Pump Engine House At Taylor'S Shaft Of New East Pool Mine

The pump engine house at Taylor's shaft of New East Pool Mine, now a National Trust museum, is a Grade II* listed building dated 1924, as indicated on the keystone of the driver's window. It was built by East Pool and Agar Ltd and has been slightly altered and restored. The structure is made of coursed squared granite, with brick window arches, wooden shuttering for the beam opening, and a cantilevered steel-frame bob platform topped with a slate roof. The building has a rectangular plan aligned on a north-south axis, featuring a bob wall to the south and an altered pumping plant in front of it.

The engine house has four stages and includes round-headed openings, such as the driver's window in the bob wall, which features granite ashlar voussoirs and a raised keystone inscribed "1924" with radiating glazing bars. There is also a large raised cylinder door in the rear wall, accompanied by a glazed and panelled door and matching side windows, all beneath a semicircular fanlight with radiating glazing bars. Various sashed windows with radiating glazing bars are present as well. The bob platform at the front is divided in the center, where the front of the beam connects to the pump's plunger.

Inside, the building houses a 90-inch cylinder engine designed in 1892 by Nicholas Trestrail, featuring a 52½ ton beam made by Harvey & Co. Ltd at Hayle. This engine was originally located at Carn Brea Mine and was purchased second-hand for use in this engine house, along with all associated controls. Historically, this is a very late and fine example of a traditional Cornish engine house, constructed at a new shaft sunk in 1922 to allow the old workings of East Pool Mine to resume production after a fall of ground in 1921 had destroyed two other shafts. The mine continued operations until 1953, and the shaft is still utilized as part of the drainage system for South Crofty Mine. The pump engine house forms a group with its associated chimney stack.