Dear List,
I was recently asked to interpret a rather unusual engine house ruin at Herodsfoot near Liskeard in Cornwall. It seems fairly early - ie: late C18 or very early C19 (that's early for Cornwall).
It has an unusual plan with a central door to a pumping shaft, opposed side doors adjoining the shaft wall, and a long narrow plan. The boiler house appears to have been small and possibly square (haystack variety?) and immediately adjoined the stack, which is of cylindrical stone type and is attached to the end of the house, slightly stepped in from the corner. I'm wondering about a Watt rotary type, completely enclosed within the house. I'm aware of such an engine being installed at the Bere Ferrers silvermines c.1781 which was completely enclosed in its house, but don't know of any others in Devon/Cornwall, or indeed elsewhere. (I am aware of the Levant winder of 1840).
Does anyone know when attached cylindrical stacks were first used in Cornwall, and whether any other houses of this form exist which I can go and have a look at to compare?
Robert Waterhouse
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