The ruins of a beam-engine house can be seen on the grounds of Auchenharvie golf course.  Most of one wall and the remains of three others have survived.

It was built in 1719 to hold a Newcomen atmospheric steam engine, whose purpose was to pump water out of Auchenharvie No. 2 coal pit.  Measuring 18 inches in diameter the steam engine was brought to Stevenston from London.  It is believed to be the second Newcomen steam engine in Scotland.

The Newcomen atmospheric steam engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen, who was baptised on 28 February 1664 in Dartmouth, Devon.  He was the son of Elias Newcomen, a merchant and shipowner, and his wife Sarah.  Thomas served an engineering apprenticeship before beginning work as an ironmonger in Dartmouth.  Acquainted through his business with Cornish tin mine owners, Thomas Newcomen sought to come up with an effective vacuum pump which could rid the mines of water with the help of plumber John Calley.

The first successful Newcomen engine was built and installed at the Conygree Coal Works near Dudley Castle, Staffordshire in 1712.  Working day and night, the robust and reliable Newcomen engines enabled mines to be drained to far greater depths than had previously been possible.

By the end of the 19th century over 2,000 Newcomen steam engines had been installed across the world.  Regrettably Thomas Newcomen didn’t get the credit he deserved during his lifetime, but he is now known as one of the pioneers of the Industrial Revolution.

You can view a Newcomen Steam Engine at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh in their ‘Scotland Transformed’ gallery on Level 3.   Towering 9.5 metres high, it forms the centrepiece of the gallery.  It was originally used at the Caprington Colliery, near Kilmarnock.

A full-size working replica of the Newcomen steam engine can be seen at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, England.

The Newcomen engine was not the only steam engine to be used at Stevenston.  In 1732 John Cuninghame of Windyhall was appointed as factor and manager of the Auchenharvie Colliery.  He installed a steam engine with a 38-inch cylinder at the Deep Shank mine, to the east of the High Kirk.

In the early 1770’s, on the other side of Stevenston Burn two new pits were sunk, the Dip Engine Pit (near Muirpark Road) and the Raise Pit.  In order to draw water out of the Dip Engine Pit, Robert Reid Cunninghame of Auchenharvie, installed a Boulton and Watt steam engine on the Bowbridge Seam.  This steam engine was an improved development of Newcomen’s original model, constructed by John Nelson of Glasgow.  At 5 feet in diameter with 8 feet stroke and 15½ inch bore pumps, it discharged four tons of water a minute and was probably the first of its size in Scotland.  However, as successful as the Boulton and Watt steam engine was, it could not keep up with the flooding, therefore, a second smaller steam engine was installed at the Raise Pit which had a 4½ feet cylinder and a 13½ inch working barrel.