AN HISTORIC electrical antique has been rescued from a mansion near Rugby.
The electrical switchboard was installed at grade II listed Bourton Hall, in Bourton-on-Dunsmore, in 1907.
But after more than 110 years in Warwickshire it now has a new home after going on display at a museum in Ceredigion in west Wales.
Bourton Hall was built in 1791 for John Shuckburgh. It remained in the Shuckburgh family until 1905 when it was sold to James Frederick Shaw.
Between 1906 and 1908 the hall was extended and the house was converted from gas lighting to electric
lighting and two direct current generators were installed and connected to a bank of batteries.
As part of the installation an electrical switchboard was designed and built by J.B. Cumberland, an electric light and
power engineer based in Battersea in London.
But in the mid 20th century the electricity generation installation became redundant when the hall was connected to the mains electricity supply grid – leaving the switchboard gathering dust.
The house remained occupied until after the Second World War when it was used as a rest home for Jesuit priests and then used as a school.
By the late 1970s the house had become derelict, but in the early 80s the house was bought by Ingersoll Engineers and restored for use as offices.
It was then the switchboard, which was the only survivor of the original electrical installation, was restored by a group of apprentices from GEC Industrial Controls. Their names, which are written on a plaque, were Peter Finney, Balvant Mistry, Michael Wilson and Clive Wynn.
The hall was sold by Ingersoll Engineers to international development charity Practical Action in 1998 for use as their UK headquarters.
The charity will shortly be moving out of the hall, which has been bought by Northern Powerhouse Developments to be redeveloped as a luxury hotel.
Recognising the historic importance of the switchboard, Practical Action and Northern Powerhouse, donated the switchboard to the Internal Fire Museum of Power in Wales, where it will be restored and displayed alongside generators of a similar vintage.
Visit www.internalfire.com for further information about the museum.
* Alain Foote is keen to hear from anyone who knows the apprentices from GEC Industrial Controls who restored the switchboard in the 1980s. Email [email protected] or call 01788 810113.
