IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Choppards Lane, HOLMFIRTH, HD9 2RE

A woollen mill near Holmfirth. There has been some demolition since this was taken. When I first knew the mill in the late 1970s it still had a beautiful running steam engine driving the mill along with a steam turbine and a gas engine.

There are many building in Washpit Mills. The one on the right has warehouse taking-in doors and a hoist.

How nice to see a mill still in use, now by Westwood Yarns Ltd. The saw-tooth glazed roofs let in plenty of light but not direct sunshine (not that we are getting much of that nowadays).

Still in use, although a building has been demolished in the foreground.

A local told me that there is a right-of-way through the mills, which saves a climb up to Lamma Well Road. It is, however, not marked on the OS map.

This view is on the other side of the wall from the steam engine seen in - Image The dark square space hides the large flywheel from which ropes pass to a countershaft in the casing on the bottom left. Ropes than pass from a smaller pulley on this shaft to the drive pulley on the Mather & Platt alternator seen on the right. I loved this site and used to truant from school to see it running in 1976 and 1977. The engine is now preserved at Markham Grange Steam Museum - Image - but it is nothing like the spectacle it once was.

One of my favourite stationary steam engines of all time. This is 'Agnes' a Pollit & Wigzell horizontal tandem compound built in 1909 and developing 600 horsepower. This shows the two corliss valve steam cylinders with the horizontal combined jet condenser and air pump to the left. The big green vessel above is the oil separator. I used to truant from school when I was in the upper sixth to see this magnificent engine in commercial service. It is now at Markham Grange steam Museum.

Agnes is one of my favourite engines but is no longer at this location, indeed the engine house's site has been cleared. Agnes is a horizontal tandem compound condensing mill engine built in 1909 by Pollit & Wigzell of Sowerby Bridge. The Corliss valve cylinders are 18" & 36" bores by 4' stroke. Operating speed was 80 rpm on steam at 160 psi and it developed 600 indicated horsepower. The 16' flywheel drove via ropes to a large alternator next door and to some limited machinery in part of the mill. The engine was in regular use until early 1980 and was then run just for show, usually on Friday afternoons. This view is down the side with the valve gear. The big lump in the middle is the low pressure cylinder with the high pressure cylinder beyond. The black object on the left is the combined jet condenser and single acting air pump.

Agnes is one of my favourite engines but is no longer at this location, indeed the engine house's site has been cleared. Agnes is a horizontal tandem compound condensing mill engine built in 1909 by Pollit & Wigzell of Sowerby Bridge. The Corliss valve cylinders are 18" & 36" bores by 4' stroke. Operating speed was 80 rpm on steam at 160 psi and it developed 600 indicated horsepower. The 16' flywheel drove via ropes to a large alternator next door and to some limited machinery in part of the mill. The engine was in regular use until early 1980 and was then run just for show, usually on Friday afternoons. This shows the lower part of the Lumb governor with the modified Wilby regulator that adjusted the cut-off as the load varied to keep the engine's speed as close to its design speed as possible. Behind is the crosshead with the three piston rods that are the feature of Pollit & Wigzell's patented three rod design.

Agnes is one of my favourite engines but is no longer at this location, indeed the engine house's site has been cleared. Agnes is a horizontal tandem compound condensing mill engine built in 1909 by Pollit & Wigzell of Sowerby Bridge. The Corliss valve cylinders are 18" & 36" bores by 4' stroke. Operating speed was 80 rpm on steam at 160 psi and it developed 600 indicated horsepower. The 16' flywheel drove via ropes to a large alternator next door and to some limited machinery in part of the mill. The engine was in regular use until early 1980 and was then run just for show, usually on Friday afternoons. This shows the Lumb governor with the modified Wilby regulator and an electric stop motion. The three piston rods of the patented 'three-rod system' are seen towards the bottom. The blurring of the governor's balls and the horizontal position of the operating lever below the centre weight both indicated that the engine was running at its operating speed. This was always a treat.