Wilton

Hungerford tombstone by the UC road, in parish of Grafton (Kennet District), Rookery Nook, North of Wexcombe, on a lawn, behind a new barbed wire boundary fence of garden. Inscription reads:- TO HUNGERFORD 7 (SARUM) (20) Grade II listed. List Entry Number: 1183758 Link Surveyed Milestone Society National ID: WI_hgsa07

Winter barley to the west of Wexcombe.

Crofton used to have two Lancashire boilers when I first visited about 1980. It now only has one workable boiler has this example by the Great Western Railway's Swindon works now consists only of this front and a little of the shell behind the wall. The space behind is now used for other, revenue generating, purposes. I might have a monochrome of the boiler when it was still workable.

First commenced in 1809 to supply water to the Summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, this building now houses engines by Boulton & Watt of 1812 and Harvey & Co of Hayle of 1846. These are both workable and the older is the world's oldest in situ engine capable of doing its original job. The open doors lead into the boiler house. The beam engines are in the taller section.

First commenced in 1809 to supply water to the Summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, this building now houses engines by Boulton & Watt of 1812 and Harvey & Co of Hayle of 1846. These are both workable and the older is the world's oldest in situ engine capable of doing its original job. This shows the pumping station on the left at the summit level of the canal and the Kennet and Avon Canal on the right in the background.

From the bridge by Crofton level crossing.

The cottage is by the level crossing on the former Great Western Railway.

Wilton Water is a water supply for this level of the canal at Crofton. Water for the summit is supplied by a pumping station. The original Crofton Pumping Station from 1809 was steam powered and is now preserved. The current pumping station is electric but on occasions the steam pumps have stood in for it. The steam pumps are also demonstrated on several steam days each year.

The green sign on the right indicates the path to Wilton Windmill. The windmill was open on this occasion and we followed the path past Wilton Water and uphill to the windmill.

First commenced in 1809 to supply water to the Summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, this building now houses engines by Boulton & Watt of 1812 and Harvey & Co of Hayle of 1846. These are both workable and the older is the world's oldest in situ engine capable of doing its original job. This shows the pump end of the beam engine house with boiler house behind. The bridge in the centre crosses the discharge channel that takes the water from the pumps to the canal's summit level. The summit crosses a watershed and there is no natural supply to make up for lockage losses. The alternatives were a tunnel below the summit or a pumping station to return water from a lower level. The canal company opted for pumping and that is still carried out today with electric pumps.

First commenced in 1809 to supply water to the Summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, the pumping station now houses engines by Boulton & Watt of 1812 and Harvey & Co of Hayle of 1846. These are both workable and the older is the world's oldest in situ engine capable of doing its original job. This shows the discharge channel taking water from the two pumping engines to the summit level of the canal. The canal's summit crosses a watershed where there is no natural supply to replace lockage losses. The canal company had a choice of building a tunnel under the summit or using back pumping from a lower level. They opted for pumping.

This was acquired from a W D & H O Wills factory in Swindon and has been stored in the open air for over 25 years. It was obtained as a spare to the site's 1899 boiler that was obtained second-hand in the 1980s from a W D & H O Wills factory in Bristol. That latter boiler is the site's only operational boiler and in the 2021-22 winter period is to receive some major preventative maintenance that will hopefully see it through the next 10 years. This spare boiler will probably never get used, but who knows. The heritage steam sector is facing problems with the supply of coal and concerns about using fossil fuels. However, Crofton intends to remain in steam for as long as possible and is considering alternatives such as biocoal. Apart from the business of raising steam, one also has to consider the longevity of machinery that is over 150-200 years old. The engines have been examined by non-destructive testing and their performance and loading is being examined with appropriate instrumentation (some of it from the same stable as the telemetry used in F1 racing).

First commenced in 1809 to supply water to the Summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, this building now houses engines by Boulton & Watt of 1812 and Harvey & Co of Hayle of 1846. These are both workable and the older is the world's oldest in situ engine capable of doing its original job. This shows the discharge from the two beam engines into the leat leading to the Canal's summit. The engine discharging on the right is the 1846 engine.

A pair of boiler crown valves flank a double beat pump foot-valve with wooden seating blocks on both beats.

First commenced in 1809 to supply water to the Summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, this building now houses engines by Boulton & Watt of 1812 and Harvey & Co of Hayle of 1846. These are both workable and the older is the world's oldest in situ engine capable of doing its original job. This shows the ground floor of the engine house at pump discharge level. These are the pump rods of the 1846 engine with the main pump rod on the left and the air pump rod on the right. The pumped water flows through the metal casing in the middle and through the end wall into the discharge leat.

First commenced in 1809 to supply water to the Summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, this building now houses engines by Boulton & Watt of 1812 and Harvey & Co of Hayle of 1846. These are both workable and the older is the world's oldest in situ engine capable of doing its original job. This shows the 1812 engine's pump rod that operates a bucket pump down the well. At the top it is connected to the beam two floor further up and at the bottom it enters the covered pump discharge launder heading through the far wall. Because it is a bucket pump the rod is within the rising main down the well.

First commenced in 1809 to supply water to the Summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, this pumping station now houses engines by Boulton & Watt of 1812 and Harvey & Co of Hayle of 1846. These are both workable and the older is the world's oldest in situ engine capable of doing its original job. In the boiler house is this small collection of steamable engines that are quite unrelated to the pumping station but of interest in their own right. Some are quite old and rare while others help to illustrate the spectrum of stationary engine designs. Not everybody believes they have any place at Crofton but I am quite comfortable with their presence as it is made clear they are interlopers.