A New Home

We have launched a new website for our museum collections at https://www.culturenlmuseums.co.uk/
As a result we are migrating the content on this site to the new one and will close this site down by the end of summer 2020. Please join us on the new site and feel free to make contact at museumcollections@culturenl.co.uk

The Cornish Engine at Prestongrange: a Summerlee Connection

A recent donation to Summerlee Museum has thrown up some intriguing information about the preserved Cornish beam engine at Prestongrange Museum, East Lothian.

An old Summerlee Iron Company copy book was discovered in the attic of a house in Coatbridge. It covers the period from the 1880s through to the First World War and contains prices and specifications for improvements and repairs to plant and buildings at the Summerlee Iron Works as well as the various collieries owned by the company. In 1895 they acquired Prestongrange Colliery.

The pumping engine at Prestongrange has been on its current site since the 1870s but had previously operated in Cornwall. Although the beam was made in 1873 it has been suggested that the engine dates from as far back as 1853.

It has long been thought that in about 1916 the piston rod broke as a result of operator error, damaging the steam cylinder (the repair to which can still be seen today). However, the drawing shown here is a design for new piston rod dated 1907, suggesting that the accident happened a decade earlier than previously thought. This replacement rod was itself broken in 1938!

The copy book will be on show in an exhibtion called 'Rediscovering Summerlee Iron Works', which will be at Summerlee Museum from 14 March to 21 June 2015.

A Long Boring Story: the Kearns Milling Machine

Engineering machine tools often had very long working lives and were passed from firm to firm, their provenance becoming more vague and shrouded in rumour and mystery.

Even by those standards the story behind this machine seems extraordinary. A horizontal boring, facing and milling machine, it ended its days in the Greenock works of J Gardiner and Company. However, according to what Summerlee staff were told when they acquired the machine in the mid-1980s it was used to make weaponry in both the early and later years of the 20th century.

The story is that the machine was used to make torpedoes during the First World War and later on made parts for Seacat missiles. If anyone can verify this I would love to hear from them.

The machine was built sometime around 1914 by Kearns and Company of Manchester.

We would be very interested to hear from anyone who worked for Gardiners as we have a number of machine tools from them. You can drop me an e-mail at ParkesJ@culturenl.co.uk.

Doors Open Days at Summerlee

This year for the first time we are opening up the Industrial History Store at Summerlee for a behind the scenes peek at some of our collections that are not on permanent display.

Tours run at 11am, 12pm, 1pm and 2pm on Saturday 7 September 2013. They will take in the Engineering Pavilion, the Sawmill and the Industrial History Store, where you will see some of our star objects.

To book a place on one of the tours call the museum on 01236 638352.

Recognising Scotland's Engineering Heritage

For much of the 19^th century and early 20^th century Scotland were world leaders in engineering; producing a vast array of machinery, tools and finished products. You will see a selection of rare and unique examples from the industry here on display.

Explore the machines up close, find out about the skill involved in operating them and why Scotland was at the forefront in a great age of invention and discovery.

The machinery is part of the museum’s Industrial and Associated Social History Collection which was awarded National Recognition status in 2009 by the Scottish Government. The award confirms the importance of the collection to the nation’s heritage; representing over two hundred years of Scottish industrial development.

The project has been funded by the Recognition Capital Fund administered by Museums Galleries Scotland and North Lanarkshire Council.



The Industrial and Associated Social History
Collection Cared For by North Lanarkshire
Council is Recognised as Being of National
Significance to Scotland



Early Boiler

This very simple cast iron boiler for heating water was installed in the church of St Andrew in the Square, Glasgow.

© Crown Copyright: RCAHMS. Licensor www.rcahms.gov.uk

When the church was turned into a cultural centre in the early 1990s the boiler was donated to Summerlee Museum.

Butt Strap Drilling Machine

During the 1800s the steam pressure needed by steam engines got higher and higher. This meant that the outside of the boiler (called the ‘boiler shell’) had to be built very strongly.

The boiler shell was made by curving thick sheets of iron or steel into a tube. The ends were then overlapped and riveted together. A strip of iron called a ‘butt-strap’ was placed between the two ends to improve the seal.

A butt-strap and boiler shell drilling machine like this one was used to drill the holes for the rivets. The machine is lying flat now but originally stood upright with a turntable at its feet. The boiler shell was clamped to the turntable, which you can now see displayed nearby.

From Thomas Hudson and Companys Sheepford Boiler Works, Coatbridge.

This illustration from a late 1800s engineering manual shows a similar machine. Our machine is bigger and was actually fixed to a column in the factory.

The drill is now displayed horizontally inside the Engineering Pavilion while the turntable is on display nearby.