INDUSTRIES 



in Yield Hall Lane, Minster Street, an old- 

 established business which was in existence at 

 the beginning of the century. 



At the town of Wallingford there are 

 the Wallingford Ironworks, the property of 

 Messrs. R. J. & H. Wilder, whose ancestor Mr. 

 Leonard Wilder was engaged in the business 

 in 1830, as we have already mentioned. 



At Newbury Messrs. Turk & Son carry on 

 the work of iron and brass founders, and are 

 chiefly engaged in the manufacture of agri- 

 cultural implements. 



Wantage has been important in recent years 

 as the seat of a large engineering works. In 

 1847 a foundry was started by Mr. Charles 

 Hart, which has attained to more than local 

 importance. He very quickly established 

 a wide reputation for two specialities, ' the 

 Berkshire Plough ' and a threshing machine. 

 After ten years Mr. Hart disposed of the 

 business to Messrs. P. & H. P. Gibbons, who 

 carried on the works for thirty-one years. 



For some years the business was carried on 

 by Messrs. Robinson & Auden, and upon 

 their retirement Lord Wantage of Lockinge, 

 out of consideration for the benefit of the 

 town, took over the works, and carried them 

 on under the title of the ' Wantage En- 

 gineering Company, Limited.' Lord Wantage 

 greatly improved the works by adding new 

 and convenient buildings, increasing the size 

 and capacity of those already in existence, and 

 fitting up the whole with improved machinery. 



In the neighbourhood of Wantage at 

 Challow there are the engineering works of 

 Messrs. Nalder & Nalder, Limited, founded 

 by Mr. Thomas Nalder. The firm is mainly 

 engaged in the manufacture of agricultural 

 implements. 



At Maidenhead Mr. Charles Batting (late 

 Batting & Son) has an iron and brass foundry, 

 founded in 1820, which forms the principal 

 industry of its kind in the town and neighbour- 

 hood. About fifteen years ago he acquired 



the works of Messrs. Bulstrode & Rogers. Mr. 

 Batting is an engineer and mill furnisher and 

 agricultural implements and machine maker, 

 and was employed in the construction of 

 eleven of the bridges spanning the Great 

 Western Railway, erected recently during 

 the widening of the line. New works were 

 erected in 1904. 



The works of Messrs. H. Gibbons & Sons, 

 Hungerford, were established in 1814 by Mr. 

 Richard Gibbons, grandfather of the present 

 head of the firm, and carried on in Bridge 

 Street just below the Canal Bridge until 1840, 

 when they were removed to Charnham Street. 

 In 1869 the works were considerably enlarged. 

 Messrs. Gibbons & Sons are contractors to the 

 India Office, and are the patentees and manu- 

 facturers of moulding machines for making 

 moulds used in casting metals. They produce 

 also several kinds of similar machines, lawn- 

 mower grinders, deep well machinery, agri- 

 cultural machinery and ploughs. 



Messrs. Cottrell, Rose & Co., Limited, of 

 the Eddington Iron and Wagon Works, carry 

 on the business of agricultural, mechanical, 

 electrical and horticultural engineers, and are 

 the manufacturers of all kinds of implements 

 used in the industry of farming. The im- 

 proved patent " Climax " folding elevator for 

 stacking hay or corn is a speciality of the firm. 



At Abingdon Messrs. Benjamin Ballard & 

 Son have a foundry. Nor is the industry 

 limited to the principal towns in the county. 

 Some of the smaller villages have useful 

 establishments which serve the needs of an 

 agricultural population, supply implements 

 used in farming, and are able to execute the 

 necessary repairs. Amongst these are the 

 White Well Ironworks at Compton, the 

 property of Messrs. Thomas Baker & Sons, the 

 ironworks at Bucklebury owned by Messrs. 

 Hedges & Son, Messrs. Smith & Sons at 

 Steventon, and Mr. Henry Smith at Rus- 

 combe. 



BOAT-BUILDING 



Boat-building was extensively carried on 

 in Berkshire in former days when the Thames 

 was the great highway for goods traffic from 

 London to Windsor, Reading, Abingdon, 

 Wallingford and Newbury. The industry 

 can certainly claim a very respectable anti- 

 quity, inasmuch as the same river which 

 now affords a pleasing pastime for holiday- 

 folk, with ' Youth on the prow and Pleasure 

 at the helm,' was once traversed by the barges 

 of the watermen in mediaeval and later times. 



385 



Modern requirements have greatly increased 

 the trade. The fashionable house-boat, the 

 racing craft, the steam and electric launch, 

 the ordinary pleasure boat, are much sought 

 after by the public, and in recent years many 

 boat-building yards have sprung up along the 

 banks of the Thames, where a large number 

 of these crafts are constructed. No small 

 proportion of the boats which assemble each 

 year at Henley Regatta are made in the numer- 

 ous workshops which line the Berkshire side 



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