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About SLHA Publications Local History Archaeology Industrial Archaeology Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology |
Industrial Archaeology FeaturesOwston Ferry Pumping Station - Development of Scunthorpe - Brownlow's Works, Grantham - Torksey Railway Bridge Owston Ferry Pumping StationOwston Ferry, on the west bank of the Trent, lies on the edge of the historic Isle of Axholme, a large area a little above sea level. Widescale drainage was first achieved here in the seventeenth century by lifting water from the land into the embanked Trent using wind-powered pumps.  Marshall Class LT Tandem Compound Steam Engine In the early twentieth century the pumping station was equipped with two Marshall L-Class double-expansion steam engines driving Drysdale pumps to drain approx 5000 acres. One engine was replaced in 1952 by a Ruston and Hornsby 8HRC diesel engine and later a 3-cylinder Lister-Blackstone engine was installed. The remaining steam engine is believed not to have run since 1963.
The Owston Ferry Pumping Station Preservation Society has recently been set up to preserve and interpret the station and its machinery. Their first journal has just been issued. For further details about membership contact Paul Gammons, 35 North Street, Owston Ferry, Isle of Axholme, DN9 1RT, email jpgammons@btinternet.com. The society has a blog: ofpeps.blogspot.com Scunthorpe Like Arnold Bennett’s Stoke, modern Scunthorpe comprises five villages, Ashby, Brumby, Crosby, Frodingham and Scunthorpe. Scunthorpe or Skuma’s Thorpe was once a secondary settlement of the Parish of Frodingham. In 1851 the total population of the five agricultural settlements was 1,245 and there was little to choose between them. They were geologically fortunate for they developed over the Jurassic Frodingham ironstone. The first mention of iron ore was in 1859 by the land owner Charles Winn. His son Roland recognised the economic importance of the ore and started mining it in 1860. Until the first iron works in Scunthorpe was fired in 1864 the ore was shipped to Yorkshire for smelting. In the succeeding century the industry developed and adapted as steel technology progressed and today it is a major processing site for Corus the Anglo-Dutch steel company. As new plants were built the old ones were demolished but the Anchor Works built in the 1970s can be seen from the public road, and rails tours of the complex can be booked. A survivor from the early days is Roland Winn’s planned settlement built in 1865-1870 at New Frodingham; although his workers preferred Scunthorpe, half a mile to the north.  Winn Street, New Frodingham
Ken Hollamby
Boyall's Brownlow Works Showroom, Grantham Now the Grantham branch sales office and showroom of a national chain of builders' merchants, this delightful memento of a bygone Victorian industry was once the centrepiece of an extensive factory complex devoted to the manufacture of a wide variety of horse-drawn vehicles and their accessories. These ranged from the utilitarian to the elegant, from bespoke carriages 'for the nobility' to the quality production of such hardware as artillery wheels. Richard Boyall's Brownlow Works occupied a prestigious site close to one of the county's principal railway junctions and thrived in late Victorian times until its products' motive power was superceded by the internal combustion engine.  The Factory Bell In the builders' yard can still be seen traces of the former work base, including the works' bell and forge chimneys, but pride of place goes to the former showroom building which has survived more or less intact until the present day. Escaping demolition at the time when Boyall's went out of business in pre-WW1 times, this building has seen many changes of use. From time to time it has been a cinema, a dance hall, an ice rink and roller skating hall, a distribution centre for dairy equipment as well as enduring periods of near dereliction. It is now carefully restored and well respected by its owners. Peter Stevenson TORKSEY RAILWAY BRIDGE The railway bridge at Torksey was designed by Sir John Fowler in 1849 for the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway. The Board mistrusted the design, and permission to use the bridge was refused, but after 4 months of arguing it finally opened to rail traffic in April 1850. The girders were strengthened in 1897 and the bridge was used regularly until 1959 when the line was closed. It is now under consideration for use as part of a Sustrans cycle route |