Pythagoras Industrial Museum

The museum preserves the former Pythagoras engineering works in an attractive group of low brick buildings around a courtyard. The works continued to be named after the Ancient Greek mathematician after its first operation to make mechanical calculators failed. For a while it made small brass and iron artefacts but from 1908 it became successful making internal combustion engines. These were used to power sawmills, agricultural machinery, fishing boats and other equipment. They were ‘hot bulb engines’ in which fuel is ignited by a red-hot metal surface rather than a spark. At its peak the works employed 80 people. The factory became derelict in the 1960s but was rescued by a group of volunteers in the 1980s. The entire production line can be followed from the design office to the machine hall with its lathes, planes, drills and milling machines, the management offices and the packing hall and stables. The caretaker’s house is presented as a typical workers' residence from the 1940s.