Thomas Newcomen Engine 2026
One of the few surviving 'Atmospheric Engines' built in 1720 to Thomas Newcomen's original design. This is the oldest preserved steam engine in the world and can be seen with its original beam and piston in motion, though, sadly, no longer powered by steam.
Contacts
Operator: Dartmouth Tourist Information Centre
Address: Explore Dartmouth / Dartmouth Visitor Centre, The Engine House Mayors Avenue Dartmouth Devon TQ6 9YY
- Telephone: 01803 834 224
- Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
- Website: View website
Open Days & Times
Mon-Sat 1000-1600, Sun from 1100. Visit website or facebook for more details.
Travel
- By Bus: X81
- By Rail: Kingswear (Paignton & Dartmouth Railway) / 1 mile
Facilities
- Parking
- Part disabled access
The engine was built about 1720 and was first used to pump out the Griff Colliery in Staffordshire. It was moved and rebuilt several times before ending up in Hawkesbury Junction, Warwickshire pumping water into a canal, where it retired from work in 1913. In 1964, to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Thomas Newcomen's birth, it was reassembled in Dartmouth, the home of its inventor, by the Newcomen Society.
The Dartmouth Engine shows most of the features of the earliest Newcomen Engines. It has a simple, untrussed, wooden beam with arch heads, chain connections and wooden spring-beams, all believed to be original. The valve mechanism is more recent, but is activated automatically by a plug-rod, as in the early engines. However, there is one significant later feature in the shape of a 'pickle-pot condenser, fitted directly beneath the cylinder.
For more details and pictures please see this website: https://www.exploredartmouth.co.uk/newcomen-engine/
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