INDUSTRIES 



done at Perran Foundry was a gudgeon for the 

 beam of the 85-inch pumping engine for Tresa- 

 vean mine. At this time, about the year 1828 

 or 1830, the firm began to make heavy castings. 



The foundry gradually grew in size and im- 

 portance. A notable development occurred 

 when the machinery for the Haarlem Lake 

 Drainage and the East London Waterworks 

 was made, about the year 1842. A Mr. Bow- 

 man of London was then the manager, having 

 succeeded Mr. Benjamin Sampson. 



The boiler-building works originally located at 

 Devoran were removed to Modling, near Pon- 

 sanooth, about the year 1860. The company 

 made their own gas and supplied private houses 

 at the wharf. They were fortunate in having a 

 good supply of water, which in dry summers was 

 supplemented by steam-power. 



The greatest number of persons employed at 

 any time was about 400. 



When, in the year 1870, nine years previously, 

 the extensive mines in the parish of Gwennap, 

 which drew nearly the whole of their machinery 

 supplies from Perran and sent thither all their 

 breakages, and other mines were closed, it was 

 generally felt that a serious blow had befallen 

 these works. On such a gigantic scale were the 

 Clifford Amalgamated Mines carried on, with 

 nearly a score of large engines at work, and with 

 an enormous quantity of pitwork, that, with the 

 other Gwennap mines, they were well-nigh suffi- 

 cient to keep a moderate sized foundry running. 



In the death of Mr. William Shilson on 28 

 March, 1875, the company lost a far-seeing and 

 able financier. Whilst sharing with the Hayle 

 Foundry the misfortune of a decaying home 

 market and keen competition in this and foreign 

 countries, and other untoward circumstances, the 

 perhaps inevitable close was precipitated by the 

 death of Sir F. M. Williams on 3 September, 

 1878; and the failure in the same year of 

 the well-known banking firm of Tweedy, 

 Williams & Co. sealed the fate of Perran 

 Foundry, which ceased working in March, 1879. 

 When the foundry was closed the Tuckingmill 

 Foundry Company took over the lease and 

 carried on the business in a small way, under 

 Mr. James Edwards' management ; but not suc- 

 ceeding, after two years they disposed of the 

 lease to Messrs. W. H. & T. P. Edwards, who, 

 under the name of Edwards Brothers, adapted 

 the premises to their requirements, and do an ex- 

 tensive milling and corn business, and employ a 

 great many men. The works are now known 

 as Perran Mills. 



The St. Blazey Foundry was built by Mr. 

 William West in the year 1848. Mr. 

 West had a long and distinguished career as 

 a mining engineer of nearly half a century 

 1831 to 1879. As an engineer Mr. West was 

 much sought after, and carried out some of the 

 most important works in the county and else- 

 where. His most noteworthy achievements 



were the erection of a steam capstan at South 

 Hue Mine about the year 1835, the first of its 

 kind ever put up, and the erection, with Mr. 

 William Petherick, of the famous Austen's 

 engine at Fowey Consols, which later played a 

 most important part in the history of the Cornish 

 engine. The demands made upon Mr. West 

 were very numerous. It is stated that he could 

 not get his orders carried out with sufficient dis- 

 patch and to his satisfaction. He therefore 

 decided, in the year named, to start a foundry of 

 his own. 



The manufactures included mining machinery 

 of all kinds, machinery for smelting works, water- 

 works, and railways. Although not of a mag- 

 nitude comparable with the Hayle and Perran 

 foundries, and employing not more than about 

 sixty persons, many important undertakings for 

 home and foreign mines were successfully carried 

 out. Several Cornish mines, particularly in the 

 middle and eastern parts of the county, were 

 supplied with pumping and other engines, pit- 

 work, and general machinery. Mines in other 

 parts of the country placed orders for important 

 engines with Mr. West, notably the Rhymney 

 Iron Company, in 1865, who were supplied 

 with a 7O-inch pumping engine and pitwork. 

 Orders for engines of very large size beyond 

 60 or 70 inch cylinders were passed on to the 

 larger foundries at Hayle and Perran. 



Some important contracts outside the ordinary 

 scope of founders were successfully carried out, 

 including the construction of the Newquay and 

 Cornwall Junction Railway, begun in 1865, and 

 in 1867 the Bodmin and Camborne Water- 

 works respectively were supplied with the 

 necessary pumping plant. In conjunction with 

 Mr. Darlington, Mr. West patented, in 1867, 

 a method of working mines by a combination of 

 steam-power and hydraulic apparatus. Many 

 years earlier Mr. West invented the well-known 

 valve for pumps, known as Harvey and West's 

 double-beat valve, patented 12 June, 1839. 



Mr. West died on 16 June, 1879, in his 

 78th year. The business was carried on by his 

 sons William and Charles West, who were 

 in partnership with their father under the name 

 of William West & Sons. The death of the 

 head of the firm, followed so quickly by that of 

 one of the sons, was a great blow to the business. 

 The circumstances named as exemplary of the 

 decline of the Hayle and Perran foundries are 

 equally applicable to this foundry, which was 

 closed in December, 1891. 



It is worthy of remark that Mr. West 

 amassed a considerable fortune by his mining in- 

 vestments and his engineering business. His 

 adventurous courage in resuscitating single-handed 

 Phoenix Mine, which he worked with great 

 vigour, will be long remembered. Employment 

 was given to a large number of persons, and in 

 other ways the enterprise was a great benefit to 

 the neighbourhood. 



573 



