Red Bowser Kerb Pump - Beverley, UK - Vintage Gasoline Pumps on Waymarking.com

The following details are an extract from the Historic England website and the details about the pump itself have been made bold.

"Summary

A c1735 domestic building with later conversions and alterations, including the addition of a 1920s petrol pump.

Reasons for Designation

No. 44 Eastgate and its attached petrol pump are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural Interest: as a mid-C18 town house with characteristic features; * Historic Interest: the pump is an early example of petrol provision, providing an interesting survival from the history of the motor car in England; * Rarity: the pump is one of extremely few survivals of pumps delivering petrol across a pavement, where both the original pump and swinging arm survives.

History

This building was constructed c1735 by a Miss Barbara Read. At this time it was described as a ‘messuage, garth and garden.’ The front range formed a separate property of one room to each floor, while the rear range was subdivided into two, possibly three tenements; an arrangement that continued throughout the C19 and into the C20. Wood’s 1828 Plan of Beverley indicates an L-shaped range attached to the west end of the building, mostly demolished in the late-C19. Due to the positioning of blocked windows in the extant gable end, this was likely to have been single storey. By 1830, the property was described as including stables, cowhouses and yards together with a piece of land.

The front range ground floor was converted to commercial use during the C19, retaining a Victorian shopfront until the widening of Eastgate during the 1960s; at this point the existing archway was inserted. There was also some commercial activity on the rear of the site, indicated by the large number of workshops, stables and other structures within what was known as Suddaby’s and later Dickinson’s Yard. The remainder of the outbuildings which survived the late-C19 demolition were removed during the C20.

The site was sold to a motor engineer in 1920, at which point the building was converted into a garage. The hand-crank petrol pump attached to the main elevation is likely to date to the early 1920s. It features in a Bowser sales catalogue of 1922, identified as ‘The Red Bowser Kerb Pump’ (although without the swinging arm; a necessity due to its position off the pavement). The niche in which it sits would have originally been the entrance to the passage accessing the yard. The creation of a niche will have been in order to avoid the pump being positioned on a public pavement, for which the garage owner would have required a legal agreement with the council such as an annual licence.

The yard was covered over in the mid-C20, although this roofing has now been removed and the site built on as part of the current development scheme. This involves the addition of a modern two-storey structure to the former yard area, and the amalgamation of this with the rear range. The front range remains separate with commercial space to the ground floor and a flat to the first and attic floor." link

Gasoline Brand: Unknown Reproduction: no Location: Outside

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