John Grundy the Cathedral Heating Engineer

Ely Cathedral Heating System

 Here's a Gurney Stove which I remember seeing many years  ago in Ely Cathedral. On a freezing winter's day the Cambridgeshire Fens are a dire place to be, but this stove was managing to keep the cathedral well above freezing by churning out heat to warm the worshippers. I've seen similar stoves in other cathedrals including that at Chester. This huge apparatus, weighing a few tons I should imagine, was designed and patented by a Cornish gentleman with the colourful name of Goldsworthy Gurney. Gurney was a prolific inventor and developed steam engines, lighthouse lamps and steam jets for cleaning sewers. He also came up with the idea of the incandescent calcium light which was a form of stage lighting used in the 19th century known as limelight, actors on stage were thus 'in the limelight' and this phrase then became used to describe the state of being in the centre of public attention.

But you might think back to the title of this post and wonder why I used John Grundy's name and not Gurney's. Well John Grundy was a Lancashire engineer who developed the Gurney heater to a more sophisticated level by combining it with a heat distribution system which circulated air around large indoor spaces such as cathedrals and other public buildings. Even the cathedral in Stanley in the Falklands Islands was heated with a Grundy system. So a true forerunner to some of the warm air central heating we have today, in particular Grundy highlighted the cleanliness of his approach focussing on the 'pure warm air' provided to the congregation.

Prestatyn, December 2022

And how was it that I started to become an expert on 19th century cathedral heating? By looking down at grids of course. I spotted this roadside drain outside our local post office recently and wondered who Grundy was. The Grundy family of Tydesley, Lancashire were the proprietors  of a very successful foundry and ironworks. John Grundy senior was reportedly unhappy about being chilled to the bone during Sunday services in his local chapel that he (perhaps during sermons) devised his warm air plan and persuaded his local preacher to let him install one. The company grew and the family opened premises in London, John Grundy junior prospered and even became the first president of the Institute of Heating and Ventilation Engineers. The company probably produced grids and manhole covers as a sideline before Sunday breakfast.

Gridlock

     
Here's an interesting photo from Jacmel a thriving city in Haiti in the West Indies, it's the inscription on the side of a beam engine which was used for pumping water and was manufactured at the Haigh Ironworks in the Wigan area. This was a real heavy duty foundry making locomotives, swing bridges for Hull Docks and pumping engines, the famous Great Laxey Wheel on the Isle of Man was reputed to have also been made there but more recent evidence points to Ellesmere Port as having been the source of the largest waterwheel in the world.  

Gronant, Flintshire, February 2023

And now the connection with North Wales......Haigh Foundry was responsible for making a large number of engines and other for the coal industry along the coast east of Prestatyn including a pump engine weighing 30 tons which was made for the Mostyn Colliery in Flintshire.In addition a huge Cornish Style Beam engine was manufactured for Talacre Colliery and, just a mile or three away whilst looking down at the roadside at Gronant,  I spotted this grid from Central Foundry, Wigan, the FCC evidently refers to Flintshire County Council. Drains like these at the side of roads exist all over the world, clearly their function is to help water to clear from roads but the different designs reflect slightly different characteristics the chief of which is to avoid blockages by leaf litter and other detritus. This particular drain is located on a straight stretch of road however this next one is on a slight downward curve in the road hence the swept design. Dudley Dowell's name appears on drains and manhole covers all over the place. They were based at Cradley Heath in Staffordshire - watch this blog for more on Dudley Dowell, the prolific Black Country ironfounders!

Dudley Dowell, Prestatyn, January 2023

Misterton is a small village in Nottinghamshire, however its postal address is Doncaster Yorkshire. It's  places like these that confuse visitors and inhabitants alike. Are they Tykes? Which football team do they support? Etc? According to old records Misterton Castings were based in Doncaster. Do they still exist? Questions, questions?

Kesteven Castings were in Caythorpe, Lincolnshire - not an especially remarkable village apart from the fact that the head office of MENSA International is located there - drains for brains!

Ripley, Derbyshire, October 2022

This grid has Tweeed and Norinco written on it - I've looked and looked and can't find anything to indicate who made it or where it's made. It's got some handy non-slip studs on it though - useful here as the road is part of a parking space outside a junior school in Prestatyn.

Prestatyn, January 2023

John Needham - the drain cover tycoon

Bridgnorth, Shropshire, 2022

 Having lived in the vicinity of Stockport for a number of years I was quite used to seeing grids and manhole covers staring up at me with the words Needham and Stockport prominently displayed on them. Not that I walked round with my nose pointing down, it was just something that I saw without really noticing. But then as I travelled further afield I gradually noticed that Needham's street ironmongery was present in all sorts of far flung places. Here's a fairly old example from Bridgnorth in Shropshire where you'd really expect them to have their own foundries creating local drain covers. But no Needhams were obviously one of the market leaders and they were in the business of making and designing a whole range of very necessary street furniture capable of standing up to increasingly heavy traffic over the years.

Something is still there

John Needham set up his first foundry in the centre of Stockport in 1834. Business boomed and the family firm prospered such that a new foundry was established on the edge of town at Romiley Street which traded until 1979 when it was bought out. Some of the factory buildings still exist but it all looks a bit grim so rather than a photo I've posted a nice coloured drawing of the site as it stands today. I used to walk past here on the odd pub crawl years ago but I don't remember a furnace or foundry. Nevertheless all sorts of drain designs can be found all over the country. 

Prestatyn, Denbighshire, January 2023

Here's a Needham's cover I spotted in Prestatyn yesterday. It's a double triangle design which is more stable than a straightforward square cover. You can imagine that over time on uneven roads and as grit gets stuck between the seals that manhole covers can get quite wobbly and noisy. In fact drain cover design is quite a complex subject as Needham must have realised early on. Covers over sewage drains need to be airtight, other covers need to be lockable to prevent unauthorised access or theft and, where fast flowing water needs to be drained effectively grids, etc., need to be capable of collecting large volumes of water rapidly. Round covers have the advantage that they can't fall in the hole, they're easier to manoeuvre as they can be rolled along the ground and they don't have to be aligned in a specific direction.

So Needham's foundry is not in business any longer having closed down over 40 years ago. Another much bigger foundry which was just a couple or so miles away was Exors of James Mills in Bredbury, once the largest manufacturer of bright steel outside the USA.  The vast complex, known as Bredbury Steel Works, was the employer of thousands of local workers but closed down in the 1980's. Part of the reason I've mentioned this is that I worked at Bredbury Steel in the late 1960's