I have just been informed that Dorothea Engine House (Nantlle, North Wales) was broken into last Friday. The two long bolts/screws from the top chamber were removed and pushed through one of the windows; falling to the ground outside.

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Photo above shows the two long bolts in spring 2009

Dorothea is the only remaining Holman built Cornish engine in the world and is the only cornish engine on a slate mine. The engine is very well preserved (although the brass valve gear have been removed for safe keeping). The engine house is in a reasonable condition but there is water ingress which could affect the woodwork and the engine itself.

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Photo above shows the middle chamber of the engine house in spring 2009

There is a long on-going problem of access to Dorothea; mainly as far as I understand concerning the owner of the surrounding land who wanted to build a holiday park there. Representation has been made to CADW for help; who despite it being a listed building have so far been very relucatant to intervene. There are only one or two people who are 'looking after' the engine (including Gwynfor Pirece-Jones who recently showed the Mining Heritage Trust of Ireland the engine house). This state of affairs and the lack of support from the likes of CADW or the local authority will surely result in more damage like that seen last friday. If someone broke into the engine house and then lit a fire then the structure and the engine house might be lost for ever.

I don't know if a campaign would help; but some representation (maybe from NAMHO or individual clubs/societies) could be made to CADW, the local authority and ICOMOS-UK (an independent charity with a UK-wide and international mission to promote and support best practice in the conservation, care and understanding of the historic environment).

Martin

I met with the black smith the day after the brake in took place he was in the prosese of beefing up the lock so hopefuly it should be safe for the time being.would it be posable for some sort of partiton of suport to be writen up and sent to cadw to try and get something done about a restoration maybe we could start one with the hellp of adit now members.im shure there would be a lot of people willing to sign.Its amazeing how quickly the old engine house has deteriorating since it was last restored in the 1980s.wich makes this a matter of grate concern.I hope something can be done

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How about setting up an online petition directed at CADW?

http://www.gopetition.com/ 

I think something like that would be well worth a try.maybe she could be restored by a group of voluntiers if some sort of trust fund could be set up a bit like friends of cywmorthin.

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Although that sounds a great idea it would need the full co-operation of the land owner.

yes that is a good point.

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Who is the landowner?

Maybe the Trevithick Society in Cornwall could lend their suport to any campaign, since the engine is the penultimate one to have been manufactured by Holman's of Camborne.

Then there is the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site Office. In 2006 I included Dorothea as part of some commissioned research on the global significance of the migration of Cornish tecnhology and skill. I am sure that they would be supportive.

This engine is unique, the only one of its kind in the world and it would be criminal to allow it to become vandalised or destroyed by mindless idiots 😢

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it would be good to get suport from as manny parts of the country as pos as it then shows a national interest.i do think its about time cadw pulled there finger out of there ass and removed it from the pot of gold in wich thay sit.thay are the one's who should be protecting welsh heritage but i havent seen much good done yet.but im shore that everyone on this site could have a masive impact if we all pull together.

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It is unfortunate too that it got damaged when the pump rod broke a few years back. Don't hav e details of what the damage was but seem to think it was quite major.

I understand that the pump broke due to failure of the wood after being attacked by woodpeckers and damaged by the A frame after it in turn was struck by lightening. This left a piece of the rod dangling from the beam within the shaft and there was concern about children attempting to swing on the broken rod. Thus the rod was cut higher up (by CADW) from the break and out of reach from the ground. This had the effect of relieving the load on the beam and causing the beam to tip 'indoors'. The indoor tip of the beam now allows water to run indoors when it rains.

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I had wondered why the rod was cut in the way it was.

With regard to the brass (phosphor bronze) valve gear, I had thought that it had been nicked for scrap by the mid '70s. Nice to be wrong on that one.

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I thought some damage occured when the beam "tipped"?

seems odd that if someone had broken in, why did they only pish the 2 long bolts out the window? it looks to me that they knew what they were after.

maybe thay wanted to try and sell them for scrap as there is a lot of waght to them

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Are we all having keyboard spelnig trouble today?

Grahami

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When was the pumping-house given Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM) status?

I understand that the pump broke due to failure of the wood after being attacked by woodpeckers and damaged by the A frame after it in turn was struck by lightening. This left a piece of the rod dangling from the beam within the shaft and there was concern about children attempting to swing on the broken rod. Thus the rod was cut higher up (by CADW) from the break and out of reach from the ground. This had the effect of relieving the load on the beam and causing the beam to tip 'indoors'. The indoor tip of the beam now allows water to run indoors when it rains.

I'd always wondered who'd cut the pump rod - struck me as a deeply stupid thing to do, apart from the very real problems of water ingress one wonders what mechanical damage was done when the beam went indoors. The fact that this was done by a body who really should have known better is a tad worrying.

hopefully the catch wings did there job when the bob went indoors

Are we all having keyboard spelnig trouble today?

Grahami

Actually Graham I'm severely dyslexic.but that dosent make me thick.

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James, sorry to see criticism of your spelling on the furom but well done for sticking up about your dyslexia. I often miss out words in my sentences and that didn't stop me getting a Ph.D. I also note that there have been racist remarks on the forum about a Chinese contributor on LED lights and this should not be tolerated.

To get back to Dorothea, I understand that an attempt will be made to carry the bolts/screws back inside. But if they are not successful then perhaps the mining heritage comminity could help with expertise such pulleys and tackle.

Martin