WELCOME to another of our history features, part of our series called, 'Brentford REWIND'.

As part of 'Brentford REWIND', we will look back at famous buildings and locations throughout Brentford, talk about their history and how they've evolved over the years.

Today we will look at one of Brentford's most famous museums, the London Museum of Water & Steam.

The London Museum of Water & Steam only officially opened under its current name seven years ago in 2014, but it first opened nearly two centuries ago, in 1838, as the Kew Bridge Waterworks.

It was first owned by the Grand Junction Water Works Company and used in their quest to find cleaner water, following the badly polluted water at their Chelsea site which forced them to move.

By the turn of the 20th century, Kew Bridge Waterworks was part of a major water supply operation in London.

Over the next half century, the site expanded and in 1944 all of the steam engines had been retired from active service – with only two kept on standby until 1958 - and replaced by more efficient diesel and electric units.

In June of that year, the Metropolitan Water Board formally designated the site as a 'Museum Pumping Station'.

The intention was to preserve the site's artefacts, engines and architecture, and to provide a centre for other historic artefacts from elsewhere.

Initially, it was not open to the public and only a few people knew of the museum's existence.

By the early 70s, the water supply industry was undergoing radical change and modernisation, with the few water-pumping steam engines left in London becoming redundant or due to be retired and scrapped.

In 1974, a group of volunteers formed the Kew Bridge Engines Trust and over the next two years restored the engines to working order and opened the site to the public as the Kew Bridge Steam Museum.

By the early 90s, the last of the water company staff had left the site and left it completely to the museum.

In 1997, the museum was awarded an Engineering Heritage Award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Britain's Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

In 1999, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport described the site as 'the most important historic site of the water supply industry in Britain.'

Following a major redevelopment, the site was officially opened as the London Museum of Water & Steam in 2014.

The museum houses the world's largest collection of Cornish cycle beam engines, including the largest working beam engine - the Grand Junction 90 inch, which was used to pump water to London for 98 years.

The machine is over 40 feet high and weighs about 250 tonnes, with Charles Dickens describing it as a 'monster'.