The winding-engine house chimney base at Whiston Incline is a Grade II listed building in the St. Helens local planning authority area, England. First listed on 31 October 2024. Industrial.

The winding-engine house chimney base at Whiston Incline

WRENN ID
quiet-lintel-sorrel
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
St. Helens
Constituency
St Helens South and Whiston MP: Ms Marie Rimmer (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
31 October 2024
Type
Industrial
OS grid reference
SJ 484 912
Coordinates
53.41573, -2.77675
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The winding-engine house chimney base at Whiston Incline dates from around 1829 and was designed by George Stephenson for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway company.

Constructed from sandstone, likely sourced from the rock through which the Whiston incline is cut, the chimney base is situated on the bedrock at the junction of the Stoney Lane over-bridge and the south wall of the cutting, to the east of the bridge.

The base is designed as a Classical pedestal, square in shape and approximately 3 metres high. It features ashlar stonework with a stepped and cyma-recta moulded plinth, a dado with recessed panels, a cyma-reversa moulded cornice, and a short square plinth for the chimney shaft, all of which are vertically tooled. Notably, the external angles are decorated with horizontal grooves. The upper surface includes a circular flue hole measuring around two feet in diameter. As of 2024, the structure shows some damage, including graffiti and vegetation growth.

Local climate

The winding-engine house chimney base at Whiston Incline sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,010 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 81% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 66% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 27 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 71% of listed buildings. Of these, 12 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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