The one engine house I do know a little about is the Newcomen Engine at
Elsecar in South Yorkshire.
I understand it is the only existing Newcomen engine still in its original
engine house.
It was the subject of a paper by A.K. Clayton, written in 1963 and presented
to the Newcomen Society. It is available for download on the their site for
a fee.
The engine was built to pump water from the Earl Fitzwilliam Elsecar Pit
which was being expanded in the mid 1790's to export coal via the the Dearne
& Dove Vanal which was then being built.
As the pit was part of the Fitzwilliam Estate, the costs were carefully
recorded and I understand the records are now retained at the Sheffield
public records office.
The construction of the engine was managed by a "John Bargh" of Chesterfield
who appeared to act as a project manager buying the components of the engine
from various local foundries and then assembling them. The engine house
however was built by Francis Hardy & Co who were paid £167-19-3 -1/2 for
Building an engine house, workshops and bridge near the engine house.
Seperate payments were made for tiling and the chimney. The materials were
sourced locally with payments made for felling and dressing trees in the
adjacent woods and a quarry was opened to provide stone.
The engine house was started in late 1794 and the first water drawn in
september 1795.
Charge were paid for ale and feasts at major points during the
construction. - (They seemed to have more fun than we do today on major
engineering projects)
John Bargh was paid £69-2-0 for erecting the engine.
The total cost of the engine ran to about £1000
John Bargh checked and endorsed the major bills
The engine ran until 1923 when it was replaced with electric pumps
There is lot more detail in the paper on components and problems with the
engine.
Regards
Gavin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Curator" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 11:56 AM
Subject: Re: Engine Houses
Alastair,
Elisha Marks (and company) also built the coal yard, balance bob loading and
balance bob pit at Greenburrow, in addition to which they built the
Tredinnick and Ishmael's engine houses. However as Marks' name appears in
the cost book quite a few times I infer that he and his men were masons
working for the mine rather than external contractors. All entries in the
cost book for payments to men include the term '& Co,' which presumably just
refers to a small group of men - tutwork, tribute and all other work are
treated the same way. I shall be looking at the North Killiow Shaft contract
as soon as I can as I have only just found out about it.
Pete
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alasdair Neill" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 2:47 PM
Subject: Re: Engine Houses
The driver of the library van in my mum's area (nr Helston) claims to be
descended from an engine house builder.
Certainly both Ding Dong Killio North and Levant Guide Shaft engine houses
were built by Wm Oatey & Co, presumably the same although nearly 30 years
apart.
Some details of engine house contracts, these often included installing the
boilers, but not installing the engine:
1857 Dind Dong Killio North William - contractors Oatey & Co £72.13.8,
apparently the boiler house was not included (probably the contract Peter
referred to)
1864 Ding Dong Greenburrow - contractors Henry Roach & Co £181.4.6 (Roach
also did masonry work for the mine in 1853. A Henry Roach mason of Concord
Downs Towednack in Kelly's directory 1873).
1865 Ding Dong Tredinnick engine house contractors Elisha Marks & Co
£139.4.6.
1866 Greenburrow 25" whim contractors Elisha Marks & Co £144.15.5
Elisha Marks did other masonry work for Ding Dong & I seem to recall also
other unrelate work on the mine at times.
1885-1886 Levant Guide Shaft - contractors wm. Oatey & Co £135.6.2
It might be worth searching the censuses to see what the occupations of the
given contractors was listed as, but I havn't time for that at present.
Alasdair Neill.
1885-1886 Levant
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