Wanlockhead Beam Engine, Dumfries and Galloway
N 55° 23.945 W 003° 47.141
30U E 450241 N 6139482
Wanlockhead was a lead mining area. This beam engine was built in 1870s and survived in use to pump water out of a small mine until the mine closed. Looking north east.
Waymark Code: WMGX5J
Location: Southern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/19/2013
Views: 3
Beam engines were replaced by steam powered beam pumps. This example survived and has been preserved by Historic Scotland.
Looking at the old photograph you can see the building behind has a straw roof whereas the modern building has a slate roof. The outbuilding in the old photograph has exposed roof timbers. In the modern image once again a slate roof.
The mine closed in 1900s and it was not until 1972 that Historic Scotland started to care for the beam engine. The information board has more.
This unusual machine was used to pump water from the lowest levels of a small lead mine up a shaft to a side tunnel leading to a stream. Water to power the engine was collected in a tank on the hillside, and piped to the right-hand side of the engine. There it ran in to a wooden bucket attached to the beam by an iron rod. The weight of the full bucket pulled the pump rod up the shaft. At the bottom of its pit a valve opened to allow the water in the bucket to run out. The pump rods then pulled the beam down, lifting the bucket up to be filled again, and operating the pump at the bottom of the shaft.