Soho Foundry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soho Foundry (not to be confused with the Soho Manufactory) was a factory created in 1795 by Matthew Boulton and James Watt at Smethwick, West Midlands, England (grid reference SP037885), for the manufacture of steam engines.
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[edit] History
The factory was built on the edge of the original meandering Birmingham Canal on land bought in 1795. The following year the foundry was open. By 1840 James Watt Junior owned the factory after the death of the founding Boulton and Watt. He died in 1848 and his place was taken by H. W. Blake and the name changed form Soho Foundry to James Watt & Co.. In 1857 the screw engines for the steamship SS Great Eastern were built at the foundry. In 1860 a new mint was started at the Foundry, the Manufactory having closed in 1850. In 1895 W & T Avery Ltd. acquired the Foundry as a going concern.
[edit] Today
It is now the home of Avery Weigh-Tronix (formerly Avery Berkel), who make weighing scales. The site includes William Murdoch's cottage and overlooks Black Patch Park.
There is a small museum there, open only by appointment.
The grade II listed Pooley gates, of cast iron, are marked with "a Liver bird above ropework draped with cloth, flanked by nautical symbols including oars, flags and bugles, ships' wheels and intersecting dolphins". A plaque reads: "These gates were cast by Henry Pooley and Son about 1840 for the Sailors' Home, Liverpool. The Avery and Pooley Foundries were amalgamated in 1931". There is an active campaign to return these gates to Liverpool[1].
The building is a Grade II* listed building. The gates and adjacent canal bridge are Grade II listed.
The oldest working steam engine, built here, is the Smethwick Engine built to recover water used in the nearby canal locks at Smethwick Summit, and now in the Thinktank museum.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Literature
- W. K. V. Gale, Soho Foundry, Birmingham, 1948
- W. K. V. Gale and W. A. Seaby, Boulton, Watt and the Soho Undertakings, City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1952
- George Demidowicz, "The First Specialised Engine Building Works" in Warwickshire Industrial Archaeology Society Newsletter, No.23 June 2006
[edit] External links
- Avery Weigh-Tronix page on the factory
- Archives of Soho at Birmingham Central Library.
- Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description - former Bolton and Watt Pattern Store and Erecting Shop
- Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description - Office Row
- Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description - Gateway and Gate)
- Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description - Pooley Gates
- Images of England — details from listed building database (461800) - foundry - grade II*
- Images of England — details from listed building database (219288) - gateway and iron gate - grade II
- Images of England — details from listed building database (219289) - ornamental Pooley iron gates - grade II
- Images of England — details from listed building database (219218) - canal bridge at entrance to Soho Foundry Loop - grade II
- Images of England — details from listed building database (219287) - office row within factory main gate - grade II
- Entry number 6178 on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register
