Whispering Well Pumping Station

Whispering Well is the name of a former pumping station situated west of Chander Hill Lane. Before being converted into separate dwellings, Whispering Well was one of two pumping stations in Holymoorside, the other being Hunger Hill Pumping Station. The pumping stations were constructed in the 1920s to maintain water flow in the River Hipper in the event of a drought, as the river was vital for the communities in the Hipper Valley. 

Whispering Well was the larger of the two pumping stations and was constructed by the Chesterfield Corporation in 1925, in the same architectural style as Hunger Hill. Whispering Well however features a castellated tower. The site included a 93 foot deep well, dug in 1924, and boreholes no1 and no2, both sunk in 1929 and with a depth of 207 feet and 857 feet respectively. Little is known about the interior of the waterworks but it would have likely housed similar if not identical machinery to Hunger Hill.

There are several properties in the vicinity that are not in the same architectural style as the pumping station building. These were the ancillary houses for the waterboard workers.  

Behind the complex on the Loads Road side is a large underground water storage tank, which is believed to have been decommissioned along with the rest of the site in the late 20th Century.

A couple of hundred yards away, there is another underground reservoir, also named Whispering Well, which has supplied Holymoorside with water since its construction in 1973.