage reservoir near St Johns Church (WYK01024) from where it would be distributed to anyone who cared to subscribe to the service. It is not clear whether Sorocold built the 'water engine' from scratch, or simply adapted an existing water wheel by adding the necessary pumping machinery.

In 1817, Baines' General and Commercial Directory for Leeds noted;
"The river Aire supplies the town with water, which is brought by a tunnel From the King's Mills to the Water Works, near the Bridge, whence it is forced by a powerful engine into three very large reservoirs, situated at the upper part of the town, from which, after remaining a certain time to deposit its impurities, it is distributed by leaden pipes into every part of the town, and almost into every house."

However, by 1834, Baines and Newsome were to write in their directory of Leeds that:
"Only 2,200 houses, inhabited by 12,000 persons, receive water from the water works, and a population of upwards of 60,000 in the township alone have no supply except from wells and rain-water. The water is raised by the water works from the river near Leeds Bridge and forced up by a water-wheel to reservoirs In New-street, St. John's, and Albion-street. Its quality is very indifferent; and from this cause, as well as from the deficient quantity, the Commissioners are now engaged in finding out some new source, whence pure water, in sufficient abundance may be provided for the town. It Is anticipated that entirely new water works will be constructed, at great expense. Several engineers are at this time engaged in surveying the neighbourhood, For the purpose of furnishing plans and estimates to the Commissioners." Pitfall Mill went out of use in early 1842 having been replaced by a new scheme based on Eccup (WYK02368) reservoir.

Pitfall Mill was offered (by the Leeds Waterworks Company) for lease (of 11 years) or to be let (by the year) in July 1842. Presumably, the offer was taken up since it was offered to be let (again) in April 1858 and described as a Corn mill with wheel and stones.

In 1882, a subcommittee of the Leeds Council was tasked to report on the possibilities of introducing the electric light to Leeds. As part of their investigations they looked at possible existing sources of motive power including the site at Pitfall Mill which the Council then still owned. They reported that the water wheel there '... had a diameter of 19 feet 6 inches, a face width of 5 feet 9 inches and 2 foot floats'. It was estimated that the wheel had a power output of 14 h.p.

Further Reading and References:-
Pepperd, R S. The growth and development of Leeds waterworks undertakings, 1694-1852. Unpublished M.Phil. thesis, 1973.
Leeds Corporation: Waterworks Undertaking 1852-1952.
Poulter, J. D., An early history of electricity supply, Peregrinus, 1986. (p56).
Leeds Intelligencer , July 4th 1842 and April 24th 1858.

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Key Words :- water supply sorocold pumping waterwheel

Address :- Pitfall Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 7HG
Grid Ref :- SE 30274 33214
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.794362 , Long -1.541907
Local Authority :- Leeds Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to industrial / commercial use
Site Dates :- 1694 - 1842
Record Date :- 18 May 2018

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Nick Nelson