Sewage Works

The Lemon Royd Sewage Disposal Works off Fleet Lane was opened by Rothwell M.P. William Lunn on Wednesday 10 September 1930 following a lunch and speeches at the Harold Hall. It was jointly operated by the Rothwell Urban District Council and the Hunslet Rural District Council until they merged in 1937. The expanded facility replaced an earlier works on the other side of the London Midland and Scottish Railway line which had been in use since 1895. The manager’s house is on the right. Keen bowler Jesse Binks was in charge of the works from the early 1940s until the late 1950s. Along the side of the settling tanks he planted daffodils which spelt out R.U.D.C. in massive leters when they flowered in the early spring and they could be clearly seen from passing trains.
A view of the settling tanks looking towards Water Haigh colliery.
Plan of the site. Fleet Lane is to the left, with the railway at the top of the frame.
An aerial view of the site. The works were designed by Birmingham based civil engineers Willcox and Raikes and built by the Provincial Construction Company from Sunderland.
Automatic recording instruments.
The sewage pumping station next to the canal at Fleet Bridge.
Inside the pumping station showing the electric switchboard and three motors driving pumps under the floor.