Elsecar Heritage Centre is a visitor attraction centre in

Elsecar Elsecar (, ) is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is near the villages of Jump and Wentworth and south of the town of Hoyland, south of Barnsley and north-east of Sheffield. Elsecar falls wit ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

, England. Operated by Barnsley Museums, it has independent shops, studios, galleries, cafes and a large antiques centre in former Victorian engineering workshops. A visitor centre and regular tours share the unique history of the village, an industrial estate village of ironworks and collieries, built for the Earls Fitzwilliam of

Wentworth Woodhouse Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is currently owned by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. The building has m ...

. Elsecar is now recognised to be of international significance, one of the UK's first model villages and a precursor to places like Saltaire. Close to the heritage centre, at the Elsecar New Colliery, is a

Newcomen steam engine The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or simply as a Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creati ...

, the only such engine still in its original location and now understood to be the world's oldest steam engine still in situ.

Heritage Centre

The New Yard

The New Yard workshops were built for Earl Fitzwilliam in 1850, as a base for carpenters, engineers, joiners, blacksmiths and others who supported the village's collieries, ironworks and the Wentworth Woodhouse estate. The workshops later became part of the National Coal Board until closure in the 1980s. The New Yard is now home to almost 40 independent shops, galleries, cafes, a children's play space and large antiques centre. A visitor centre has exhibits, films, interactive displays for children and an in-depth digital reconstruction of what the village and its valley looked like in the year 1880.

The Elsecar Ironworks

The rolling mill of the former Elsecar Ironworks now hosts large events, including antiques fairs, maker markets, concerts and weddings.

The Earl's Great Engine

The Elsecar New Colliery is the site of the only Newcomen beam engine in the world still in its original location, built in 1795 at the instruction of William Wentworth, the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam. It is now recognised to be the world's oldest steam engine still in place anywhere. It pumped water out of Elsecar New Colliery and ran from 1795 until 1923 when it was replaced by electric pumps. In 1973 the engine was classified as a

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. The engine was restored to working order (worked by

hydraulics Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...

) over the period 2012–14. Visitors can visit it 7 days a week (except in extreme weather) and on special open days and weekly tours between Easter and October each year.

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