Elsecar Heritage Centre facts for kids
Elsecar Heritage Centre
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| Location | Elsecar, Barnsley, England |
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| Type | Heritage centre |
Elsecar Heritage Centre is a living history centre in Elsecar, Barnsley, England. It covers the industrial history of the area, and includes a Newcomen beam engine, the only such engine still in its original location.
Heritage Centre
The buildings were originally used for various industries including ironworks and forges, a distillery, and engineering workshops. These fell into decline when the coal mines in the village closed.
It has its own Elsecar goods station (called Rockingham Station) on the Elsecar Steam Railway, with a running shed behind the main centre. During some special events, trips are run to Hemingfield Basin. There are plans to extend the line to Cortonwood and build two stations (one at Cortonwood and the other at Hemingfield). The railway's depot is home to a selection of steam locomotives as well as a diesel locomotive.
It comprises shops, businesses, galleries, art and craft studios and an exhibition hall. It runs craft workshops, special events, and a monthly antiques fair.
Elsecar Heritage Centre hosts the 16mm Garden Railway Show every year which is organised by the Yorkshire Group of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers Ltd.
In March 2017 it was announced that the Great Place Scheme a partnership between Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic England was to jointly fund Wentworth Woodhouse and Elsecar Heritage Centre with a £1,264,000 grant.
Elsecar Engine
The centre is also the site of the only Newcomen beam engine in the world still in its original location. The Newcomen Engine was built at the instruction of William Wentworth, the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam. It was used to pump water out of Elsecar New Colliery and ran from 1795 until 1923 when it was replaced by electric pumps. The date over the door of the Engine House is 1787, but there is some dispute that the engine was not actually installed until 1795. In 1836 the Graham brothers, a local partnership cast a new beam and two parallel motions for the Newcomen engine. It also ran briefly in 1928 when the electric pumps were overwhelmed by flooding. At its peak it could draw 600 gallons a minute. In 1972 the engine was classified as a scheduled ancient monument. The engine was restored to working order (worked by hydraulics) over the period 2012–14.
