Get Us Winding Again
The Winding Engine at Blists Hill Victorian Town is one of our earliest and most significant exhibits.
When it is working, the Winding Engine exhibit can bring the sounds, smells and sights of a working engine to life for our visitors. It helps us tell the story of the men, women and children who worked in Shropshire mines and the daily dangers they faced. It also demonstrates a vital feature of mining and the development of mining and engineering during the Industrial Revolution.
Sadly, this engine, one of the very few preserved steam winding engines – and of even fewer able to wind up and down a historic mine shaft – has now been out of action since 2018.
We need to raise £100,000 to repair and restore this incredible piece of machinery.
Can you help Get Us Winding Again?
Blists Hill mine c.1900
THE blists hill MINE and the winding engine
The mine at Blists Hill is one of the earliest in-situ features of the museum site.
It was first sunk in the 1780s by William Reynolds, the manager of the Ketley works of the Coalbrookdale Company and the Madeley Wood Company. It reached a depth of 607ft 6in (approx. 185m) and passed through seams of brick and tile clay, fire clay, ironstone (two seams) and coal (five seams).
The mine closed in the 1940s and the mine shaft was filled in until it was reopened by the museum in 1975. It is now 50ft (18m) deep.
The introduction of the steam engine made it easier to drive the winding engines that were used to get people, equipment and animals up and down shafts.
Today this winding engine winds empty tubs a short distance up and down an original mine shaft. The engine itself dates to the mid-19th century and was originally used at Milburgh Tileries, a mine in Jackfield, Shropshire.
The cage on the end of the cable would have carried one tub of coal or clay at a time or six men. Winding speeds could be up to 30mph (44 feet per second) without men and about half that with men on.
People's lives depended on the Winding Engineman's work. It was essential for him to follow the precise procedures for operating the winding engine and maintain concentration. The Winding Engineman was the second highest paid member of staff after the Manager.
Illustration showing 'the doubles', the method used in Shropshire to raise and lower men into mines. From La Vie Souteraines (1868).
what work needs doing?
The planned work will repair damage due to normal wear and ageing (the winding engine ran most days from its installation in 1973 to 2018) and due to an overwind incident that occurred in 2018.
A phased plan for work will see the pit head, boiler house and engine house refurbished, the mine shaft inspected and cage refit.
The work will primarily be carried out by our Steam Team, expert volunteers, supported by our Steam Engineer and outside contractors. This will help mitigate the cost.
It will take approximately 18 months to complete the work, but it is wholly dependent on raising £100,000.
See below a video of the Winding Engine in action.
We are very grateful to have received a generous donation from The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust.
Together, we can keep history alive.
DONATE NOW TO GET US WINDING AGAIN
For more information, please contact our Fundraising Team at fundraising.manager@ironbridge.org.uk
Watch this video and see the winding engine at Blists Hill Victorian Town in action.