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Thornton, Middlefield Beam Engine House
Beam Engine House (18th Century)(Possible)
Site Name Thornton, Middlefield Beam Engine House
Classification Beam Engine House (18th Century)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Thornton Beam Engine House
Canmore ID 52882
Site Number NT29NE 6
NGR NT 29193 97269
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/52882
- Council Fife
- Parish Markinch
- Former Region Fife
- Former District Kirkcaldy
- Former County Fife
NT29NE 6 (NT 29193 97269) Thornton, Middlefield Engine House
This is a summary version of the site report - NRHE digital file no. WP007421.
Middlefield Engine House, Thornton in Fife is located some 5km south of Glenrothes and 7km north of Kirkcaldy. Possibly built in the late 18th century, it is a 3 storey, single bay building of ashlar and squared rubble construction with droved quoins and, on the date of survey, a partially surviving red pantile roof. This building would have contained a beam pumping engine, now removed. The west elevation has a prominent integral buttress, diagnostic of the building's original function. It has been described by Hume as 'a unique example of the buildings of an 'engine pit' of the period...' (2). The engine house is now an isolated structure as the associated structures have been demolished.
The Middlefield engine house measures externally 4.65m (15ft 3in.) north/south (in length) by 6.75m (22ft 2in.) west/east (in breadth) by 9.0m (29ft 6in.) in height. The interior dimensions of the engine house are 4.24m (13ft 11in.) west/east by 3.3m (10ft 9in.) north/south. The walls measure 0.75m (2ft 6in.) in thickness. The west gable wall or 'bob wall' is buttressed. This was the wall on which the beam of the pumping engine pivoted and measures 1.25m (4ft 1in.) in thickness at ground level.
Coal has been mined in this area of Fife for many hundreds of years. The coal had been won using various methods, but the introduction of steam technology allowed the working of coal (and ironstone) seams at deeper levels. (3) Throughout the late 18th and into 20th centuries the coal mined in this part of Fife was sold locally to the manufactories along the River Leven and Orr as well as in Kirkcaldy to the south. (4)
The beam engine in Middlefield engine house pumped water from the mine levels of Thornton Colliery which was located on the Balgonie Estate of David Leslie, 6th Earl of Leven and 5th Earl of Melville. (5) The Balgonie Estate, through Thornton Colliery, exploited what is now known as the Dysart Main coal seam. (6) The Colliery's workings ran from the vicinity of Balgonie Castle through Coaltown of Balgonie to the Bridge of the Ore at Thornton. It is noted in the Old Statistical Account (OSA) that in the year 1785 '...Lord Balgonie...fitted up the present engine'. (7) The New Statistical Account (NSA) states that 'coal is presently worked at Thornton by steam power'. (8) These references, along with the Middlefield engine house location referred to as 'old engine pit' (9) on a drawing held in Fife archives, suggest that beam engine house surviving today at Middlefield, Thornton may be the one 'fitted up' by Lord Balgonie in 1785.
By 1842 the engine house and pumping engine was owned by James Balfour of the Thornton Colliery. By 1846 it appears that Charles Balfour was the owner and the pump and engine house was still in use. (10) The engine house had been abandoned by 1854 as depicted and named as 'Old Coal Pit' on the Ordnance Survey 1st Edition 6-inch to the mile map (Fife and Kinross, 1856 (revised 1854), sheet 32), suggesting that the pumping house contained an engine that was no longer powerful enough to enable the effective pumping of the mine levels it served. From its abandonment prior to 1856 through to the 1970s, the engine house and the buildings were reused. This may be one of the reasons why it was not demolished after the pumping engine was removed. The pump shaft has been capped at some point in the past for safety reasons, although the outline of the shaft in which the pump rods and guide pipe and pumped mine water drainage system would have been contained could still be seen in 1974 (see SC 454958).
References:
(1) Fifeshire Journal, 13 February 1845 see the Fifepits website: http://www.fifepits.co.uk/ for East Fife, Thornton [Accessed: 13 June 2017]
(2) J.R. Hume, Industrial Archaeology of Scotland, Vol. 1: Lowlands (1976), p.142, pl.39.
(3) There is little written evidence of mining in the area of Thornton before the 18th century. See G.P. Bennet, Notes from The Past at Work: Around the Lomonds, (1982), chapters 3 & 4. The Old Statistical Account (OSA) comments that '...Balgonie Coal...was discovered and wrought upwards of 300, some say 500 years ago.' , J. Thomson, 'the parish of Markinch', Statistical Account of Scotland, County of Fife (Edinburgh, 1791-1799), OSA, Vol.12, p. 538-9.). From mining outcrops to bellpits and the use of levels to drain the mines, by the 19th century the well-established mining method was 'stoop and througher' - stoop means 'pillar' and 'througher' meaning ventilation galleries driven between levels or main roads in the mine. By the in mid-19th century in the Balgonie coalfield, the stalls or '...working rooms are 13 feet wide, and the pillars 15 feet; the width of the rooms contracting in nearing the crop, or where the roof is insecure...'.See J. Sieveright, 'the parish of Markinch', Statistical Account of Scotland, County of Fife. (Edinburgh, 1845, account of 1834-5), NSA, Vol. 9, p.661
(4) J. Thomson, 'the parish of Markinch', Statistical Account of Scotland, County of Fife (Edinburgh, 1791-1799), OSA, Vol.12, 539
(5) The Earls of Leven and Melville also held the title Lord Balgonie (from 1641). The name Leslie is the name of the Earls of Leven and Melville of the Earls of Melville, both titles falling eventually to the same person, see H. Chisum (Ed.) 'Leven and Melville, earls of', Encyclopaedia Britannica 16 (Cambridge University Press, 1911) https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Leven_and_Melville,_Earls_of [Accessed 13 June 2017])
(6) http://www.fifepits.co.uk/ for East Fife, Thornton [Accessed: 13 June 2017]
(7) J. Thomson, 'the parish of Markinch', Statistical Account of Scotland, County of Fife (Edinburgh, 1791-1799), OSA, Vol.12, 539
(8) J. Sieveright, 'the parish of Markinch' in the Statistical Account of Scotland, County of Fife (Edinburgh, 1845, account of 1834-5) Vol. 9, 661-662
(9) Glenrothes Development Corporation Drawings, Fife Archives (GDC/22/7/4/2), Fife Archives, 'Balgonie Colliery Dysart Lower Coal Workings, Scale 1:2500 datum for levels is 10,000 feet below Ordnance Datum'. This possibly dates to post-1952 and shows ‘OLD ENGINE PIT’ [Middlefield, Thornton engine house and pit] and the note, ‘old workings in 1846’ and showing the 'stoop and througher' layout.
(10) See http://www.fifepits.co.uk/ - East Fife, Thornton [Accessed: 13/06/2017]
NT29NE 6 29193 97269
(Location cited as NT 292 973). Beam-engine house, Thornton, late 18th or ealy 19th century. A unique example of the buildings of an 'engine pit' of the period, disused by 1854. These consist of a three-strorey ashlar engine house, with one- and two-storey rubble buildings, including a dwelling-house. Now a farmstead.
J R Hume 1976.
Standing Building Recording (24 March 2016)
ARCHAS Cultural Heritage Ltd were appointed by Mr Mark Bruce to complete a Level 2 Standing Building Record of a derelict Beam Engine House in Thornton, Fife. Proposals have been submitted to Fife Council to turn the property into a dwelling house. As part of the Planning Application process, Fife Council requested that a Level 2 Standing Building Survey be completed prior to development. Historical assessment showed that the Beam Engine House dates to the late 18th century when advances in steam and beam engine technology meant that the Balgonie Coal field became economical again and led to the sinking of the Thornton Pit. The building itself is of remarkably high quality, with a finely dressed ashlar frontage facing the main entrance to the site and the pit shaft itself. Although the complex in which the building once sat has been removed, the Beam Engine House itself remains significantly unaltered and is a rare survival of this 18th century type. The record compiled for the exterior of the building has been comprehensive, but access to the interior of the structure was not possible. This area has potential to retain important information as to the nature of the machinery and its fittings. ARCHAS Ltd recommend that a further phase of building recording be carried out both before and during the removal of the interior fittings and plaster work within the Beam Engine House.
Information from OASIS ID: archascu1-246027 (R Cameron) 2016
Laser Scanning (23 March 2016 - 6 September 2016)
Laser scan data was collected to enable an accurate, interpreted plan of the area to be created.
Standing Building Recording (2017)
A standing building survey was carried out by HES Survey and Recording Section of the Heritage Directorate to enhance the holdings of the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE). See report by M McDonald under Digital Files: WP007421.
Field Visit (17 February 2021)
HES carried out a survey of this beam engine house in March and October 2016. See report under Digital Files: WP007421.
Information from Miriam McDonald, Survey and Recording section, Heritage Directorate, HES.
