Discoveries and Dilemmas—Excavating the Serridge Engine House (c1790)

Abstract

This article is an initial interpretation of the features revealed by the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group’s documentary research and archaeological investigations of the Serridge Newcomen Engine. The site is located in the Parish of Westerleigh in part of the Coalpit Heath Coal Basin in South Gloucestershire. Excavations have confirmed the location of the engine house constructed c1790 and the presence of significant remains. Two storeys of the engine house and several related features have been uncovered and conserved with underground access maintained. These features and the interpretation of some of the anomalies they present form the basis of this account. Consideration is given to the function of the multiple beams, calculations of the cylinder size and principle beam length, the number of storeys, consideration of a second shaft as a possible reservoir, the purpose of a circular tunnel through the engine house and the general internal layout.