Wanlockhead beam engine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

Wanlockhead beam engine

Straitside Lead Mine, Wanlockhead, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

UK grid reference NS873125

Wanlockhead beam engine

Coordinates 55.393464°N 3.7808569°W

Type A 19th century water pumping beam engine

Height 13 ft.
 Site information

Owner Historic Environment Scotland

Open to Yes

the public

Condition Restored as a staionary exhibit

Site history

Built 19th century

In use 19th and 20th centuries

Materials Stone, wood and iron

The Wanlockhead beam engine (also known as the Wanlockhead water-bucket pumping-
engine or Straitsteps beam engine) is located close to the Wanlock Water below Church Street on
the B797 in the village of Wanlockhead, Parish of Sanquhar, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The
site is in the Lowther Hills above the Mennock Pass, a mile south of Leadhills in the Southern
Uplands.[1] This is the only remaining original water powered beam engine in the United Kingdom
and still stands at its original location.[2][3] It ceased working circa 1910[2] after installation circa 1870.[1]
It is a Scheduled Industrial Monument (SM90310), considered to be of national importance[4] and the
principles by which it functioned were originally derived from attempts at producing a perpetual
motion machine.[5]

Contents

 1History
o 1.1The Beam engine
o 1.2Operation
 2Straitsteps and the miners cottages
 3See also
 4References
 5External links

History[edit]
The water-bucket pumping engine and Straitsteps miners cottages

Similar water powered water pumping engines are known from as early as 1745 and an example in
the 1790s is known to have been used to drain a coal mine at Canonbie, Dumfries and
Galloway.[6] They were progressively replaced by steam powered water pumps such as the 1780s
example once at Earlston in East Ayrshire and now preserved in the National Museum of Scotland.
Sir James Stampfield installed hand rag-pumps that were used manually at the Straitsteps Mine
between 1675 and 1684, water being drawn up by rags attached to a continuous length of rope
inside a pipe that opened below the water level. Later on water power was used to work drainage
pumps and then two waterwheel-powered pumping engines, known as ‘bab-gins’ were installed at
Straitsteps in 1710.[6]
By 1779 the Straitsteps mine that ran under Wanlock Dod was drained using a Boulton & Watt
steam pumping engine, later replaced by a more economic and efficient Watt engine.[6]
From 1870 until circa 1910 the Wanlockhead beam engine water pump is thought to have acted as a
supplementary pump for draining water from the disused parts of Straitsteps lead mine[1] that had
first been worked as far back as 1675 and in doing so prevented the flooding of the near by Bay
Lead Mine.[4] Traditional lead mining ceased in 1928 however lead and zinc extraction from the
settling ponds only ended in 1968.[7]
The Beam engine[edit]

The beam, pivot and bearings.

The horizontal circa 8.5 m (27 ft) long pitch-pine beam pivots on cast-iron step plummer blocks with
brass bearings and a wrought iron axle.[8] The blocks are secured to the pillar by metal tie rods which
pass right through the stone column and are tied in at the base.[9] The aforementioned supporting
column is 14 ft high and built from well dressed freestone ashlar block masonry.[1][10] Two baulks of
pitch pine are held together by wrought iron straps and reinforcing pads are located at the centre
and beam ends.
The stone column has a decoratively carved cornice and has the general appearance of a typical
19th century railway bridge pier.[6] A number of small locking screws can be seen and the brass
bearings were clearly turned on a lathe. Wedges and cotter pins are used to hold some parts of the
mechanism together.[6] The machining of the bearings, etc confirms the late 19th century
construction of the beam engine.
The wooden parts of the structure have been replaced over the years however remains of ladders,
platforms and the rest of the pumping rod may remain within the capped mine shaft.[4] The wooden
bucket on the eastern end of the beam has long since rotted however the 2m deep stone lined pit,
once draining into the Wanlock Burn, still survives. The prominent woodem tripod frame with a
ladder was used for maintenance of the pump rod and for adjusting or trimming the weight of the
pumping rod end of the beam using smelted lead bars.[11] This is a more recent replacement feature.
The lead tank or cistern that formed the head of water once stood on the hill above the site and was
fed by a launder from the Wanlock Burn.
The stone column of another beam engine is recorded at the Bay Mine (NS868137) as well as the
wheel pit of a sizable waterwheel.[10] It is thought that the stone column is part of the atmospheric
beam engine built by William Symington. It is possible that the Straitsteps beam engine had been
used elsewhere before being assembled at Straitsteps.[6]
Operation[edit]

Detail of the pumping gear on the bucket end of the beam.

The ongoing running costs were minimal as the only 'fuel' was free in the form of water and therefore
construction costs were the only significant outlay. Water was fed into a lead tank or cistern above
the beam engine from the Wanlock Water and then passed under the road to the square bucket that
was attached to the eastern end of the wooden beam via wrought iron pumping mechanism. The
weight of the water would eventually overcome the weight of the pumping rod attached to the
western end of the beam and the upward movement would draw water up via flap valves at the rate
of two to three oscillations a minute and lift around 7000 litres per hour that was released back into
the Wanlock Water via a wood-lined culvert which ran underground.[12][11] The water within the bucket
was likewise released via a valve that was activated when the stroke reached its maximum and then
the cycle was repeated. This simple operation was very reliable and ran 24 hours a day with
minimum attention or maintenance.[6]
A working model of the water-bucket pumping-engine is on display within the lead mining museum's
exhibition area.
The characteristic nodding motion of the beam engine gave rise to the 'Bobbin John' nickname
coined by the miners.[4]
In front of the beam engine a double circle walkway indicates where a horse gin once stood,
predating the beam engine and once used to haul miners and ore from the mine.[4]

Straitsteps and the miners cottages[edit]

A number of the original single storey miners cottages are still in use or are preserved by the
Museum of Scottish Lead Mining and a semi-detached example, East and West Straitsteps
Cottages, stand above the beam engine site. The name 'Straitsteps' refers to a barren section
between Straitsteps and the Bay Mine of the galena vein that runs from Mennockhass through the
Dod Hill and on to the Limpen Rig.[13]
 See also[edit]

 Scotland portal

 Blacksyke Tower

References[edit]
Notes

1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d "Engineering Times - Wanlockhead Beam Engine". Retrieved 28 June 2018.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b "Historic Environment Scotland - Wanlockhead Beam Engine". Retrieved 28
June 2018.
3. ^ David Carroll (2015). Dumfries & Galloway Curiosities. History Press. p. 26.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Historic Environment Scotland. "Wanlockhead Beam Engine (SM90310)".
Retrieved 18 April 2019.
5. ^ Lochnell Mine & The Wanlockhead Beam Engine. Wanlockhead Museum Trust. 2004. p. 9.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g "Wanlockhead Lead Mining Museum". Retrieved 28 June 2018.
7. ^ Albert Cowell (2016). Extracting lead and zinc in Wanlockhead during the 1960s. Cowell-Harkness.
p. 2.
8. ^ Lochnell Mine & The Wanlockhead Beam Engine. Wanlockhead Museum Trust. 2004. p. 10.
9. ^ "Future Museum - Wanlockhead Beam Engine". Retrieved 29 June 2018.
10. ^ Jump up to:a b John R. Hume (2013). The Industrial Archaeology of Scotland. 1. The Lowlands and
Borders. B.T.Batsford. p. 105.
11. ^ Jump up to:a b Lochnell Mine & The Wanlockhead Beam Engine. Wanlockhead Museum Trust. 2004.
p. 12.
12. ^ "Goosey Goo - Explore and Restore". Retrieved 29 June 2018.
13. ^ Lochnell Mine & The Wanlockhead Beam Engine. Wanlockhead Museum Trust. 2004. p. 13.
Sources

 Carroll, David (2015). Dumfries & Galloway Curiosities'. Stroud : History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-6406-0.
 Cowell, Albert (2016). Extracting lead and zinc in Wanlockhead during the 1960s. Cowell-
Harkness. ISBN 978-0-9957616-0-5.
 Hume, John R. (1976). The Industrial Archaeology of Scotland. 1. The Lowlands and the Borders. B. T.
Batsford Ltd.
 Lochnell Mine & The Wanlockhead Beam Engine. (2004). Wanlockhead Museum Trust. ISBN 0-9530654-
6-5 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: Invalid ISBN..
ISBN 0-7134-3234-9.

External links[edit]
 [1] - The Wanlockhead water powered Beam Engine.
 [2] - A Scottish Newcomen Engine from Caprington Colliery.
 [3] - Black Country Living Museum - Newcomen Engine.
 [4] - The Newcomen Atmospheric Beam Engine.
 [5] - Working model beam engine.
 [6] - Hole of Barr water pump.
 Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Straitsteps
lead mine.

Wikimedia Commons has

media related
to Wanlockhead Beam
Engine.

Categories:
 Buildings and structures in Dumfries and Galloway
 Villages in Dumfries and Galloway
 History of Dumfries and Galloway
 Wanlockhead
 Mountains and hills of the Southern Uplands
 History of Dumfriesshire
 Gold mines in Scotland
 Mountains and hills of Dumfries and Galloway
Navigation menu
 Not logged in
 Talk
 Contributions
 Create account
 Log in
 Article
 Talk
 Read
 Edit
 View history
Search
Go

 Main page
 Contents
 Featured content
 Current events
 Random article
 Donate to Wikipedia
 Wikipedia store
Interaction
 Help
 About Wikipedia
 Community portal
 Recent changes
 Contact page
Tools
 What links here
 Related changes
 Upload file
 Special pages
 Permanent link
 Page information
 Wikidata item
 Cite this page
In other projects
 Wikimedia Commons
Print/export
 Create a book
 Download as PDF
 Printable version
Languages
 Nederlands
Edit links

 This page was last edited on 18 April 2019, at 00:05 (UTC).

 Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site,
you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.,
a non-profit organization.

 Privacy policy

 About Wikipedia

 Disclaimers

 Contact Wikipedia

 Developers

 Cookie statement

 Mobile view