Herefordshire Through Time
Herefordshire Through Time
The definition of a foundry is a place where molten iron and steel is poured into moulds to make more useful items. There are four post-medieval iron foundries in Herefordshire. Unfortunately not a great deal is known about them but they all appear to have been founded in the first half of the 19th century, and all had gone out of use by the end of the same century.
The foundries are:
(HER reference number 17708, OS grid reference SO 2900 5600)
In 1739 Richard Meredith "woolstapler of Kington" married Elizabeth Miles, the daughter of Thomas Miles "ironmonger of Kington". When his father-in-law died Richard inherited the ironmongery business. He set up a workshop and built a warehouse at Lower Cross, and was so successful that when he died he left assets to the value of £100,000. As he had no children the ironmongery passed to his nephew, John Meredith.
John extended the ironworking on a site near the old Market Hall, and set up forges for nail making whilst still carrying on the family woolstapling and cloth business. The business prospered and in 1820 a new site at Sunset was purchased from Lord Oxford, where substantial stone buildings were erected to house a foundry and accompanying workshops. A weir was built across the nearby Back Brook and water diverted to power a waterwheel, which in turn would drive the bellows, hammers and other associated machinery. Iron and coal for the foundry was brought in via the Kington Tramway, which had opened in 1819 with financial backing from John Meredith. John was later joined in the company by his sons John junior and James.
In 1828 John Meredith junior entered a partnership with another brother, Henry (James having died earlier). This partnership lasted 20 years, during which time the business grew and Nail Row, a complex of ten stone cottages and eight forges where the nailers lived and worked, was constructed.
In 1866 James Meredith, who had inherited the business the previous year, advertised the sale of the foundry, nail shops and cottages together with other parcels of land and property. The sale came to nothing and in the late 1880s the business was still going.
The Littlebury's Directory and Gazetteer of Herefordshire in 1876-7 described it thus: "There is an extensive iron foundry, nail and agricultural implement manufactory carried on by Messrs James Meredith and Co."
In 1882 135 men and boys worked at the foundry, the largest employer in the town. In 1901 the foundry was sold to Messrs Alexander and Duncan of Leominster, who continued to use it as a foundry. However, the business hit a period of decline and from 1927 it ceased to operate as a foundry.
In the 1980s a large water-filled vat could still be seen that had once fed two waterwheels on the south-west of the building. Today the foundry is occupied by craft workshops and small businesses, one of which is a forge making wrought-iron gate posts and the like.
(Information from: J.B. Sinclair and R.W.D. Fenn, The Border Janus: A New Kington History, Cadoc Books, 1995)
(HER 11859, OS grid reference SO 5060 3990)
This foundry was established in 1834 by Captain Radford. It was not a great success and by 1858 had been bought by Charles Watkins and converted into the Imperial Flour Mill.
(HER 11860, OS grid reference SO 6020 2440)
Mr Kell was a farmer with an interest in engineering who established a foundry and agricultural implement factory at Brookend in 1838. By 1856 it had been sufficiently successful to enable the opening of a new premises in Gloucester. The Ross-on-Wye factory closed during World War I. The buildings which housed the factory are opposite Brook House (where Mr Kell lived) at the corner of Mill Pond Street.
(HER 11861, OS grid reference SO 6000 2420)
This foundry was in operation between c.1850 and 1900, and was situated in a large red-brick building which now houses a furniture shop.
[Original author: Miranda Greene, 2005]