# Calvert's Engine

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**Calvert's Engine** or the **Newbridge Colliery Engine** is a [beam engine](/source/Beam_engine) of 1845, now preserved on the campus of the [University of Glamorgan](/source/University_of_Glamorgan), [South Wales](/source/South_Wales).[1]

## History

Newbridge Colliery[2] in [Gelliwion](/source/Gelliwion), [Pontypridd](/source/Pontypridd) was sunk in 1844.[3] Its owner was [John Calvert](/source/John_Calvert_(mine_owner)) (1812–1890),[4] a [Yorkshireman](/source/Yorkshireman), who would give his name to this engine. Calvert had previously been a railway contractor, the major contractor of the [Taff Vale Railway](/source/Taff_Vale_Railway), but after his initial distrust of Wales[5] he remained in the area once the line opened and switched to mining. The [winding engine](/source/Winding_engine) was installed in 1845, in which year production began from the 55 yard [No.3 Rhondda seam](/source/No.3_Rhondda_seam).[4]

Winding was carried out with an iron flat chain, with wooden blocks through the links.[6] The winding engine also powered the water pump for draining the mine.[7] The pump was at the bottom of the shaft, worked by a vertical pump rod and linked to the engine by a 'tee bob'.[6] Ventilation was by the [bratticed](/source/Brattice) split-shaft furnace method and so there was no fan engine for ventilation.[i] Later the winding chain was replaced by rope.[6] Steam was supplied from an [egg-ended boiler](/source/Egg-ended_boiler) at a pressure of between 8–10 pounds per square inch (55–69 kPa).[6]

The original engine was built in 1845 by the [Varteg Ironworks](/source/Varteg_Ironworks)[8] of [Cwmavon](/source/Cwmavon,_Torfaen), near [Blaenavon](/source/Blaenavon).[ii] This was the first steam winding engine to be installed in the [Rhondda valley](/source/Rhondda_valley).[7]

The cylinder was replaced in 1861 by [Brown, Lenox and Co.](/source/Brown_Lenox_%26_Co_Ltd)[9] of Newbridge Works, Pontypridd.[10] This new cylinder was of 26.5 inches (670 mm) bore, 5 feet (1.5 m) stroke. Although the original bore is unknown, the stroke remained the same, as the crank was unchanged. Reversing is by [slip eccentric](/source/Slip_eccentric_valve_gear) and [gab valve gear](/source/Gab_valve_gear).

Similar engines were used for winding at both [Glyn Pits](/source/Glyn_Pits) and at Calvert's second pit, [Gyfeillion](/source/Gyfeillion), which would become the [Great Western Colliery](/source/Great_Western_Colliery).[6] Other dual-purpose engines were used at Welsh collieries at this time, but later it became more usual to use separate engines for each purpose.[6]

By 1869, ownership of the mine had passed to the Fowler Brothers. In 1880 it was owned by the [Newbridge and Rhondda Coal Company](/source/Newbridge_and_Rhondda_Coal_Company). Later the [Crawshay](/source/Crawshay_Bailey) family owned it.[11]

At the end of the colliery's working, the [Inspector of Mines](/source/Inspector_of_Mines)' list of 1896 shows 489 employed there. The colliery closed in 1897 and the shaft was abandoned.[iii][11]

The engine and winding house lay derelict. A widely known postcard of 1912 shows the hose overgrown with ivy, but the engine [beam](/source/Beam_(beam_engine)) still in place.[11][12] There is some question as to when the engine finally worked. The 1897 closure is well documented, but many sources also state that the engine was last worked in 1919.[7] It is not clear if this is an error, in either direction, or that the engine was re-started for a time, possibly during World War I and then closed soon after.

## Preservation

In 1913 a [School of Mines](/source/School_of_Mines) was established for the Welsh coalfield.[13] The school was owned and funded by the Welsh coal owners, through a levy of one tenth of a penny on each ton of coal produced by the companies involved.[13] This [South Wales and Monmouthshire School of Mines](/source/South_Wales_and_Monmouthshire_School_of_Mines)[iv] was based in Forest House, built by the Crawshay family on the site of Fforest Isaf farm at [Trefforest](/source/Trefforest), [Pontypridd](/source/Pontypridd).[14] It served the large [coal mining industry](/source/Mining_in_Wales) in the [South Wales Valleys](/source/South_Wales_Valleys).

Around 1920 the engine was removed from the derelict colliery and re-erected nearby in the grounds of the School of Mines.[15] This was a historical exhibit, more than a practical instruction. Engines of this type were thoroughly obsolete by this time. Although the last [Cornish beam engines](/source/Cornish_beam_engine) had been installed only a few years earlier,[v] these were pumping engines, not [rotative beam engines](/source/Rotative_beam_engine) like this for winding.

The school went through several different names and statuses over the years. Most recently it was the [University of Glamorgan](/source/University_of_Glamorgan), now part of the [University of South Wales](/source/University_of_South_Wales).

Surprisingly, Calvert's Engine is *not* listed in Crowley (1982), usually considered as one of the first standard works of modern-era steam preservation for such engines.[16]

## References

1. This pre-dates the 1862 [Hartley Colliery Disaster](/source/Hartley_Colliery_Disaster), which brought an end to single-shaft ventilation.

1. Another comparable engine of 1845, from the [Neath Abbey Ironworks](/source/Neath_Abbey_Ironworks), survives nearby at the [Glyn Pits](/source/Glyn_Pits).

1. Unlike some closed collieries, such as [Glyn Pits](/source/Glyn_Pits), the shaft did not remain in use for other services, such as ventilation or water pumping.

1. The legal status of [Monmouthshire](/source/Monmouthshire) was somewhat unclear at this time, until the [Local Government Act](/source/Local_Government_Act_1972) took effect in 1974. The [Laws in Wales Acts (1542)](/source/Laws_in_Wales_Acts_1535_and_1542) had listed the counties of Wales but excluded Monmouthshire, leaving the county's status ambiguous for over four centuries.

1. [Hodbarrow Mine](/source/Hodbarrow_Mine) and [Dorothea Quarry](/source/Dorothea_Quarry).

1. [51°35′46.2″N 3°21′00.8″W](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?params=51_35_46.2_N_3_21_00.8_W)

1. Jones, Stephen K. (2005). *Brunel in South Wales*. Vol. I In Trevithick's Tracks. Tempus. pp. 210–211. ISBN 0-7524-3236-2.

1. Jones (Vol I) (2005), pp. 139,180.

1. Brian Davies (September 2017). "The Hetty Winding Engine". *Archive*. No. 95. p. 5. [ISSN 1352-7991](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1352-7991)

1. Hughes, Stephen; Malaws, Brian; Parry, Medwyn; Wakelin, Peter (1994). *Collieries of Wales*. [Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales](/source/Royal_Commission_on_the_Ancient_and_Historical_Monuments_of_Wales). pp. 69,170. ISBN 1-871184-11-8.

1. ["Varteg Ironworks"](http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Varteg_Ironworks). *Grace's Guide*

1. ["Brown, Lenox and Co"](http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Brown,_Lenox_and_Co). *Grace's Guide*

1. Maker's name and date may still be seen cast into the cylinder and valve chest.

1. ["Newbridge Colliery, Pontypridd"](http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/GlamEast/Newbridge.htm). *Welsh Coal Mines*

1. Thomas, W.G. (1976). *Welsh Coal Mines*. Cardiff: [National Museum of Wales](/source/National_Museum_of_Wales)

1. John Davies; Nigel Jenkins; Menna Baines; Peredur Lynch (2008). *The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales*. p. 896. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.

1. [51.5881062°N 3.32557°W](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?params=51.5881062_-3.32557)

1. Crowley, T.E. (1982). *The Beam Engine*. Senecio Publishing. ISBN 0-906831-02-4.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Calvert's Engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvert's_Engine) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvert's_Engine?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.