More decorative Ironwork (II)
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Rochester 1974-75
The Roman Villa at Darenth
MORE DECORATIVE IRONWORK (II)
D. STEPHENSON, B.Sc., F.P.S.
In the previous paper with this title I some door knockers and some
boot scrapers, frequently seen in Kent, were described and illustrated.
More has been learned of these rapidly vanishing forms of
decorative ironwork and of the ironfoundries where they were
probably made. It is proposed to give brief notes of the companies
engaged in the trade, to describe their catalogues, where these are
available, and to discuss in detail some of the designs. The opportunity
will be taken to bring some of the other sections up to date,
and to refer to the use of cast iron in the design of simple memorials
in a village churchyard.
THE IRONFOUNDRIES
Reference was made to three early foundry companies, namely,
the Carron Company, the Coalbrookdale Company and the Falkirk
Ironworks, when discussing 'Balcony Railings in Kent'. 2
In the previous paper mention was made of the firm of A.C.
Ballantine and Sons Ltd., of New Grange Foundry in Bo'ness,
Scotland, which cast (along with many other things), railing bar
heads and standard heads, street name plates and boot scrapers but
not door knockers. 3 Passing reference was also made to Archibald
Kenrick and Sons Ltd., when describing knocker design no. 12.4 In
an interview in October, 1976, a director of the firm, Mr. Hugh
Kenrick, confirmed my previously held view that many ironfounders
copied each others' products by the simple process of buying a
' Arch. Cant., xcii, (1976), 73-104.
2 ibid., lxxxvi, (1971), 173-92.
3 ibid., xcii (1976), 88, 89, 91, 101, 102.
• ibid., xcii (1976), 97.
137
D. STEPHENSON
specimen, separating the parts and making patterns, or even using
the parts as patterns: "We all did it". All Kenrick's products were
marked with the name of the company and the catalogue number of
the article. If space was too restricted for the company's name to be
given in full the initials A.K.S. and the number were always used.
Mr. Kenrick had never seen one of their undoubted products which
did not carry this means of identification. The ironfoundry began to
close in 1959 with the threat of the coming of the M5 motorway.5
There were numerous other ironfoundries engaged in the hollowware
trade in the West Bromwich area. There was intense
competition between the different companies and prices were low.
There must have been enough capacity to cast all the door knockers
and other door furnishings needed to satisfy the demands of
ironmongers and builders' merchants throughout the entire country.
It seems extremely likely that all, or almost all, our Kentish door
knockers and many of our cast-iron boot scrapers would have been
made in the West Midlands.
One of the earliest and best known foundries in the area was that
of the House of Izons. This company was founded by John Izons
who was born in 1735 and died in 1814. He was working as a brass
founder in 1760. He entered into partnership with his brother-inlaw,
Thomas Whitehouse in 1763. A ledger of 1776 refers to brass
door knockers. In 1782, the firm bought the mill at West Bromwich,
'near coal pits at Wednesbury and also near a canal which was
available for the transport of raw material and the conveyance to all
parts of the manufactured articles. ' 6 In 1826, William Izons
dissolved the partnership with Whitehouse and the company became
Izons and Company. Subsequently, the firm absorbed a number of
• For a history of Archibald Kenrick and Sons, Limited, see R.A. Church,
Kenricks in Hardware - A Family Business 1791-1966, Newton Abbot, 1969.
It is of interest here to quote from p. 65 '7 COMPETITION Competition in the
cast-iron hollow-ware trade stemmed from the existence of many foundries which,
when the manufacture of hollow-ware seemed to offer higher than 'normal' profits,
could be applied to the production of these products without very great difficulty.
William Kenrick noted that it was a peculiarity of the chief houses in the hollow-ware
trade that they also made a great variety of articles of general ironmongery, such as
hinges, pulleys, coffee mills, smoothing irons, umbrella stands, door knockers,
latches, handles, scrapers, porters, and a large variety of miscellaneous articles
included in the trade term of 'oddwork'. The manufacture of some of these articles,
according to Kenrick, was in every instance the original business, to which that of
making hollow-ware had been added, the number of branches of manufacture having
increased with the age and standing of the firm.'
• The factory was still in use in 1949. For a history of the company see W.E.
Jephcott, The House of fr.ons, 1948.
138
MORE DECORATIVE IRONWORK
competing companies some of which were amongst the oldest in the
cast-iron hollow-ware trade. Examples are:
1. Hill Top Foundry Company Ltd. - makers of domestic cast
iron in West Bromwich since 1799.
2. T. and C. Clark and Co. Ltd., of Horsley Fields, Wolverhampton,
established in 1795.
3. Edward Pugh and Company, of Hall Green on the borders of
West Bromwich and Wednesbury.'
As a result of these acquisitions Izons and Company became the
largest manufacturers of cast-iron hollow-ware in the United
Kingdom. An enormous trade was done in rice bowls for India in
ten sizes; two hundred men were employed in making them.
William Bullock and Company, Spon Lane Iron Foundry, West
Bromwich was established in 1805 and made a wide range of iron
goods similar to that of Izons and Company.
William Cross and Sons, Ltd., was established in West Bromwich
in 1835.
THE CATALOGUES
Trade directories, which were issued by publishing companies in
the second half of the eighteenth century, appear to have served
merchants and manufacturers to advertise their wares up to the first
quarter of the nineteenth century. 8 The earliest catalogue I have
seen is that of the Carron Company printed in 1823-24 and now in
the Scottish Record Office. 9 10 It seems probable that some of the
copper engravers who had made the plates for illustrating the
directories would be called upon to illustrate the early catalogues. 11
Even before they were engraved the copper plates would be quite
expensive but when covered with, say, twelve designs of door
knockers or nine of boot scrapers they had become extremely
valuable to their owners. Because of the cost of new plates the
existing ones were re-used in subsequent issues of lists or catalogues
and new designs were included on fresh pages which were given the
7 To retain the trading associations of this and other companies, new companies
with somewhat similar names were registered and incorporated under the title of
'Cast Hollow-ware Limited'.
8 Arch. Cant., xcii (1976), 87.
• Scottish Record Office, reference G.D. 58 15/5.
'
0
Arch. Cant., lxxxvi (1971), 177-8.
11 The Carron Company catalogue of 1823/4 was printed by P. Simonau, a
lithographer in London.
139
D. S1EPHENSON
previous number plus a letter, when inserted into the new
catalogue. None of the catalogues to be described include balconies
or railings.
1. Izons and Company. This catalogue is undated; it has been said
to be of about 1820 date but, as the firm was still Izons and
Whitehouse until 1826 and as page 22B illustrates a door
knocker incorporating a letter flap, it is most probably a reprint,
made in the 1840s, of an earlier edition.
The frontispiece is a fine engraving which displays a view of the
West Bromwich Works at the bottom, a royal arms above, and
in between, in splendid 'copper plate', the addresses of the
company and a list of the large variety of articles made there in
cast iron.
There are ten pages of designs of door knockers and eighty-nine
designs of boot scrapers. 'Fhe knockers in the first few pages are
numbered in a 500 series with some examples from a 200 series.
This again indicates that there was an earlier list.
2. The only copies of the earliest catalogues of Archibald Kenrick
and Sons known are still in the possession of the company. •i
The West Bromwich Central Library, Reference Department,
has a copy of the catalogue of c. 1871. 13
3. William Bullock and Co. A large catalogue which is very like
that of lzons and Company, with a similarly wide range of
products. There are illustrations of 280 different designs of door
knockers (the largest number yet met with in any catalogue)
covering pages 47 to 59 inclusive and then 59A to 59J inclusive
but omitting 59!. This catalogue is also undated but clues to the
date of publication may be obtained from studying the designs
of the knockers. No. 356 on page 59 depicts a Victorian lady;
the garland of roses, thistle and shamrock suggests that the head
is intended to represent Queen Victoria; it closely resembles the
head in the hallmarks of 1838. The following pages bear a letter
- 59A et seq. - which indicates an extended catalogue printed
after 1838. Page 59B has, squeezed in at the bottom, three
letter-box plates. 'In 1838 the Secretary to the Post Office in
12 Mr. Hugh Kenrick kindly made me photo-copies of the door knockers, with
hand-written table:. of the frequency of occurrence of the different patterns in the
company's catalogues. These and many other pages from the company's catalogues
have now been reproduced in a small volume by Michael Owen, Antique Cast Iron,
Poole, 1977.
13 Copies of the other catalogues mentioned were seen at the Reference
Department of the West Bromwich Central Library.
140
MORE DECORATIVE IRONWORK
Scotland told the Select Committee on Postage that "nearer two
thirds than one-half the time ( taken to deliver letters) might be
saved ... were letter boxes ... to be provided for the hall doors
of the principal houses. . ." . It was not until May 1849,
however, that it was decided to issue a notice to the public
appealing to them to provide "street door letter boxes, or slits,
in private dwelling houses" ...' 14 One would not expect an
enterprising producer of door knockers to miss the importance
of the message from the Secretary to the Post Office in
Scotland. It seems unlikely that the firm would have waited
until the public appeal before making letter-boxes available or
incorporating letter flaps into door-knocker designs.
The last page of door knockers in the Izons catalogue, which is
only partially filled, has as its penultimate design a knocker with
an upright letter flap. These considerations lead to the
conclusion that both these catalogues were printed in the 1840s,
the Izons antedating the Bullock one.
4. William Cross and Son, Ltd. This is a late catalogue printed in
blue ink on glossy paper. It illustrates 54 patterns of door
knockers; there are some 'special registered designs' which are
very elaborate and in some of which the word letters on the flaps
is split into groups of two or three letters. Letter plates and
'postal handles' are also featured. The latter consists of a heavy
letter plate with a horizontal handle fastened on each side of the
letter flap. The handle would presumably be intended to serve
the function of a door knob.
5. T. and C. Clark and Co. Ltd. A late catalogue of 'domestic
ironmongery' which contains no door knockers, two pages of
boot scrapers and an electric iron!
THE DESIGNS
DOOR KNOCKERS. The notes describing designs of door knockers in
Kent, given in the previous paper, 15 will first be amplified where
possible using the original numbers and then further designs will be
described.
Design no. 1. This is a classical design and examples may be seen
in the collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
14 Jean Young Farrugia, The Letter Box -A History of Post Office Pillar and Wall
Boxes 1969, Fontwell, Sussex.
15 Arch. Cant., xcii (1976), 92-8.
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