tarboat's photos with the keyword: sutton manor

The casing for the Walker Brothers fan dominates the scene outside the upcast winding enginehouse at Sutton Manor Colliery. The fan was 25 ft diameter and 9 ft wide and dated from 1910. It had a capacity of 600.000 cu ft per minute and was only on standby in the later years of the colliery. During the annual shutdown in 1985 it was run whilst maintenance work was carried out to the main ventilating plant. This was the last occasion that a steam driven fan operated at a British colliery.

Compound steam engine driving the ventilation fan at Sutton Manor Colliery. Walker Brothers at Wigan made this engine and the fan to which it was attached in 1910. The cylinders of the 520hp engine were 23" and 36" diameter. At the time of my visit this engine was on standby only.