The ruin you see at Saltom was once the winding engine house.  A steam-powered winding engine was installed in 1819.  Saltom’s mineshaft had been deepened sixty feet by mining engineer John Piele. The horse-gin used since the sinking of the shaft in 1729 could no longer cope.  Piele had the engine-house built right next to the shaft, and bought a steam powered winding engine.

The winder used flat ropes wound round a drum. Its power came from a single cylinder steam engine developed by Phineas Crowther of Newcastle.

Crowther's engine was compact – ideal for Saltom’s cramped pit-head.  The clever design placed the winding drum directly above, instead of beside, the steam cylinder.  The fact that the crank connected directly to the winder also saved space.  Compare this tall, narrow building design to the enormous “hangar” of Haig Pit, and you see just how innovative this engine was.  The engine-house protected the winder from the corrosive salt-spray off Saltom Bay.

Getting coal from the sea-bed to ground level at Saltom was only half the story.  Coal had to be lifted again to the cliff-top before it could reach the waiting ships in the harbour. 

At Ravenhill, above Saltom, Piele installed a second steam powered winding engine.  Here he had more space and used a traditional long beam engine, like the one in Haig Mining Museum.  Wagons then ran the coal down to ships in the harbour ready for the hungry Dublin market.