Historic colliery steam engine to fire back to life

the oldest steam engine in the world still at its original location is set to come back to life in Yorkshire following a £500,000 restoration project.

By The Newsroom

Published 17th Nov 2014, 14:27 BST

Built by the powerful Earls Fitzwilliam as they transformed Elsecar, near Barnsley, the Newcomen beam engine dates back to 1795, pumping water from local collieries until 1923. Five years later when American industrialist Henry Ford offered a blank cheque to take it across the Atlantic, he was turned down, but it has not worked since the 1950s.

Now the engine has been restored inside its engine-house above its impressive 110ft mineshaft. Its grand re-launch on Friday, following its restoration by the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage and Barnsley Council, will include an honour guard of steaming locomotives.

Neil Redfern, principal inspector of ancient monuments at English Heritage, said the engine showed the value of innovation to the industrial revolution.

He said: “Elsecar and Barnsley were at the forefront of this innovation and this site has the potential to inspire communities of today about what they too can achieve.”