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Mount Sion Steam Crane, adjacent to the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal

Mount Sion Steam Crane, adjacent to the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal, Mount Sion Road

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1242921
Date first listed:: 16-Mar-2011
List Entry Name:: Mount Sion Steam Crane, adjacent to the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal
Statutory Address:: Mount Sion Steam Crane, adjacent to the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal, Mount Sion Road

A wide shot showing the canal, towpath and crane. At this time it was rusty and unpainted. — Uploaded by tom jeffs This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1242921
Date first listed:: 16-Mar-2011
List Entry Name:: Mount Sion Steam Crane, adjacent to the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal
Statutory Address 1:: Mount Sion Steam Crane, adjacent to the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal, Mount Sion Road

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Mount Sion Steam Crane, adjacent to the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal, Mount Sion Road

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Bury (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: SD 76739 06820

Reasons for Designation

The Mount Sion Steam Crane, built in the latter half of the C19, is listed at Grade II for I for the following principal reasons:

Rarity: It is thought to be one of the earliest surviving steam cranes in the country. It is one of only a small number of surviving in situ steam cranes and is thought to be the only example in England that still remains in its original canalside location.

Intactness: Although unused for a number of years its component parts remain remarkably complete and enable a clear understanding of how the crane operated.

Historic Interest: It adds significantly to the interest of the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal, and is a vivid reminder of the use of steam technology in the canal industry.

Group Value: It has group value with the Grade II listed water-powered beam pump at Mount Sion Mill.

Details

326/0/10085

MOUNT SION ROAD (Off) Mount Sion Steam Crane, adjacent to the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal 16-MAR-11 II A steam-powered crane thought to have been built between 1875 and 1884 by Thomas Smith and Sons, located on a small triangle of land on the side of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal and associated with the Mount Sion Mill.

MATERIALS: The crane is built predominantly of cast iron.

PLAN: The crane is mounted on a base that is rectangular in plan.

DESCRIPTION: The crane stands on a rectangular stone plinth upon which is an iron casing holding the crane's rotating gear that allowed it to swing horizontally through 360 degrees during operations. It was powered by a riveted tall cylindrical boiler standing on a platform at the rear of the crane that drove eccentric cams which powered piston rods. Also located on the platform directly above the rotating gear are the winding gear and cogs that enabled the tapered jib and the hoist to raise and lower.

HISTORY: The Mount Sion Steam Crane was constructed by Thomas Smith & Sons of Rodley near Leeds, probably between 1875 and 1884 and bears the number 3184. It was formerly used to tranship coal between the canal and the Mount Sion Bleach Works, located on lower ground immediately to the south, which from the 1930s became the Mount Sion Papermill, after the bleach works burned down. Boats on the canal were designed to take containers that could be lifted directly to and from the bank and as such were probably of a specific design to this canal. There may have been a forerunner to this system operating on the Bridgewater Canal, Greater Manchester, where the barges brought coal directly from the Worsley mines via a container system. It is not known when the Mount Sion steam crane went out of use. It has recently been partially repainted (2010).

SOURCES: English Heritage, Transport Buildings Selection Guide, March 2007.

English Heritage, Maritime and Naval Buildings Selection Guide, March 2007.

http://pastscape.english-heritage.org.uk (accessed 25 March 2010).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: This canalside steam crane, probably built between 1875 and 1884, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Rarity: It is thought to be one of the earliest surviving steam cranes in the country. It is one of only a small number of surviving in situ steam cranes and is thought to be the only example in England that still remains in its original canalside location.

Intactness: Although unused for a number of years its component parts remain remarkably complete and enable a clear understanding of how the crane operated.

Historic Interest: It adds significantly to the interest of the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal, and is a vivid reminder of the use of steam technology in the canal industry.

Group Value: It has group value with the Grade II listed water-powered beam pump at Mount Sion Mill.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 508329
Legacy System:: LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.