[1] The main attraction is the 1861 Easton and Amos steam engine and pump, the only one still in its original location and in working order.

[2] Early attempts to control the water levels were possibly made by the Romans (although records only date from the 13th century), but were not widespread.

[5] Flooding of adjacent moor land was partially addressed during the 13th century by the construction of a number of embankment walls to contain the Parrett.

[6] The River Tone was diverted by the Abbot of Athelney and other land owners into a new embanked channel, joining the Parrett upstream from its original confluence.

[8] In the early 17th century, during the time of King James I, abortive plans were made to drain and enclose much of Sedgemoor, which the local Lords supported but opposed by the Commoners who would have lost grazing rights.

[9] In 1632, Charles I sold the Crown's interest in the scheme, and it was taken over by a consortium that included Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutch drainage engineer.

[11] Little attempt was made during the 17th and 18th centuries to pump water, possibly because the coal-driven Newcomen steam engines would have been uneconomical.

It is unclear why windmills were not employed, as they were on the Fens of East Anglia, but only two examples have been recorded on the Levels: one at Bleadon at the mouth of the River Axe, where a sea wall had been built, and the other at Common Moor north of Glastonbury, which was being drained following a private act of Parliament in 1721, the Glastonbury Inclosure Act 1721 (8 Geo.

[10] The first mechanical pumping station on the Somerset Levels was built in 1830 to drain the area around Westonzoyland, Middlezoy and Othery.

Additionally, the Parrett riverbank has now been raised by some 8 feet (2.4 m) in the vicinity of the pumping station and the opening to the river, from the base of the pump-well, is now bricked up.

[16] The station itself is a Flemish bond brick-built property with a slate hipped roof and chimney rising to 71 feet (22 m) in height.

Two of the ground-floor rooms have now been opened: the living-room is furnished in a 1930s/40s style, while the old kitchen area currently holds a couple of display cases, with a view to showing hitherto unseen artefacts from the museum's collection of smaller items.

A similar engine was on display at The Great Exhibition of 1851 and was shown to be able to lift 100 tons of water per minute, to a height of 6 feet (1.8 m).

It was constructed after the closure of the pumping station to move heavy machinery around the site and is used to transport timber from the wood pile to the boiler.

[32] A steam winch built by John Lynch of Sunderland is used to move one of the trucks up an inclined plane to demonstrate how this would have been done in goods yards and docks.