Staff at the Black Country Living Museum are marking the 30 year anniversary of our Newcomen Engine replica over Black Country weekend (9 & 10 Jul).
The engine was built at the Museum in 1986 following ten painstaking years of research - there were no full scale examples left to copy, so the engine was recreated almost entirely from drawings. It remains the world’s only full scale working replica and stands within a mile of the original, which was built in the Black Country in 1712.
Originally designed to pump water from mines, the Newcomen Engine is widely recognised as the world’s first successful, commercial pumping engine. Newcomen engines were used throughout Britain and Europe __with hundreds being constructed throughout the 18th century.
The Newcomen Engine is in steam at the Museum at various points throughout the year, including Sat 9 and Sun 10 July during the Museum’s Black Country weekend celebrations.
