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Home of the World's Largest Working Steam Mill Engine "Victoria and Alexandra" and "The Whitelees Beam Engine" |
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The worlds largest working steam mill engines are housed in the original engine house, built along with the original Ellenroad Cotton Mill in 1892 on the banks of the river Beal In 1916 a fire destroyed the mill, apart from the engine house, boiler room and stack. |
| It was decided to rebuild the mill, and modernize the cotton spinning process by installing "Ring Spinning Frames". These required more power than the original triple expansion steam engine supplied and it was decided to upgrade the engine to a Twin Tandem Compound Engine. |  |
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In 1921 the mill re-opened powered by "Victoria and Alexandra" a twin Tandem engine with a 28' flywheel weighing over 80 tons, giving out 3000 hp to run the five floors of the mill machinery. This engine powered the mill until 1975 when electric power took over. The mill continued to spin cotton. |
| In 1985 the mill closed due to the strong competition from man made fibres and was closed and later that year demolished. But as luck would have it the engine house, boiler room and stack survived yet again. |  |
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In 1985 "The Ellenroad Trust" was formed, and it is this band of volunteers that have brought this great piece of engineering history to its present working condition. |
| The Engine House is open every Sunday 12pm-4pm from the beginning of April to the end of October and is fired up the first Sunday in every month. Map to find us! |  |
| See the Gallery link for more pictures | Further info from: Friends of Ellenroad Telephone: 01706 881952 E-mail Ellenroad Steam here |