Crofton beam engines Marlborough Wiltshire
Crofton beam engines might be one of the many attractions drawing you to look for your dream property in Marlborough Wiltshire. You may know the area well of you may still be weighing up your options and pros and cons of the various locals. If you need any assistance then please don't hesitate to ask
Crofton Beam Engines
Come and visit the oldest working steam engines in the world still performing the job they were built to do!
For Properties in Marlborough:
Introduction to Crofton Beam Engines
Archaeologist Phil Harding introduces us to the Crofton Pumping Station, in Wiltshire.
For more information on opening hours and ticket prices, visit
Crofton Beam Engines - Leat
The leat at Crofton Pumping Station, with water pumped by the 1846 Harvey engine flowing into the canal. Through the doorway, you can just see the pum rods moving up and down.
Crofton Beam Engine - August 2013
Crofton Steam Pumping Station - a birds eye view
Crofton Beam Engines - Kennet & Avon Canal
The oldest working steam engines in the world.
Crofton Beam Engines - Easter 2013 -
1812 Bolton & Watt beam engine - these engines are still on standby if the electric canal pumps fail! The engines did get used for that very purpose when the pumps failed a couple of years ago.
Visiting Crofton at Easter time seems to have become a bit of a habit for us!
We were passing on our way back from an antiques emporium in Hungerford and dropped by as we saw they were in steam.
Only one engine running this time as the other needs repair, but good to see none the less.
Enjoy....
Professor Elemental introduces the Splendid Summer Steampunk Steaming!
Our Splendid Summer Steampunk Steaming is a true Steampunk weekend inside a 200 year old working steam engine house where you can experience the sight, smells and sound of an authentic Steampunk environment.
Taking place 27th & 28th of July 2019 at Crofton Beam Engines near Marlborough, starring the good Prof and Alice's Night Circus. Further Steampunk Shenanigans include Tea Duelling, Teapot Racing and NERF gun duelling provided by Steamhenge and friends as well as market stalls and exhibits all in the authentic setting of a 200 year old working steam engine set in beautiful Wiltshire countryside!
Just remember to bring your brass goggles to keep the steam out of your eyes!
More details at
Marlborough Wilts
Driving through ― #Amazing
Travel Blog: UK Places - Marlborough, Wiltshire
Another episode of my travel blog featuring places in the UK. This episode I visit Marlborough in Wiltshire, a market town with the second widest high street in the UK. Marlborough is a town full of history, and worthy of a tour. It's on the A4 Bristol to London, and was a main thoroughfare for trade and travellers. It played a part in the English Civil War and was besieged by Royalist forces who subdued the Parliamentarian enemy. Nearby are Silbury Hill and Avebury, neolithic structures with their own history.
How an historic steam pump has taken over from a broken electrical one
(8 Jul 2009) SHOTLIST
Crofton, Wiltshire, UK, 6 July 2009
1. Wide hotel boat on the canal
2. Mid shot family of ducks swimming across the canal
3. Wide shot boat docked alongside canal
4. Wide shot Crofton Pumping Station
5. Close up of smoke coming out of the chimney
6. Close up of coal burning in the boiler
7. Wide shot man stoking the boiler
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Rodd, General Manager of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust:
The Waterways pumps failed a couple of days ago, and they're responsible for pumping the water up to the top of the whole of the Kennet and Avon Canal flight; and, because there's no water there, the boats couldn't go through. So British Waterways then contacted the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and said could we put Crofton into steam to do what it was really planned for in the first place, and that is to pump water.
9. Close up of part of the control mechanism of the pump
10. One of the pump rods going up and down into a cylinder
11. View of the main beam moving up and down from level with it, but to the left of centre, showing the Bolton & Watt 1812 sign
12. Close up of part of the control mechanism of the pump
13. One of the pump rods going up and down into a cylinder
14. A look down into the well, showing the water being lifted by the pump
15. Close up outfall of the water into the canal
16. Wide shot small canal taking the water away from the Pumping Station to the canal
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Rodd, General Manager of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust:
Oh it's fantastic, I mean the most amazing thing, of course, is that these pumps, lovingly restored by volunteers for the last 50 to 60 years, are still working as efficiently as they did 200 years ago. And as you say, quite rightly taken over from electrically driven pumps.
18. Set up Steve Furniss on his hotel boat
19. Close up side of the Tranquil Rose
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Furniss, owner skipper of Tranquil Rose Hotel Boat:
It's held us up a short while, we're currently doing a Newbury over to Bristol trip with the passengers. We were held up a little bit at Hungerford yesterday, while we waited to see what was going on. But we're pushing on now and we can make up time in the next couple of days.
21. Various wide shots boat moving off down the canal
LEADIN
The failure of an electric pump has caused delays for holidaymakers on one of the busiest canals in England.
So a Napoleonic steam pump from 1812 has been brought back to life to save the day.
STORYLINE
A typical day on the Kennet and Avon canal.
Hotel boats ferry around water guests, families of ducklings swim happily and house boat owners look after their pets.
But what looks like a normal day is in fact not.
The idyllic canal life is only made possible by this Grade I listed building, home to a near 200 year-old Napoleonic steam pump.
Mike Rodd, General Manager of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust:, explains: The Waterways' pumps failed a couple of days ago, and they're responsible for pumping the water up to the top of the whole of the Kennet and Avon Canal flight; and, because there's no water there, the boats couldn't go through.
The canal was literally draining away.
Running the risk of having to close down 10 locks along the 10-mile-route between Bristol and Reading, British Waterways came up with an idea.
They revived the Crofton Beam Engine - the oldest working engine of its kind in the world.
It is still in its original engine house, Crofton Pumping Station near Marlborough, Wiltshire.
Built on the highest summit of the canal route between Bristol and Reading, it was originally designed to pump water both ways along the canal to maintain the notoriously low water levels.
The coal is fed manually into a Lancashire Boiler.
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The Marlborough Downs: A Space for Nature
The first of a series of five short films created for us by Shropshire Media Network to celebrate our achievements during the three year pilot project .... watch this space for the next four films on farmland birds, pond, grassland management, and the Marlborough Downs community.
Wiltshire's Kennet and Avon Canal as seen from the air
In this short video we journey along the Kennet & Avon Canal as it crosses through Wiltshire.
Highlights include Crofton Beam Engines and Caen Hill Locks.
Discover more about the Kennet & Avon Canal plus other parts of Wiltshire on our website visitwiltshire.co.uk
Marlborough College School of English and Culture: An Introduction
mcsec.co.uk
An introduction to our inspirational summer camp for teenagers aged 13 - 17. SEC is the home of Learn English and OPEN MINDS - a groundbreaking new approach to learning which empowers its students to grow in confidence through creativity and critical-thinking. Teenagers come from all over the world and come together to learn from each other and gain deeper understanding of the world around them. COME AND JOIN THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME!
GREAT BEDWYN, village in Wiltshire, UK
GREAT BEDWYN, village in Wiltshire, UK
part one of three pictures - video SEPT 2009
The Royal Oak, Marlborough
The Royal Oak, Wootton Rivers, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 4NQ, England
Click on the blue link above to read more about The Royal Oak or to book your stay there.Or visit for bargain prices on many more hotels in Wiltshire in the UK and around the globe.
Marlborough College then and now
We realized very recently that an old print that had hung on our walls for about 15 years was in fact a drypoint etching by Christopher Hughes, former art head at Marlborough College, of Marlborough College, and was in fact an otherwise unrecorded piece. Google failed to find it, there wasn't a copy of it it the Marlborough College archive. So we donated the piece to the college archive yesterday, had a cracking lunch - the single best school meal I have ever had, this place rules - and at the same time attempted to capture the same viewpoint from some 80 years later.
London-Crofton Park
Crofton Park
3 Crofton Road SE London
3 Crofton Road SE London
Marlborough, Wiltshire, UK
UK, Summer 2014