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winfield brass works

Astoness

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
hi all...i wonder if i can have a search please to see what the earliest date the winfield brass works was entered in kellys...and also the latest date it was entered in kellys...as some of you know its the site of the recent excavation going on in the city centre...

many thanks...

lyn:)
 
thanks chris...im just trying to work out how long them blue bricks have been there...guess it may be an idea to find out as well when thomas walker was born as he invented them...:)
 
looking again i think the 1821 was just cambridge st. and in 1823 there is mention of cambridge st and new street bham
 
hi chris its the cambridge st one...so it was there far back as 1821 then...thats even longer than i thought..ive googled thomas walker but cant come up with anything as yet..will perservere though...:)
 
robert winfield began a brass working business on the north side of cambridge st. in 1820`s which expanded rapidly so he acquired the new site in 1830`s. in mid nineteenth century winfields cambridge street works was one of the largest, if not the largest brass works in birmingham due to manufacture of the brass bedstead. end of nineteenth century winfields cambridge st. works went into receivership.
 
thank for the info chris...i still cant find owt on thomas walker like we can try and work out how long those bricks have been there..silly me i should have asked wendy to look on his headstone today to see when he was born which would have least given us a rough idea...

lyn:)
 
I have been doing a little research on a family named Walton at Key Hill Cemetery. The memorial is a lovely lady and has just been reinstated after lying on the ground for several years. The grave contains Edward Walton, Isabella Heath and their father Joseph Walton. In his obituary of 1853 it states he was for 30 years a respected confidential clerk of Messrs Winfield of Cumberland Street. I wonder if this is a mistake and should read Cambridge Street?
 
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Have had a look at the directories, and, although there are a few other Winfields, I can see no sign of any Winfield in Cumberland St, so i think you are correct in assuming it is a missprint. Incidently found this advert in the 1839 directory
mike

winfield2520ad25201839.JPG
 
Thanks Mike I thought it may have been a mistake. That's fine I can put it right on the document now. The advert is great thanks:)
 
According to the book 'Powering Forward' by W.Robert Taylor,the firm of R.W.Winfield teamed up with Crompton & Co. to provide some of the first electric lighting in Birmingham,for the Triennial Music Festival of 1882 .
Crompton's generator was coupled up to a 30 year steam engine at the Cambridge St works,and cables were run some 500 yards underground the the Town Hall.
Apparently the trial was quite successful.Winfields and Cromptons issued circulars to the musicians attending the festival to canvas their opinions on the new electric lighting compared with the gas lighting which had been used in earlier years.
One reply read: "Of great service to the choir,not one single case of fainting,which has not been the case at previous Festivals".
 
Whilst looking up brassfounders in a Showell’s directory I came across this description of a chandelier made in Birmingham. I think it is the one in the photo from the details given about the figures. It is in one of the rooms at Osbourne House.
 

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