Description:Reverse general view of engine for Sir Charles Brandling, Gateshead Park Colliery, Northumberland, February 1794.
The collieries of the North East were another important market for Boulton & Watt, where they sold several pumping engines in the 1790s. Thomas Barnes, a colliery agent who was based at Walker Colliery near Newcastle-upon-Tyne and who acted for the colliery owner Sir Charles Brandling, acted as agent for Boulton & Watt in the region. Barnes refused an annual salary from Boulton & Watt, saying that if he maintained an independent position the colliery owners were more likely to have confidence in him. These drawings show an engine with a 60 inch cylinder and two round boilers for Sir Charles Brandling’s colliery at Gateshead Park. This was the second engine purchased by Brandling, the first being for Middleton Colliery.
This drawing is part of the Archives of Soho, held at Birmingham City Archives [Ref. MS3147/Portfolio/5/570]