Beam engines back open – but not in steam
THE volunteers at Crofton Beam Engines have been looking forward to welcoming visitors back from July 18.
During the lockdown period work has been going on to give visitors an even better experience during their visit and even though the engines won’t be in steam for the remainder of this season there will be lots of new things to see.
The Engine House and grounds have a brand new set of informative interpretation panels helping all ages to get the most from their visit to Crofton, near Marlborough in Wiltshire, and there will be additional video displays showing more detail of the working and history of the site.
Crofton Branch chairman, Graham Snook, pointed out that this has been a very difficult year for many heritage venues.
“We had a great year of fantastic events planned for 2020 and this has had to be rethought to allow us to handle the current Covid-19 situation. A lot of effort has gone in behind the scenes to allow visitors to explore Crofton and enjoy all of the new features we now have in safety.
“There are negatives of course but there is a whole lot of positive things that our work with the industrial partners and The Heritage Lottery Fund have provided. There are plenty of reasons to visit Crofton during this summer.”
Crofton has been working with Bath University and AWE Aldermaston on a revolutionary scheme to make detailed measurements on its engines at work. This information will allow the team to better plan the conservation tasks and, in what is possibly a world first, to show a live playback of data collected during a steaming run with some analysis applied.
The picnic tables will be out in the grounds for visitors to use, enabling everyone to relax in a wonderful setting by the side of the Kennet & Avon Canal.
Crofton is open from 10.30am to 3.30pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday plus Bank Holiday Mondays. Entry to the grounds through the main gate is free with normal charges for the Engine House of £4.50 for adults, children under 16 go free.
Crofton Beam Engines owes a lot to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and in recognition of this one adult per party can have free access to the Engine House if they can present a current lottery ticket.