The Rockley Engine House once housed a Newcomen-type pumping beam engine that kept the iron / coal mine below dry.
The structure, dated 1813, is built from sandstone and is ornately castellated – yes, like a castle!
Despite the 1813 date stone, the mine is thought to be earlier than this.
The Newcomen beam engine was probably installed in 1813 when the date stone says, but it is thought to have been moved to the Chapletown area around 1870.
Evidence of some of the mining surface infrastructure was also discovered. There is a cutting to the east of the engine house that was the trackbed of the Pilley Hills Colliery Branch of the Worsborough Railway.
The coal in this area is at a deeper level than the iron and mining maps of the area do not show any working in this area in the coal seams, so it is not clear whether it was worked for coal. It did seem to have several phases of operation and given that the iron was smelted by coke in the latter years, it would have been very cool if they could have supplied their own!
The engine house has been the subject of major conservation work by the custodians – the South Yorkshire Industrial History Society. (See their Facebook Page HERE!)
There is a parking area at the side of the lane and a marked footpath past the engine house and on to the furnace.
Sadly, due to minor vandalism the information board for the furnace remains at Wortley Top Forge.
The Rockley Engine House once housed a Newcomen-type pumping beam engine that kept the iron / coal mine below dry.
The structure, dated 1813, is built from sandstone and is ornately castellated – yes, like a castle!
Despite the 1813 date stone, the mine is thought to be earlier than this.
The Newcomen beam engine was probably installed in 1813 when the date stone says, but it is thought to have been moved to the Chapletown area around 1870.
Evidence of some of the mining surface infrastructure was also discovered. There is a cutting to the east of the engine house that was the trackbed of the Pilley Hills Colliery Branch of the Worsborough Railway.
The coal in this area is at a deeper level than the iron and mining maps of the area do not show any working in this area in the coal seams, so it is not clear whether it was worked for coal. It did seem to have several phases of operation and given that the iron was smelted by coke in the latter years, it would have been very cool if they could have supplied their own!
The engine house has been the subject of major conservation work by the custodians – the South Yorkshire Industrial History Society. (See their Facebook Page HERE!)
There is a parking area at the side of the lane and a marked footpath past the engine house and on to the furnace.
Sadly, due to minor vandalism the information board for the furnace remains at Wortley Top Forge.
