Its now less than a year to IEEC3 at Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life (Heritage Way, Coatbridge, ML5 1QD) from 22-24 March 2024 and I wanted to give you an update.
The Venue – Magic ‘in a word’ (assuming you like a wide range of expertly displayed engines, machinery and information boards). The museum is constructed on the excavated remains of Summerlee Ironworks and gives excellent coverage of this industry Their official page is Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life (culturenl.co.uk) and also a Facebook page and Instagram account (@summerleemuseumscotland) for the museum.
If you have attended previous IEECs – Whether attending individually or with friends, we wanted to assure you of a warm and inclusive welcome. We work hard to ensure no one is left isolated or ‘out of it’ (unless of course they prefer it that way). Whilst delivery of the papers are always of a high standard, previous attendees always enjoy the quality of the networking and discussions!
Papers proposed
We have an impressive list of papers already promised and whilst these will evolve over the next few months, this is what is currently on offer. We welcome further proposals (to admin@early engines or steve.grudgings@btinternet.com)
- The History of the Farme Colliery Engine – Justin Parkes (full length paper)
- The Farme Colliery Engine,design problems – Mike Potts (short paper)
- The History of the Caprington Colliery Engine – Geoff Hayes/Steve Grudgings (full length paper)
- The Atmospheric engine. Loading and Balancing -Mike Potts (full length paper).
- Early Engines in the Ironbridge Gorge – Steve Dewhirst (full length paper)
- Early Engines around Ironbridge – Mike Nevell (full length paper)
- Early Engines in NE Derbyshire – John Barnatt (full length paper)
- Engine building in Scotland after 1760 and the contribution of the Carron Company– John Kanefsky (full length paper)
- Henry Beighton’s Fire Engine Documents -Mike Potts (full length paper)
- New conclusions as to engines at Brettell Lane (later part of Brierley Hill) and new info on engines at Bradley in Bilston – Peter King (short paper)
- Early Scottish Engines- David Hardwick (full length paper)
- An Overview of the History of the Heslop Engine. -Mike Potts –(full length paper)
- Excavating the Pitchcroft Limestone Mine winding engine and pumping engine sites in Shropshire – Kelvin Lake (full length paper)
- Summary of work so far and open questions around core question of why Newcomen invented his engine – James Greener (full length paper)
- The Newcomen Engine in 2020. -Mike Potts (full length paper)
- The Polzunov Blowing Engine (Russia)-Mike Potts (short paper)
- Boulton and Watt Engine Houses in Scotland – Mark Watson (full length paper)
- The site of the first Newcomen Engine in the West Midlands -Mike Potts (full length paper)
- Early engines in Europe, their builders and challenges – James Greener (full length paper)
Travel to and From the Conference – The venue is just over 8 miles from central Glasgow and easily accessed by all forms of transport. For those of you planning to drive please let us know if you have space in your heart and your car for additional passengers and we will try to mix and match (contact us and we will try). Both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports are within reach and our venue is within five minutes’ walk of Coatbridge Central and Coatbridge Sunnyside stations. The museum has ample car paring too.
Hotels and Accommodation – There are two Hotels locally, the Mondo and The Georgian – I stayed at the former and can confirm it is of a high standard and reviews of the latter suggest it is of the same calibre. Alternatively, Coatbridge has great transport links with Glasgow where there is a wide choice of Hotels. The IEEC Team are booked into a local Air-BNB house for 5 days so we can take part in excursions before and after our conference. You might like to consider doing likewise – if you are coming by yourself and want to “team up” please let us know and we will try to “match” you
Proposed Papers – I am pleased with the volumes and varieties of papers proposed already and if you have ideas or inclination for one yourself, please let us know. You will see that we have a number of papers from Mike Potts – I am to blame for this as I have nagged Mike to make sure he writes up his range of well-informed studies
Excursions Before and After the Conference – We are not short of places to visit, some of which are not normally open or accessible to the public. Detailed arrangements including transport will depend on numbers but at this stage, the following excursions are proposed:
Thursday 21st March- Full day visiting the remains of the Auchenharvie Engine House at Saltcoats, the Blacksyke Engine House at Riccarton and the Carriden Engine House at Bo’ness. David Hardwick will lead this tour and his knowledge of engine house construction will enable an informative day.
Friday 22nd March- Half Day individual visits to the Caprington Colliery Engine and House at the Royal Scottish Museum Edinburgh. Ellie Swinbank, Curator Technology will meet and guide us there, including a visit inside the engine house. Timings are tight and there are many other attractions at the museum and in Edinburgh so a prompt return is needed. Trains between Coatbridge Sunnyside and Edinburgh take 55 minutes so delegates need to return from Edinburgh no later than 11.30
Monday 25th March – Full day visit that will include Dollar Cornish Engine House, Prestongrange Cornish Engine House and Kennetpans Distillery Engine House. We may include other sites but this depends on timings and interest. The leader for this tour is TBC.
Please note that details will be firmed up closer to the event, dependent on interest levels – please let us know as soon as you can so we can organise accordingly. As you may imagine, any costs associated with these excursions will be in addition to conference delegate fees
Steve Grudgings, Chris Jones and Paul Stephens