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Oldest Stothert and Pitt crane set to be restored

Peter Dunn Stothert and Pitt crane working and awaiting restorationPeter Dunn
The crane fell into disrepair before being saved from scrap in the 1980s

The oldest known crane built by the Bath engineering firm Stothert and Pitt is to be restored after a £4,000 grant.

Built in the 1860s, the machine was used for quarrying Bath stone at Clift Quarry near Box, Wiltshire.

It was saved from the scrapheap in the 1980s, and now lives in the garden of former Stothert and Pitt engineer Peter Dunn, in Southwick, Wiltshire.

"The original company employed over 2,000 people at one point, it's important to Bath's history," he said.

Stothert and Pitt was founded in 1855 and made various cast iron items, including several cranes which survive as listed structures on Bristol's harbour-side.

Mr Dunn and a team of volunteers plan to return the crane to the site of Stothert and Pitt's former factory in Bath.

The grant has come from various sources, including the widow of the crane's previous owner, and the Association for Industrial Archaeology.

Bath Stone Quarry Museum Trust Workers on a craneBath Stone Quarry Museum Trust
Similar models were used in industrial settings across the South West

The team of volunteers has so far refitted the crane's timber frame and wheels, with repairs due to finish next year.

"We want to return it to the yard it was built in, back in 1864," said Mr Dunn.

"A lot of people in Bath have connections to Stothert and Pitt.

"We've not found an older crane yet. I keep looking and I'm happy to see ours is the oldest."

Stothert and Pitt is seen as an important part of Bath's industrial heritage and the cranes it built in the city were shipped all over the world.