About
The Anson Engine Museum at Poynton in Cheshire occupies the site of the former Anson Colliery and holds one of the finest collections of gas and oil internal combustion engines in the world. The museum is a specialist institution of international significance, preserving a form of industrial technology that was ubiquitous in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but has largely been forgotten — the stationary gas and oil engine that powered pumps, generators, workshops, and industrial plant across Britain before widespread electrification.
The Anson Colliery site in Poynton, south of Stockport on the edge of the Cheshire plain, was a working colliery until the mid-twentieth century. When the site was redeveloped, the colliery buildings provided a home for the growing engine collection assembled by local enthusiasts who recognised that these remarkable machines were being scrapped at an alarming rate as industry modernised. The museum now occupies several buildings on the original colliery site, providing an appropriately industrial context for a collection that documents the age of the stationary engine.
The gas engine emerged in the 1860s as a practical source of mechanical power for workshops and small factories that could not justify the cost of a steam installation. Using town gas or later producer gas made from coal, these engines ran quietly and economically, requiring no boiler attendant and no complex steam plant. The larger oil engines that followed used paraffin, diesel, or crude oil to drive machinery too heavy for gas engines. Together, these machines powered the Victorian and Edwardian industrial world from within the factory floor, and the museum's collection spans the full range of manufacturers — Crossley, Hornsby, Blackstone, Petter, National, Ruston, Gardner, and many others.
On special running days, many of the museum's engines are started and run — filling the building with the characteristic exhaust smell, mechanical rhythms, and industrial soundscape of a working Victorian engine room. These running days transform a fascinating static collection into a living industrial experience and attract enthusiasts from across Britain and overseas.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Running days, when the engines are actually started and operated, are far more impressive than regular opening days — check the website calendar and plan your visit around a running day if at all possible.
- Bring ear protection if you are sensitive to noise on running days — the sound of multiple large gas engines running simultaneously is considerable and prolonged exposure is inadvisable without protection (available at the museum).
- A car is essential for visiting the museum; public transport to Poynton is limited and the museum site is not within easy walking distance of bus stops.
- The volunteer guides are exceptionally knowledgeable — this is a specialist institution run by enthusiasts and the depth of knowledge on offer is remarkable; ask questions freely.
- The museum bookshop is one of the best sources in Britain for technical and historical publications on internal combustion engines — a valuable resource for researchers and enthusiasts.
- Allow more time than you think you need: the museum appears modest in size but the number and complexity of the engines reward careful examination.
- Photography is welcome and the engines make excellent subjects — a wide-angle lens is useful for the larger machines in the confined industrial spaces.
- The Anson Colliery site itself is of historical interest; look for surviving colliery structures and features in the grounds as you explore.
Highlights
The Crossley Gas Engine Collection
Crossley Brothers of Manchester were among the pioneers of the gas engine, producing their first practical engines in the 1870s under licence from Nikolaus Otto who invented the four-stroke cycle. The museum holds a remarkable range of Crossley engines spanning the company's production history — from early atmospheric engines of the 1870s through the refined horizontal and vertical gas engines of the Edwardian era.
These machines represent the founding generation of internal combustion technology.
Running Days — Engines in Action
On special running days held throughout the year, volunteers start and run many of the museum's engines simultaneously — filling the building with the sound, smell, and mechanical rhythm of a working Victorian engine room. The experience of a running day is transformative: static machines become living industrial artefacts, each with its own distinctive beat and character.
The largest engines, requiring considerable preparation to start, are particularly impressive when running.
Running day dates are published on the museum website.
Oil Engine Collection — Hornsby, Blackstone, and Petter
The oil engine succeeded the gas engine as the dominant stationary power source for rural and industrial applications in the early twentieth century. Using paraffin, diesel, or heavy oil, these engines required no gas supply and could be installed anywhere a fuel supply was available. The museum holds engines from all the major British manufacturers — Richard Hornsby of Grantham (who pioneered the heavy-oil engine and built what may have been the world's first compression-ignition engine), Blackstone of Stamford, and Petter of Yeovil among others.
Anson Colliery History
The museum stands on the site of the Anson Colliery, which mined coal from the Poynton coalfield — part of the concealed coalfield that underlies much of north-east Cheshire.
The colliery operated from the mid-nineteenth century until closure in the 1960s. Displays document the history of coal mining at Poynton — the men who worked underground, the equipment they used, and the community that grew up around the pit.
The colliery context gives the engine collection an appropriately industrial setting.
Collections
The Anson Engine Museum holds over 100 engines in its collection, representing the full spectrum of British and European gas and oil engine manufacture from the 1870s to the mid-twentieth century. British manufacturers particularly well represented include Crossley, Hornsby, Blackstone, Petter, National, Ruston, Gardner, and Tangye; continental manufacturers including Deutz and MAN are also present.
The collection ranges from tiny one-horsepower workshop engines to large industrial units of fifty horsepower and above.
A technical archive of manufacturers' manuals, sales catalogues, engineering drawings, and commercial photographs supplements the engines themselves, providing a comprehensive documentary record of the industry.
The Gas Engine Revolution
The story of the stationary gas engine from Otto's four-stroke cycle to widespread industrial adoption
Oil and Diesel: The Second Generation
The development of oil and compression-ignition engines and their applications in industry and agriculture
Anson Colliery: Coal Under Cheshire
The history of coal mining at Poynton and the community it created
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.