IEEC2.2 19 The Chester Boulton and Watt Steam Mill of 1785 Discovery and Archaeology, 2002-2005

The Chester Boulton and Watt Steam Mill of 1785

 Discovery and Archaeology, 2002-2005

Chris Hodrien

An off-print from

Transactions of the 2nd International Early Engines Conference - Volume 2 pp183-200

Summary

The world’s first successful public-access steam flour mill was at Chester in 1785, only three years after the Watt rotative engine patent and three years before the famous ‘Lap’ engine on show in the Science Museum was built. It was powered by a 14hp Boulton & Watt (B&W) rotative beam engine. It has been wrongfully universally overshadowed in both steam power and milling history books by the later, larger, Albion Mill in London, which actually started two months later. The Chester mill later expanded into a very large complex of 4-7-storey buildings, which eventually became disused in the 1950s. In 2002 an opportunity for recording and archaeology occurred when the remaining buildings were converted into apartments and the bottom of the original Watt 1785 engine house was uncovered. The author acted as co-opted specialist steam engine archival and technical interpretation consultant, utilising the B&W Soho archive, for this archaeology project. Extracts from the excellent B&W Soho drawings archive for this engine and mill are included.