The Pinchbeck Engine is a drainage engine, a rotative

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcome ...

built in 1833 to drain Pinchbeck Marsh, to the north of Spalding,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

, in England. Until it was shut down in 1952, the engine discharged into the ''Blue Gowt'' which joins the River Glen at Surfleet Seas End.

Museum

In 1952 the engine was rendered obsolete by modern

electric pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they ...

s and stood forgotten until being opened to the public as a museum in 1979. The coal store was cleared and now houses the associated Museum of Land Drainage. The museum complex includes the blacksmith's shop, still in its original condition. The museum is operated by the Welland and Deepings

Internal Drainage Board An internal drainage board (IDB) is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management withi ...

, successors to the commissioners who erected the engine. The buildings are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

and also a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. The chimney was demolished in 1952, and no actions were taken to preserve the boiler, which is no longer in a fit state to be used. The engine is a static exhibit, which can be rotated by an electric motor for demonstration purposes.

Beam engine

The engine is a condensing

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

with an overhead beam supported by an 'A'-frame. It was built by the

Butterley Company The Butterley Company was an English manufacturing firm founded as Benjamin Outram and Company in 1790. Its subsidiaries existed until 2009. Origins This area of Derbyshire had been known for its outcrops of iron ore which had been exploited at ...

Ripley, Derbyshire Ripley is a town in the Amber Valley borough of Derbyshire, England. History Little information remains as to when Ripley was founded, but it appears in the 1086 Domesday Book, when it was held by a man called Levenot. In 1251 Henry III grante ...

. It has a single cylinder of bore and stroke. The flywheel is in diameter. The engine ran at up to 30 rpm. The engine is gear-coupled to a single

scoop wheel Rim driven Scoop wheel of the Stretham Old Engine, Cambridgeshire A scoop wheel or scoopwheel is a pump, usually used for land drainage. A scoop wheel pump is similar in construction to a water wheel, but works in the opposite manner: a waterw ...

in an adjacent compartment. There are 40 paddles around the circumference of the wheel, which could lift a maximum of of water per minute through an lift. The annual effort varied between tons of water lifted, and . Typically the engine was operated for around 180 days a year and an engine man was permanently retained, living on the site. The boiler dates from 1895 and is a twin furnace

Lancashire boiler A shell or flued boiler is an early and relatively simple form of boiler used to make steam, usually for the purpose of driving a steam engine. The design marked a transitional stage in boiler development, between the early haystack boilers and ...

, delivering . It consumed around of coal per hour. Coal supplies were originally brought by barge, but after the land was successfully drained a railway line was laid from Spalding to Boston, and coals were delivered to a nearby goods facility. They were then transported on a very short narrow gauge railway line in colliery-style tubs. The motive power for this appears to have been human. One of the tubs and a metre or so of line is displayed at the museum. The engine is said to be the earliest 'A'-frame engine still ''in situ'', the longest-working beam engine in the Fens, and the last in use.

References

External links

Welland and Deeping IDB: Pinchbeck Engine Museum
official site
Info page about the museum

Map of the location from the Listed Building database
{{Authority control Museums in Lincolnshire Preserved beam engines Agricultural museums in England Grade II listed buildings in Lincolnshire Scheduled monuments in Lincolnshire Steam museums in England Infrastructure completed in 1833 Spalding, Lincolnshire

Museum

Beam engine

See also

References

External links