 One attraction along the Kennet & Avon Canal is Crofton Pumping Station. It was built to pump water to the summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, a task it still performs (although mainly for
tourists, the "real" pumping is now performed by other modern pumping stations).
The chimney is 82 feet high, needed for the hand stoked, coal fired Lancashire boiler (below left). It powers two Cornish Beam Engines, the oldest one from 1812 which is the oldest in the world. The other engine is not much younger, being from 1845. Both have been restored and are maintained by volunteers. They keep it under steam on selected weekends (as of writing this on the bank holiday weekends and the last weekends in June, July and September). |
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The beam of the Boulton & Watt engine from 1812. Almost 200 years old and still working...
Wilton Windmill is approx 1 mile from Crofton Pumping Station. It's the only operating windmill in Wiltshire, built in 1821 and now maintained by volunteers. You can walk to it via a footpath from the pumping station, may be taking a break at the Swan Inn in Wilton.