Looking from the Anchor pub directly across Sweetbriar St. Tartaglia’s Ice Cream parlour was on the left of the Foundry and Foundry Row was on the right.
Known locally as ‘The Foundry’ it did in fact consist of three Iron founders, namely Alfred Danks, who made farm equipment. John Michael Butt, who made Pillar boxes, Storm Drain and cellar covers, Rainwater pipes etc and Railway rolling stock and finally Barrons who made screw worms and later a variety of components for the car industry as well. They also supplied Fielding and Platt with various parts for their presses.
Very little was known of Alfred Danks until he took over J. M. Butt’s firm in 1919 but continued to trade under the Butt name in Sweetbriar St. and they also had a foundry in Market Parade.
It would appear that the Danks/Butt firm relinquished the Sweetbriar St. site in or about 1922/23 but maintained premises in Market Parade, trading as JM Butt ( Danks Ltd)
Perhaps the takeover in 1919 was influenced by the ending of the First World War with the loss of so many men plus maybe a need for re-training and modernization and a smaller location in Market Parade or the Emlyn Works in Alfred St.
In May 2006, I walked around the Gloucester Cathedral and with the assistance of my wife Jean we found 9 storm drain covers within the grounds and a further 4 in Henry Rd and 21 others in various streets of Gloucester. They were all made by the JM Butt foundry in Sweetbriar St. Clapham Kingsholm. They must be about 80 to 100 years old and all of them are still in use.
A list of their locations are printed below:-
Cathedral Grounds.........9
Henry Road.....................4
Honyatt Road..................4
Alexandra Road..............1
Heathville Road.............11
North Road.......................1
Deans Walk......................4
Vicarage Rd ....................5
Massey Rd.......................6
Adelaide St......................4
Hatfield Rd.......................6
Tredworth Rd..................32
Hyde Lane.......................2
Royal Lane......................1
This makes a total of 90 working drain covers that were made in Sweetbriar St. Clapham Kingsholm by John Michael Butt’s foundry which was taken over in 1919 by Alfred Danks who carried on trading with the name and the tradition of JM Butt. It would seem that Alfred Danks and John Michael Butt were major players on the scene in Clapham in their time and their legacy lingers on to this day.
We must not forget of course to mention Barrons Engineering who also occupied the Sweetbriar St. site and who also had pattern buildings in Columbia St. and Council St. and as we have found no evidence to the contrary we assume that they too ( Barrons ) originated on the Sweetbriar St. site. Although they eventually diversified to a greater extent than the two other firms and went on to outlast them, they do not appear to have produced such characters as Alfred Danks or JM Butt in their work history.
They did however run a successful business for many years in Gloucester. Their last known premises were in Bristol Rd. Gloucester.
The Kingsholm Primary School now occupies a part of the old Foundry site.
From a sewer drain cover in the playground of the school, one can work out exactly where the crossroads of Council and Worrell St. were in relationship to the school. This sewer drain cover was made by the Coleford firm of George Young that was closed down a great many years ago.
We would be grateful for any information about any aspect of the above that anyone would like to share with us, such as dates etc. You can find how to contact us on our Contact & Comments button on our first page.
Fred Maysey. May 2006.
Formerly of Sherbourne St.
Searching through scant records of Clapham, Kingsholm, Fred Maysey has discovered another
Foundry Works within the area of Clapham.
The name of the Foundry was H. S. Crump and was situated on or near the site of the Records
Office and was listed in 1909 as Alvin Street Iron Works, Corrugated Manufacturer.
A pair of wrought iron gates made by H. S. Crump can still be seen today in full working order
situated on the front of the Cemetery in Tredworth Road Gloucester.
Bigger photos can be seen in the Photo Section.
Inside the Cemetery there are a number of drain covers made by John Butt of Sweetbriar
Street Clapham and the gates themselves were made by H.S. Crump of Alvin Street and
both were made at roughly the same time which was one hundred years ago. The drain cover
in the main road outside the Cemetery was also made by John Butt of Sweetbriar Street.
It would seem that the Gloucester City Council had a bargain from both of the Ironworks
operating from within Clapham at that time. The items purchased from these Ironworks has
lasted one hundred years and are still going strong.
Henry Smith Crump`s property fronted onto London Road adjacent to the Railway Bridge
and the Arches. The Ironworks ran all the way down to about half way down Alvin Street
running along side the back gardens of the Alvin Street houses. A builders yard then
continue on to Clarence Row. This is shown on the 1902 Ordnance Survey Map.
H. S. C. applied for a right of way to be granted to him to go from the builders yard to
Clarence Row.
The application for this was dated June 1909.
Henry Smith Crump owned several properties in Alvin Street from numbers 47 to 51. So it
would seem that he owned property that later became a Fish & Chip shop ( Cromwells )
and also a shop on the other side of Clarence Row which later became Florrie Redburns
shop.
The Ironworks must have occupied most of the land that later became the Kingsholm School
and later still became the Records Office.
It would be interesting to be able to find the plans or any drawings or sketches of this
property because we think that it well may have stretched as far back as nearly to the
Arches.
Henry Smith Crump ( born 1847 died 1927 ).
Alvin Iron Works Gloucester
The Iron Works ran adjacent to Alvin St. from London Rd. to what is the County Archives
Offices in Alvin St.
Crump produced wrought iron cattle and calf cribs, sheep racks and troughs, wheel
barrows, water butts, sack trucks,tanks, cisterns, field and entrance gates, tomb
railings, iron hurdles, fencing and corrugated iron roofs.
The front gate to the cemetry grounds in Tredworth Rd. were cast by Henry Smith
Crump in 1900.
He is buried in St. Lawrence Church graveyard with his wife Ann Martin Crump
Church Lane, Barnwood.
A fitting reminder to the great Ironmasters of Clapham Kingsholm namely John
Michael Butt, Alfred Danks, Barrons and of course Henry Smith Crump.
Henry Smith Crump's shop was actually behind the lamp post in the picture above.
More Covers that were made in Clapham at the turn of the century.
