Bestwood Village Homepage


Headstocks and winding house at Bestwood. Closed 1967.
©Q
View east to the headstock, which is being restored as part of a new visitor centre.
©Trevor Rickard
A side on view of the surviving winder house and headstock.
©Ashley Dace
A look at one of the cylinders with associated controlling mechanisms and levers linked to the floor above. Some of the now disconnected steam pipes can be seen.
©Ashley Dace
Bestwood Colliery engine winding house is silhouetted against the darkening skies.
©Alan Murray-Rust
©Alan Murray-Rust
The former filled in shaft reaching down 555m to the 2nd Piper seam. The first rocks encountered were the bunter sandstones before the dolomitic limestones.
©Ashley Dace
A view of the two cylinders on this unique engine. The reversing mechanism can be seen centre bottom, to the left is the Worsley Mesnes steam controller. Also seen here next to the yellow spring is the mechanism showing cage position. Behind the driver is a set of large weights associated with the drum brakes. [[[2398315]]]
©Ashley Dace
A unique survivor of the vertical duplex type. Recently face-lifted.
©Chris Allen
This is the main access to the Country Park from the west and is overlooked by the old Bestwood Colliery winding engine house.
©Alan Murray-Rust
Dist:0.1km<br/>A side on view of the surviving winder house and headstock.
©Ashley Dace
Dist:0.1km<br/>A view of the two cylinders on this unique engine. The reversing mechanism can be seen centre bottom, to the right is the Worsley Mesnes steam controller. Also seen here bottom right is the mechanism showing cage position.
©Ashley Dace
Dist:0.1km<br/>Bestwood saw a rapid growth with the coming of the colliery in the 1880s, followed by iron smelting at the site. Coal production eventually ceased in 1967. Since coming under council ownership in the early 1980s, the former colliery site and pit tip have been completely relandscaped. Restoration of the colliery winding engine house is now underway, part of a £2M project to finally convert the colliery buildings into a visitor centre, due to open at the end of 2009. From a glass lift, visitors will be able to see the steam engine in all its glory.
©Trevor Rickard
Dist:0.1km<br/>This is a close up of the Worsley Mesnes (Melling's) patent pneumatic controller. This ensured the safety of the miners and the engine by preventing overspeed and overwind events by stopping the engine safely if necessary. The cylinder on the floor on the left is part of the steam reverser assembly. This site was visited with Ashley Dace and we were allowed access for photography as bona fide industrial history photographers.
©Chris Allen
Dist:0.1km<br/>A unique vertical duplex steam winding engine built in 1873 by R J & E Coupe of the Worsley Mesnes Ironworks, Wigan. This is at drum level and shows the Walker-Black profile overwinder. This is a rare survivor in its own right. It had latterly been disconnected and apparently succeeded by a Melling pneumatic controller two floors down. All these controllers were failsafe devices to prevent the engine going too fast or winding the cages too far and could stop the engine in an emergency. This winding drum is in two halves and this side can be declutched if necessary.
©Chris Allen

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]

Members Nearby

Bestwood Village Discussion Forum


Places Near Bestwood Village

Arnold • Beauvale • Bestwood • Bestwood Village • Blenheim • Broomhill • Bulwark • Bulwell • Butler's Hill • Cinder Hill • Cinderhill • Daybrook • Hazelgrove • Hempshill Vale • Highbury Vale • Hucknall • Linby • Mapperley • New Basford • Nuthall • Old Basford • Papplewick • Redhill • Rise Park • Ruffs • Sherwood • Stockhill • Top Valley • Westville • Woodthorpe •