THE PERRAN FOUNDRY PERRANWORTHAL CORNWALL: AN HISTORICAL REPORT AND ASSESSMENT OF A LATE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY IRON FOUNDRY AND STEAM ENGINE MANUFACTORY
Author(s): Susie Barson
The Perran Foundry at Perranwarworthal, between Truro and Falmouth, was one of three substantial mining engineering concerns in Cornwall which flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the others being Harvey's and the Copperhouse foundries both at 1-layle on the north Cornish coast. These foundries supplied steam engine pumps and heavy iron machine parts to mines, waterworks and ironworks in many parts of the world. The Perran foundry, the most intact of the three, was established in 1791 by the Fox family of Falmouth, who were also lessees of the Neath Abbey blast furnaces in South Wales (which supplied top quality pig iron to the Cornish foundry). In 1858 the foundry fell under the control of the Williams family of nearby Gwennap who, between 1860 and 1865, rebuilt some of the older buildings and constructed new ones. The foundry closed in 1879 and from 1890 became part ofa milling enterprise, which continued until 1985. Proposals to redevelop the site in the 1990s came to nothing and it is at present unoccupied (summer 2002). It comprises a group of industrial sheds (certainly not 'Architecture' by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner's thmous definition) dating from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, some roofless and in a bad state of repair. The site includes the remains ofa leat system that provided water power to the forge. The site was thoroughly investigated by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit who produced a report in 1990. This present report must be seen as an historical appendix to the CAU report, the Conservation Plan prepared by John Lyall Architects and Alan Baxter Associates for Perran Foundry Ltd in 1998, as well as to the Conservation Statement prepared by Carrick District Council in April 2002. The site comprises a mixture of grade II and 11* listed buildings and the whole is listed on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk register. The Historical Analysis and Research Team, based at Savile Row, have been asked to provide historical information to inform the conservation of the site. Copies of the report have been deposited at the National Monuments Record Centre in Swindon, and in the English Heritage Library at Savile Row.
- Report Number:
- 144/2002
- Series:
- Other
- Pages:
- 70
- Keywords:
- Building Recording Conservation Architectural Investigation
