Description: Looking west upstream from the north bank of the River Trent towards the Meadows (still undeveloped at this point). The large building on the right is the Corporation waterworks pumping station. Immediately behind this was its reservoir. Victoria Embankment steps are in the course of construction. See also NTGM006602 for an adjacent view. The new Trent Waterworks Company opened its works near to the present Town Arms at Trent Bridge in 1831. This remarkable system, the first in the country to provide a supply at constant high pressure so preventing contamination from entering the mains, was constructed under supervision of its designer, the Company Engineer, Thomas Hawksley, then 25 years old. Water flowed through brick filter tunnels laid in the gravel beds on the north side of the river into a reservoir adjoining the pumping station. From there it was pumped by a 40 HP rotative beam engine to a new reservoir built on the corner of Park Row and the Ropewalk. Parts of this 15 inch cast-iron water main between the pumping station and the reservoir remain in service today, although the pumping station itself no longer exists (demolished c 1900).