Clients included sculptors, engineers, builders, architects and district councils. Take a closer look at who was ordering ironwork from Coalbrookdale.
Beddoes Ironmongers, Ironbridge, c. 1900. [1983.1508]
Beddoes, a well-known ironmonger in Ironbridge, ordered many items from Coalbrookdale including lamp posts and columns. The ironmongers, situated only a mile away from the ironworks, would have been well acquainted with Coalbrookdale.
Within the order archive, the group that undertook the most ordering from Coalbrookdale was ironmongers. Ironmongers would not only order items as stock for their shops, but also order in specific items for their customers; ironmonger shops would often be home to iron foundry catalogues where customers could browse and chose items according to their taste.
Day, a prominent figure in the Arts & Crafts movement, ordered balusters from Coalbrookdale in 1904 for a house in Gordon Square, London. As a designer, it appears that he was keen for Coalbrookdale to make balusters similar to those that he had previously designed. An internal Coalbrookdale letter states,
Mr Day would like the pattern to be something like his design for railing…with not too much ornament. Will you please send us one or two rough sketches for his approval...
Coalbrookdale is known to have worked with many leading designers, including Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) and John Bell (1812-1895). Within the order archive are glimpses of these artists, sculptors and designers.
Lewis F. Day (1845-1910), designer, 1897.
List noting the quantities of castings supplied to Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd., 1904. [2022.16/O15]
In 1904 the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company ordered table and seat castings for dining saloon carriages. The castings were ornate and ran into an excess of 570 castings for four dining carriages.
The Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company was established in 1860. They made railway wagons and carriages, as well as horse-drawn vehicles, for both the home and international market.
Other ironwork ordered by railway companies include stoves ordered by Great Western Railway, and ventilation panels ordered by Bristol Wagon & Carriage Works Co. Ltd.
Much Coalbrookdale ironwork was sold in via their showrooms in London, Bristol and Liverpool. Several orders in the archive reflect this, with the acronym ‘L.S.R.’ (London Showroom) written at the top of draughtsmen drawings. The premises of the London showroom changed numerous times over the years, although most of the L.S.R. orders in the archive are from 141 Queen Victoria Street, Blackfriars, which was occupied by Coalbrookdale from c. 1899 to 1905.
Hand gate, pencil on tracing paper, Coalbrookdale Company, 1904. For the client J. Harris, Basingstoke, ordered via L.S.R (London Showroom). [2022.16/O148]
