Sundew was a large electrically powered

dragline A dragline excavator is a piece of heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining. Draglines fall into two broad categories: those that are based on standard, lifting cranes, and the heavy units which have to be built on-site. ...

excavator used in mining operations in Rutland and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Built by

Ransomes & Rapier Ransomes & Rapier was a major British manufacturer of railway equipment and later cranes, from 1869 to 1987. Originally an offshoot of the major engineering company Ransome's it was based at Waterside Works in Ipswich, Suffolk. Ransome's split ...

and named after the winning horse of the 1957 Grand National, it began work in a Rutland iron ore

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

belonging to the

United Steel Companies The United Steel Companies was a steelmaking, engineering, coal mining and coal by-product group based in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England. History The company was registered in 1918 and the following year saw a joining together of ste ...

(Ore Mining Branch) that year. At the time of its construction Sundew was the largest walking dragline in the world, weighing . With a reach of and a bucket capacity of the machine was able to move a substantial amount of material in a relatively short period. Propulsion was via two large movable feet which could be used to "walk" the dragline forwards and backwards, while directional control was provided by a large circular turntable under the body of the machine. Sundew remained until operations at the quarry ceased in 1974 and plans were then devised to relocate the machine to a recently opened

British Steel Corporation British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

quarry near

Corby Corby is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, located north-east of Northampton. From 1974 to 2021, the town served as the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, the built-up ...

. At a cost of £250,000 and taking two years to complete, it was decided that dismantling, moving and reconstructing the machine was not a viable option, and so over an eight-week period in 1974 Sundew walked from its home in Exton Park near the village of Exton in Rutland to a site north of Corby. During the walk the dragline crossed three water mains, four water courses, 13 power lines, ten roads, a railway line, two gas mains, seven telephone lines, 74 hedges, and the

River Welland The River Welland is a lowland river in the east of England, some long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash. The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market ...

before reaching its new home. As part of a major restructuring of British Steel in the late 1970s Corby Steelworks was closed down, and there was no longer any need for a large dragline to assist in the recovery of iron ore. On 4 July 1980 Sundew walked to its final resting place and the huge boom was lowered onto a purpose-built earth mound. There it remained for seven years until being scrapped from January to June of 1987. The cab and bucket are preserved at Rutland Railway Museum which is now known as Rocks By Rail – The Living Ironstone Museum. In 2014 the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

awarded £8,100 for the restoration of the cab."Story of quarry giant to be told"
Rutland Times; 5 October 2014

References

* Mining equipment Engineering vehicles Draglines {{mech-engineering-stub