« Back

Mighty Engine at Hulme's Pit

Denton Reporter, 18 Aug 1972

Searching through old family files, Mr Harold Bowker, of Cypress Grove, Denton, discovered a series of photographs taken when mining was one of Denton's major industries.

Mr Bowker, aged 74, was a maintenance engineer with the Denton Colliery Co Ltd. He serviced many of the most famous Denton pits including Great Wood, Albert, the old and new Burton Nook Pits and Hulme's Pit, by Cemetery Wood (Hulme's Wood). He was the son of John Bowker (1862-1936) who had 51 years service with the Denton Colliery Co Ltd where he was employed as foreman of the yard and enginewright.

Great Wood Pit was situated between Cemetery Rd and Hardy Wood.
Albert Pit was off Tib Street, behind the Masons Arms at Three Lane Ends.
The new Burton Nook Pit refers to Denton Colliery (formerly Ellis Pit) on the north side of Stockport Rd.
The old Burton Nook Pit was probably an 18th century pit situated in the hamlet of Burton Nook which was about 240 yards to the west of Denton Colliery.
Hulme's Pit was in Hulme's Wood alongside the river Tame.

The cage at Hulme's Pit was worked by an old beam engine; an engine which Mr Bowker believes would have been worth preserving.

It served as both pumping and winding engine, and it was thought to be the oldest in the country.

It represented the earliest type of steam engine and in its original form was a Newcomen (atmospheric engine). The year of manufacture is not known but a letter from the Denton Colliery Co Ltd, dated Mar 1931, states that in 1834 the engine was adapted by Musgrave and Co Ltd., of Bolton. Hemp ropes were used for winding.

Mr Bowker commented that the engine served as both a pumping and winding engine. His comment and an examination of photos of the engine confirm that it was a Watt style single-cylinder rotative beam engine that could be used for both pumping and winding. The engine was fitted with a parallel motion mechanism and after about 1800 engines of this type were built in large numbers.

The general arrangement of the engine was a beam 10ft 6in long supported at its centre by four pillars. The height from the floor to the centre of the beam was 9ft 8in.

One end of the beam was connected to a steam cylinder and the other end by a connecting rod to the crank, which was fixed at floor level.

The cast-iron shaft broke in 1916 and was replaced by a mild-steel shaft.

The fly wheel was open-sand cast, with a typical tell-tale rough finish on one side.

As a pumping engine it delivered water from a depth of 420ft with a boiler pressure of 5lb per square inch, assisted by the vacuum from the (steam) condenser.

In 1931 the engine was in good order and typical work it did in Hulme's Pit is given in the letter; eight gallons of water per stroke from 420ft, six strokes a minute. It worked four and a half hours a day, seven days a week. Coal consumption was three tons weekly.

Mr Bowker said,

a similar engine was sent to the USA, I think it was bought by Henry Ford, but the one at Hulme's Wood, despite interest by people at Liverpool University, was scrapped.
The 'similar' engine was actually a Newcomen type atmospheric engine and it stood close to the river Medlock, about half a mile from Park Bridge, Ashton-under-Lyne. It was nicknamed 'Fairbottom Bobs' and it was built in c.1760 to pump water out of a coal pit that was about 200ft deep. Its nickname arose from the bobbing motion of its wooden beam. It was bought by Henry Ford in 1929 and taken to the USA where it was repaired and put on display in the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan, USA.

Mr Bowker then commented,

····· it was a powerful enough engine. Once I remember a chap at the Great Wood pulling the cage right out and landing it on top of the engine-house roof. There was no overwind on the engine and we maintenance men were called out at all hours of the night.
Here, Mr Bowker is first referring to the power of the beam engine at Hulme's Pit. He then continues to say that the engine at Great Wood pit was also very powerful and that once it was involved in an accidental overwind of the cage. Great Wood Pit was situated about 470 yards to the north east of Hulme's Pit. An overwind could occur for several reasons; negligence of the winding engineman, failure of the engine's brake, or the engine running out of control. In the 19th century several safety cages had been invented and patented but they were costly to install. In 1867, Edward Ormerod, an engineer at Gibfield Colliery, Atherton, Lancashire, invented a detaching hook for the prevention of accidents through overwinding. This was known as the 'Ormerod Detaching Hook' but it is apparent that these were not installed in pits operated by the Denton Colliery Company.
Coal mining at Hulme's Pit began in c.1730. Plans of these first workings were not dated until 1767 but the extent of these workings indicate that coal mining had already taken place for some 30 to 40 years. The letter from Denton Colliery Co Ltd also gave other details about Hulme's Pit. Records of coal mining in the Denton district go back to title deeds, which included a conveyance dated 1695.

Appendix | Pumping difficulties at Denton Colliery
Soon after the appointment of William Ollerenshaw as the Manager of Denton Colliery in 1899 he was,

very much surprised at the great amount of strain on the pumping engine and all machinery connected with pumping at one of the pits.

In this comment Mr Ollerenshaw was referring to the Hulme's Pit, which was used as a pumping station.

Mr Ollerenshaw found that,

instead of the original 6-inch diameter bore of the pipes there was such an accumulation of 'ochry' matter around the inside that it was impossible to get a 2-inch drill into them. The whole of the column (down the pit shaft) was bored out by an elaborate and practical method of drilling with two drills of 3 and 5-inch diameters.

It was stated that the 'ochry' matter took between 12 and 13 years to accumulate and was removed in three weeks. Twelve months after the removal (in 1900) there did not appear to be a fresh deposit.

The 'ochry' matter referred to was rust (iron oxide). 'Ochry' or 'ocherous' means resembling ocher in colour, that is, a brownish-yellow colour.

Acknowledgement
To A Etchells.

« Back