The Anson Engine Museum is situated on the site of the old Anson colliery in Poynton

Poynton

Poynton is a town within the civil parish of Poynton-with-Worth, and the unitary authority area of Cheshire East, England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of the county of Cheshire. Poynton is located at the eastern most fringe of the Cheshire Plain, north of Macclesfield, south of Stockport...

, Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is the result of years of work by Les Cawley and Geoff Challinor who began collecting and showing stationary engine

Stationary engine

A stationary engine is an engine whose framework does not move. It is normally used not to propel a vehicle but to drive a piece of immobile equipment such as a pump or power tool. They may be powered by steam; or oil-burning or internal combustion engines....

s for a hobby. When the number and size of engines they collected increased, they decided to start a museum. A charitable trust was formed and work began on the first building in 1986. The museum first opened to the public in 1989. For many years it opened only on odd days and times to suit their hobby and the small number of visitors that dropped in to see the collection. In July 2002 Les Cawley died and Geoff Challinor dedicated himself to making the museum into an attraction that would bring visitors from around the world – The Anson Engine Museum.

Among the earliest engines are the original number 1 engines built by Crossley

Crossley

Crossley, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, was a pioneering company in the production of internal combustion engines. Since 1988 it has been part of the Rolls-Royce Power Engineering group.More than 100,000 Crossley oil and gas engines have been built....

 and Mirrlees

Mirrlees

Mirrlees may refer to:* Hope Mirrlees* James Mirrlees* MAN B&W Diesel, current owner of the diesel engine manufacturer, Mirrlees, Bickerton & Day...

. Manchester became predominant in the development and manufacture of stationary engines, and by the 1900s, there were over 20 engine makers in existence within 20 miles of the museum.

Mirrlees Bickerton and Day, in Hazel Grove

Hazel Grove

-Education:Hazel Grove has a number of primary schools and Hazel Grove High School, the local high school. Some do decide to go to other local high schools, such as local Marple Hall, in neighbouring village Marple. The main primary schools in the area are, Hazel Grove Primary School, Torkington...

, concentrated on developing the light and heavy oil diesel engine and L Gardner and Sons Ltd of Patricroft become known the world over for their role in bringing the small high-speed, quality diesel engines to the industrial and marine markets and Crossley Brothers in Oppenshaw took up Nicolaus Otto

Nicolaus Otto

Nikolaus August Otto was the German inventor of the first internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. Although other internal combustion engines had been invented these were not based on four separate strokes...

 and Langen patents. Local manufacturers are the prime focus of the museum exhibits.

Today the museum has one of the largest collection of engines in Europe and attracts stationary engine enthusiasts from around the globe. Over the past few years it has picked up awards
for its displays, volunteers and for some of the engines.

Among the top attraction engines are:-

• Largest running example of Crossley Atmospheric gas engine;
• Award Winning, original L Gardner and Sons Ltd L series engine along with Engineering Heritage Hallmark Scheme (EHHS) plaque from Institution of Mechanical Engineers
  Institution of Mechanical Engineers
  The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is the British engineering society based in central London, representing mechanical engineering. It is licensed by the Engineering Council UK to assess candidates for inclusion on ECUK's Register of professional Engineers...
  
  ;
• Oldest diesel engine in the UK - Mirrlees No1;
• Original Crossley No1 engine;
• Steam engine area with a Stott cross-compound mill engine and a Fowler beam engine;
• Very rare Griffin 6-stroke engine;
• Heritage Award from Institution of Diesel and Gas Turbine Engineers for the "Rattling Monsters" section of the museum ;
• Rare Atkinson cycle
  Atkinson cycle
  The Atkinson cycle engine is a type of internal combustion engine invented by James Atkinson in 1882. The Atkinson cycle is designed to provide efficiency at the expense of power density, and is used in some modern hybrid electric applications.-Design:...
  
   engine;
• Crossley over-hung crank;
• Hugon gas engine;
• 63 ton Ruston & Hornsby used at Ealing Studios
  Ealing Studios
  Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
  
  .