Elsecar Heritage Centre is a Living History

Living history

Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to reenact a specific event in history, living history is...

 centre in Elsecar

Elsecar

Elsecar is a village forming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. Like many villages in the area, it was for many years a coal mining village until the widespread pit closures during the 1980s. Elsecar is next to the villages of Hoyland and Jump.Elsecar is...

, South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

. It also comprises various shops

Retailing

Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...

, galleries, art studios and an exhibition hall. It runs craft

Craft

A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...

 workshops, special events, and a monthly antiques

Antiques

An antique is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age , beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features...

 fair. The buildings were originally used for various industries including ironworks

Ironworks

An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e...

 and forge

Forge

A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...

s, a distillery, and engineering workshops. These fell into decline when the coal mines in the village closed.

It also has its own Elsecar goods station

Elsecar goods station

Elsecar goods station was a goods facility constructed near the village of Elsecar, near Barnsley, South Yorshire, at the terminus of the South Yorkshire Railways branch line from Elsecar Junction on its Mexborough to Barnsley line...

 (called Rockingham Station) on the Elsecar Steam Railway

Elsecar Steam Railway

The Elsecar Heritage Railway is located on the southern part of the former South Yorkshire Railway freight-only branch which ran from Elsecar Junction on its Mexborough to Barnsley line...

, with a running shed behind the main centre. During some special events, trips are run to Hemingfield Basin

Hemingfield

Hemingfield is a village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England.The Elsecar Steam Railway currently terminates at Hemingfield; however, there is no platform at present, so there are plans to build a proposed Hemingfield railway station as part of an extension to...

. There are plans to extend the line to Cortonwood

Cortonwood

Cortonwood Colliery was sunk in 1873, a year after the formation of the Brampton Colliery Company, which took its name from the local parish of Brampton Bierlow, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England....

 and build two stations (one at Cortonwood and the other at Hemingfield). The railway's depot is home to a selection of steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

s as well as a diesel locomotive

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

.

The centre is also the site of the only Newcomen beam engine

Newcomen steam engine

The atmospheric engine invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, today referred to as a Newcomen steam engine , was the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work. Newcomen engines were used throughout Britain and Europe, principally to pump water out of mines,...

 in the world to have remained in its original location. It was used to pump water out of Elsecar New Colliery and ran from 1795 until 1923 when it was replaced by electric pumps. It also ran briefly in 1928 when the electric pumps were overwhelmed by flooding. At its peak it could draw 600 gallons a minute. In 1972 the engine was classified as a Scheduled Ancient Monument

Scheduled Ancient Monument

In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...

. The engine is not currently in working order but there are plans to restore it back to its original state.

External links

• Elsecar Heritage Centre (centre website)
• The Newcomen engine
• Elsecar Heritage Centre, at Barnsley MBC official website
• English Heritage – National Monuments Record for Elsecar Newcomen engine