The winding-engine house chimney base at Whiston Incline

The base of a chimney for a winding engine house, of around 1829, by George Stephenson for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway company.

MATERIALS: sandstone, probably the stone through which the Whiston incline is cut.

DESCRIPTION: the chimney base stands on the bedrock, in the angle between the Stoney Lane over-bridge and the south wall of the cutting, to the east of the bridge.

The base is in the form of a Classical pedestal, square in plan and about 3 metres high. It is of ashlar stonework, with stepped and cyma-recta moulded plinth, dado with recessed panels, cyma-reversa moulded cornice and a short square plinth for the chimneyshaft (all of these vertically tooled). Unusually, all of the external angles are decoratively horizontally-grooved. The upper surface has a circular flue hole of around two feet in diameter. There is (in 2024) some damage with graffiti and vegetation growth.