If you are planning on travelling distance to attractions, we would recommend that you contact the venues directly in advance to avoid disappointment.
If you, or any of your party have a new persistant cough, or develop a fever of 38C, we would instead advise you to use the NHS's dedicated website for professional advice.
The Dartmouth Newcomen Engine was built  in about 1720 and was first used to pump  out the Griff Colliery in Staffordshire . It was moved and rebuilt several times before ending up in Hawkesbury Junction, Warwickshire pumping water into a canal, where it retired from work in 1913 . In 1964 , to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Thomas Newcomen's birth , it was reassembled in Dartmouth , the home of its inventor, by the Newcomen Society . The Dartmouth Engine shows most of the features of the earliest Newcomen Engines . It has a simple , untrussed , wooden beam with arch heads , chain connections and wooden spring-beams , all believed to be original . The valve mechanism is more  recent , but is activated automatically by a plug-rod , as in the early engines . However , there is one significant later feature in the shape  of a 'pickle - pot condenser , fitted directly beneath the cylinder . The engine can be operated by a hydraulic mechanism , so that the visitor can observe the the movement of the engine and the operation of the valves .
To mark  the  300th anniversary of the first Newcomen Engine  in 1712 , the Engine House is currently being updated and will feature new  graphics panels and a short film by Adam Hart - Davis , showing the working of a Newcomen Engine . There will also be series of linked events in the town , including a lecture series and a  Steam Fair . ( For details of these and other events , see the linked 'Newcomen 300' entry in the guide or contact  the TIC ).
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