2007 PROJECT SELECTION

Junction of Cornmill Crossing and Hindpool Road, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment, Building Recording, Watching Brief, and Excavation

Part of the surviving buildings belonging to the iron and brass foundry

Prior to the development of a large piece of land adjacent to Cornmill Crossing and Hindpool Road by Positive Location Properties Ltd an extensive programme of archaeological investigation was requested by Barrow Borough Council as a condition of planning permission. This was placed following recommendations made by the Cumbria County Council Historic Environment Service. The first phase, which was carried out in 2006, was an archaeological desk-based assessment. This revealed that a number of industries had been situated on the site following the development of the docks in the 1860s, including an iron and brass foundry, a gas works, a steam corn mill, and a ropewalk. Some built elements of the foundry were still present on the site, and so a building recording was carried out before their planned demolition.

The iron and brass foundry was established by Messrs Waddington and Longbottom in 1860 and initially made a variety of items before specialising in engineering in connection with the expanding ship building industry in Barrow. The foundry continued to grow throughout the 19th and early 20th century, and was operated as Waddington and Sons in the latter part of its lifetime. By the 1920s a downturn in orders and a general depression led to the eventual decline and closure of the business; large parts of the complex were demolished in the late 1930s, and it suffered requisition by the military and bomb damage during the Second World War. Remarkably however, some of the surviving buildings related to early phases in the development of the site, although these had been enlarged and considerably altered following its use as warehousing, and some elements probably originated as part of the ropewalk and had later been incorporated into the foundry.

Cross-section through the standing buildings at Hindpool: buildings 5 and 6 on the left probably formed part of the ropewalk, while the rest belonged to the iron and brass foundry

A watching brief was carried out across the whole development area during the excavation of test pits, and revealed that the remains of several of the structures on the site were well preserved beneath a layer of reinforced concrete laid to form a coal depot in 1990. As the construction proposals included the removal of all below ground remains, the entire area of the steam corn mill was excavated. The corn mill was established in 1870 by a limited company set up by members of a business 'syndicate' who were responsible for much of the early growth of Barrow-in-Furness and were connected to the railways and the iron and steel industry.

An illustration of the earliest incarnation of the corn mill, with the neighbouring bonded warehouse to the left (from Barrow-in-Furness by F Leach, 1872)

It was quickly enlarged and in 1874 was said to be almost twice its original size; the principal building contractor was William Gradwell, a close ally of the 'syndicate', who later became mayor of the town. In 1880 the Steam Corn Mill Company was in financial trouble and it was wound up and the mill sold to Messrs Walmsley and Smith of Lancaster. They too made a number of improvements and modernised the whole operation; at its peak it was importing thousands of tons of wheat from across the world, utilising the adjacent bonded warehouse for storage. The complex had an almost fully automatic system using the latest technology including electricity and automatic sprinklers, the first to be installed in a corn mill. In 1903 the mill was purchased by Messrs Edward Hutchinson Ltd of Liverpool who continued to increase production, and were famous for making 'Diamond 'O' Flour', which was imported across the country. By the latter part of the 20th century, however, its importance had decreased; it was making animal feed by the 1930s, and it closed in 1967 after almost 100 years in operation. It was finally destroyed by fire on November 12th 1972 while being used for storage.

The excavation revealed that the footprint of the building and many of the original floors and structures had survived remarkably well and all of the major phases of enlargement recorded in the historical record could be identified. The majority of processes had taken place on the upper floors, however, so there was little evidence for these, and all of the machinery had evidently been removed, although the position of the engine room, electrical generators, and later boiler were revealed.

Oblique view of the east end of site from the air showing the offices and yard leading to the main entrance (photograph taken by AerialCam)

The new boiler house is recorded as having been added between c1901 and 1906, and, due to the expansion of the rest of the site, had to be placed some distance to the west and was connected to the original chimney via a massive new flue.

Oblique view of the west end of the site showing the later generation boiler house (photograph taken by AerialCam)

A large number of marked bricks made by William Gradwell were found during the excavation, and it was possible to establish a relative chronological sequence for these. In addition, a large number of pieces of corn drying kiln tile and charred oats were also discovered, suggesting that the earliest phase of the mill also incorporated a drying kiln.

Examples of bricks made by William Gradwell
(illustrated by John Godbert)