Crofton Beam Engines

We have plenty of other activities for children who can play with our large scale model lock and learn how pivoted beams move while playing on our seesaw. There are children's trails, a crafting area for those inspired by Crofton to paint, draw or make a model. At Easter we have an Easter Egg hunt with a difference as well as a Duck Race in our special stream called a leat.

Adults and children can visit the whole Pumping Station, which is 4 stories high, from the 12 metre deep well to the Beam Gallery where our massive beams quietly rock backwards and forwards to pull water up from the well and out into the leat and feed the canal with water. Some areas are only accessible by stairs, when the building was originally built right up until the 1950’s they were only reached by ladders.

You can meet the boiler stokers who feed the boiler with coal to make steam. They can tell you about the history of our massive Lancashire boiler, how to make a good fire, and show you the inside of the boiler where the fire lies as they add more coal to keep the water in the boiler hot. On certain steaming days on the year, we burn an alternative fuel made from rape seed briquettes, we are experimenting with different types of fuels to help reduce our carbon footprint and to make sure that if we can no longer get coal we can keep Crofton working as it always has done.

On the driving platform you can puzzle at the complex and beautiful driving mechanism. Our engine drivers can explain all about its clever and elegant mechanism, the does and don’ts of driving a huge Beam Engine and much much more.

On the beam gallery see the huge beams rise and fall, learn how steam is used to drive the engines and listen to the engines at work while finding out about one of the most important inventions of the Industrial Revolution, the parallel motion invented by James Watt in 1784.

Visit our Smithy Tea Room which is open on Steaming Days for hot or cold drinks and try one of our fine selection of cakes. Sit in our beautiful grounds and admire the view cross the canal and railway to Wilton Water, an artificial lake made to store water for the canal. You are welcome to bring a picnic.

Non Steaming Days:

Our site is run entirely by volunteers so we are not open every day, however there are plenty of opportunities to visit Crofton.

Tuesday Workdays: We are open every Tuesday, whilst the engines are sleeping, you can still see them and marvel at their size and complexity. Meet our volunteers who will be busy working hard to look after the engines, boiler and the Grade I listed buildings that house the engines. Get a guided tour and learn about why it was built.

Summer Open Days: Check our web site to find out when we are open on Sundays during the summer. Meet our volunteers who will be pleased to guide you round the site.

Crofton – Our Site:

Our site nestles in Wiltshire’s rolling downland, on a promontory above the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Great Western Railway. Learn about why the canal was built and why Crofton exists and where it is where it is.

Back to nature: We have a wide range of birdlife that can be seen from Crofton or along the banks of the canal. Look out for swans, cormorants, moorhens, wagtails and if you are very lucky, our resident kingfishers. In May and June our site has many different types of wildflowers which we encourage in the less trodden parts of our site. When driving to and from Crofton you may pass Wolf Hall, look out for cows, rabbits and pheasants as you drive along the lanes.

We have bright, modern toilet facilities, including disabled access and baby changing facilities.

We have very ample car parking including disabled bays.

We welcome well behaved dogs on leads to the grounds and provide water and a hitching rail for dogs. Dogs, except assistance dogs, are not allowed in the boiler or engine houses.

For more information on opening times visit https://www.croftonbeamengines.org/