Chatterley Whitfield: Hesketh winding and power house (7)

Chatterley Whitfield: Hesketh Winding and Power House

A former colliery winding and power house built in 1915, extended between 1925 and 1937, and again in the mid-20th century, with minor late 20th-century alterations.

The building is constructed of brick with a roof of asbestos cement sheeting and brick and concrete parapets to the gables. Windows throughout feature round-arched metal frames set within brick rectangular panels with stepped brick surrounds; a number have been blocked in recent years.

The two-storey rectangular building comprises three sections running from south to north: a winding house of eight bays with a higher roofline than the rest; a five-bay power house; and a three-bay extension. The boiler house and chimney to the east have been demolished.

The north gable end is divided into three bays by pilasters, each further divided into three rectangular panels with the uppermost in blind. The central bay has a blocked ground-floor entrance and a large round-arched window above. The outer bays each have windows to both ground and first floors, with the ground-floor openings blocked. Circular metal ladders at the corners provide roof access. The west elevation is divided into regularly-spaced bays by pilasters, each containing panels for windows and doorways at ground and first-floor levels, with narrower blind panels and plat bands above. The windows to the three building sections sit at slightly different levels; those to the winding house have rectangular surrounds of moulded brick with spandrels to the upper corners. Several ground-floor panels are blind, and there is a large round-arched entrance with a projecting mid-20th-century flat-roofed structure towards the left-hand end. Along the entire west elevation are metal brackets fixed to the brickwork, probably originally carrying pipes. The east elevation has a similar arrangement of openings within rectangular panels and projecting metal brackets above the first-floor windows. The south gable wall matches the north gable arrangement but is surmounted by a pediment with an oculus. The ground floor features a tall central round-headed entrance and a pedestrian doorway to the left; above the entrance is a plaque inscribed "HESKETH PIT / 19 CW 15". To the right is a small blocked circular opening within a surround of header bricks. The first floor has tall windows in the outer bays, while the central panel contains a small rectangular window and openings for the steel rope used for lifting the cage in the Hesketh shaft; the cables remain in situ. Between the two floors runs a row of metal brackets.

The interior was not inspected as of 2013. Load-bearing brickwork supports reinforced concrete floors of differing heights, and the roof throughout consists of lightweight steel roof trusses. Within the winding house, window surrounds and lower wall sections are faced with glazed bricks and the floor is tiled. It contains a twin-cylinder horizontal steam engine supported at first-floor level by two massive concrete longitudinal piers encased in brickwork, and a bi-conical cable drum with a calliper-type braking system operated by steam cylinders. The basement was used for machinery and rope storage, and also stabling for pit ponies. A central spine corridor extends along the entire length of the winding house, continuing below the cable drum hall at the south end. To either side of the corridor are brick arches spanning between brick piers; many archways used as stabling retain wooden stable doors. The first floor of the power house is slightly lower than that in the winding house and is accessed via a steel staircase. Glazed bricks face the walls and the floor is laid with quarry tiles. Its basement is of similar construction to the winding house basement, with brick arches spanning between piers but aligned in the opposite direction. The northern extension has a complex arrangement of reinforced concrete piers, steel columns and beams supporting the first floor, with numerous access voids sealed with steel plates. Historic plant and machinery survive within the power house including a DC generator, compressors by Belliss & Moorcom Ltd of Birmingham, an Alley & MacLellan compressor, and a Walkers reciprocating compressor engine brought from Sutton Manor Colliery and installed here in the late 20th century after the mining museum was established.

Against the east elevation of the winding house are four re-sited boilers resting on brick plinths, re-used for storing exhaust steam which produced a supply of lower-pressure steam well-suited for generating electricity. A number of brick and concrete bases, probably relating to historic plant, are attached to the external face of the winding and power house. The west elevation features a Galloway boiler used as a steam accumulator.