Investigating the Newcomen pumping engine house at Brislington near Bristol

Abstract

This paper presents a summary of the historical and archaeological appraisal of the standing building at 8 Hollywood Road, Brislington. Through archival research a suggested construction date of c1790 has been revised to c1735-1738 and subsequently confirmed as being c1736 by dendrochronology. An engine of this date would have been of the Newcomen-type atmospheric engine and since these were usually built with the engine as an integral part of the building itself, an appraisal of the surviving remains has been carried out. Appraisal of the surviving roof structure identified that it had been largely hand worked and more typical of traditional oak framed buildings than the later machine sawn construction typical of Victorian industrial buildings. It is therefore considered likely that the roof structure of the property is largely as originally constructed. Openings and other features have also been appraised to determine how much of this structure is original and the significance of this as a rare surviving example of an early engine house.