Dear List
Many will probably know that there is a proposal to return the Old Mills
Colliery Engine (currently in the Bristol Industrial Museum stores) back to
the Radstock area
If anyone on the list knows (or has access to) information on this engine
that might be of assistence it would be much appreciated by those involved.
The brief for the current feasibility study states ....
‘The largest single item in Bristol Museums & Art Gallery Service’s indoor
collection is a steam engine that spent its life at the Old Mills colliery,
Radstock, North Somerset. … The engine is of some significance in coal
mining history. It is believed to be the earliest colliery winding engine to
survive nationally, having been built in 1861, and is very representative of
the simple, robust, inefficient machines commonly used until the 1930s. It
was made at the foundry in Paulton, near Radstock, run by the mineowner,
William Evans, and is the largest product of this works to survive. The
engine worked for over a century until the final days of the North Somerset
coalfield, hauling wagons of coal and spoil to the surface.’
I am particularly keen to clarify the reference to "earliest colliery
winding engine to survive"
When George Watkins visited the colliery his notes recall that it is -
"..probably the oldest surviving colliery winding engine still in use.."
I believe it was still useable when it was rescued (1966) when the colliery
closed, and this claim may therefore be true. Watkins (thorough though he
was) has since been found to be wrong on occasions and even if the statement
was correct when made i.e. still in use - there may well be other older
winding engines that survive in a preserved condition elsewhere
If anyone on the list has suggestions of older engines or details about this
one plase let me know and I will pass it on
Regards
David Hardwick
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