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Claverton Pumping Station |
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Return to Claverton Pumping Station home page The Burbage Wharf Crane Restoration Project
The Burbage Wharf Crane is a timber fixed jib slewing crane built in 1831 to handle the unloading and loading of cargo at Burbage Wharf on the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal south of Marlborough The Burbage Crane restoration project is a joint undertaking between the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, Claverton branch, The Inland Waterways Association. and Crown Estates. It is planned to dismantle the existing crane, salvage what is still usable and remove to the Claverton Pumping Station Site to restore and rebuild. Once restoration is complete it will be dismantled again and rebuilt back on the Burbage Wharf site. The work is due to start in May. A publicity flyer has been produced and is being circulated. to raise funding and awareness for the project. The crane was restored in 1973 but the timber has not stood the test of time and the plan is to use more durable oak this time and this is the current project. The Crane at present is in a very poor condition as the pictures below show.
These pictures clearly show the back of the crane has broken, all that holds the jib up is the temporary scaffolding towers
Here you can see just how rotten the woodwork is, if you look closely at the picture on the left you can see where the jib has broken in two and daylight is coming through the gap
The hoist gear on the left and one of the chain rollers on the right show that although the woodwork has suffered badly the metalwork is in surprisingly good condition
The weight of the counterbalance stone on the rotten woodwork has caused the frame to drop around the slew post so that the frame is now firmly on the ground rather than suspended
(Left) Although the chain guide rollers along the jib are metal, the main pulley at the head of the jib is wooden. (Right) A view of the crane from across the canal. |
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