Uplifting news for fans of Britains Engineering Heritage. The oldest known crane made by Bath engineering firm Stothert and Pitt has been given a £4,000 grant for restoration.
The crane, built in the 1860s was used for quarrying Bath stone at the Clift Quarry located in Box, Wiltshire.
The crane was saved from the scrapheap nearly 30 years and has been housed in the Southwick garden of a former Stothert and Pitt, engineer Peter Dunn ever since.
The grant came from a mixture of sources, including the Association for Industrial Archaeology and the widow of the crane’s previous owner.
Image embedded from flickr.com
Peter Dunn told the BBC that “the original company employed over 2,000 people at one point, it’s important to Bath’s history”.
The company, which was founded in 1855, made a range of cast iron products but is best known for its cranes. Perhaps most famously, four of its cranes can be seen on the quay at Bristol’s ‘M Shed’.
Stothert and Pitt was founded in 1855 and made various cast iron items, including several cranes which survive as listed structures on Bristol’s harbour-side.
The crane will be returned to the site Stothert and Pitt’s former factory in Bath after being restored. Already, a team of volunteers have refitted the crane’s timber frame and wheels. Repairs are on track to finish next year.
Mr Dunn and a team of volunteers plan to return the crane to the site of Stothert and Pitt’s former factory in Bath.
