Wilden Ironworks

TheWilden Ironworkswas anironworksinWilden,Worcestershire,England. It operated for many years and was acquired by the Baldwin family, ancestors of British Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin.

Wilden Mill

Wilden was part of thedemesneof theBishop of Worcester'smanorofHartlebury.A mill was built on theRiver Stourin 1511 by William Baylly, afuller.It was thus presumably afulling mill.

Foley Ironworks

In 1647, it was referred to as having (or rather having had) six walk stocks and two cornmills.In fact, in about 1633, it had been converted to include aslitting mill.This was bought byRichard Foley,who subsequently gave it to his sonThomas.In 1647, he built afinery forgethere, and when his eldest son another Thomas renewed the lease in 1685, it was described as having a slitting mill and twoforges.

This was one of a number of ironworks in the lowerStourvalley that depended onpig ironbrought up theRiver Severnfrom theForest of Deanand elsewhere. It producedbar ironand wrought iron for manufacture into finishedirongoods, such asnails,in theBlack Country.

Operation of the ironworks passed in 1669 with the rest of the older Thomas's Midlands ironworks to his youngest sonPhilip Foley,and he operated them until 1679, when he arranged for his brother to lease the works to Richard Avenant andJohn Wheeler,who had been his managers. They ran them until 1692 when a new partnership, 'Ironworks in Partnership', was formed betweenPhilip Foley,his brotherPaul,Avenant, Wheeler, and Wheeler's brother Richard, withJohn Wheeleras managing partner. Richard withdrew in 1698, taking over certain other ironworks on his own. In 1705, the partnership gave up its last ironworks in the Midlands, whenWilliam Reaof a new partnership.

An estate enterprise

The forge lease was transferred to Richard Knight ofBringewoodfor its final years. When it expired in 1708, the landlord used it himself. He was the thirdThomas FoleyofGreat Witley,who was in 1712 createdLord Foleyto enableRobert Harleyto have a majority in theHouse of Lords.His sonThomas 2nd Lord Foleyoperated it until his death in 1766, when it passed with the rest of theGreat Witleyestates to his distant cousin (descended fromPaul Foley),Thomas Foleyof Stoke Edith, who was createdLord Foleyin 1776, the year before he died.

Blaenavon link

Lord Foley probably leased the forge to Thomas Hill & Co. from Michaelmas 1776. In 1789, this firm leasedcoalandironstonemines atBlaenavoninMonmouthshire,and builtBlaenavon Ironworks,from which they presumably supplied pig iron to Wilden Forge. At that time, the firm comprised Thomas Hill of Stourbridge, Thomas Hopkins of Canckwood Forge nearRugeley,and Benjamin Pratt ofGreat Witley.Thomas Hill & Co. remained tenants until 1825, but by 1820 the works were in a distinct partnership from Blaenavon consisting of Thomas Hill and Thomas Barnet. In 1826 Henry Turner became tenant and was still in occupation in 1837, but became insane the following year. W. T. Lewty was in business there in 1840.

Baldwins and after

The works were acquired by E., P. & W. Baldwin, who had previously had an ironfoundryatStourport.In 1870,Alfred Baldwinbought out his relatives to become the sole proprietor of the firm, but continued to trade under the old name. In 1888 he brought his 21-year-old sonStanley Baldwin,who would later becomePrime Minister of the United Kingdom,into the business. The firm was incorporated as E. P. & W. Baldwin Ltd in 1898, and gradually acquired othertinplateworks, mainly in South Wales. Eventually in 1948, it amalgamated with Richard Thomas & Co., to form Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd. They decided to close the Wilden Works (by then a tinplate works), declaring the workforce, many of whom lived in the village of Wilden redundant. The works were acquired in 1964 by Wilden Industrial Estates Ltd, and it became an industrial estate, which it remains today.

Transport links

The works had the benefit of unusual transport link. There are the remains of a lock at Pratt's Wharf (miss-named Platts Wharf by the Ordnance Survey) on theStaffordshire and Worcestershire Canal,connecting the canal with the river, enabling canalbargesto use theRiver Stourto deliver goods to the works. The wharf was built by Isaac Pratt from Henwick, Worcester in 1835. He is described as businessman and merchant. It was chiefly used to carry timber to a steam saw-mill in Wilden. Later it was used to transport coal and iron to the Wilden Works. There were two houses at Pratt's Wharf, one occupied by a lock keeper and the other by a clerk. The link was closed c1950.

Further reading

• B. L. C. Johnson, 'The Stour valley iron industry in the late seventeenth century' ''Trans. Worcs. Arch. Soc.N.S., 27 (1950), 35-46; 'The charcoal iron industry in the early eighteenth century'Geographic J.117 (1951), 167-177; 'The Foley partnerships: The iron industry at the end of the charcoal era'Econ. Hist Rev.Ser. II, 4 (1952), 322-40.
• R. G. Schafer, 'Genesis and structure of the Foley "" Ironworks In Partnership "" of 1692'Business Hist.13(1) (1971), 19-38;A selection from the records of Philip Foley's Stour valley iron works 1668-74(Worcs. Hist. Soc., n.s., 9, 1978 and 13, 1990).
• H. W. Gwilliam, 'Forges, Furnaces, and mills on the river Stour' (Typescript. 2 vols. 1984: copies in Kidderminster and other Worcestershire libraries).
• Keith Middlemasand John Barnes,Baldwin: a biography(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1969).
• E. H. Brooke,Chronology of the tinplate industry of Great Britainwith 1949 appendix (Cardiff 1944 & 1949).

See also

• Thomas Foley (1616–1677)
• Philip Foley
• George Pearce Baldwin
• Alfred Baldwin
• Stanley Baldwin

Note

The basis for this article includes unpublished sources, including certain Worcester Episcopal archives in Worcestershire Record Office; archives of Earl Baldwin (by his kind permission) also there; and those of the Foley family (also by permission) in Herefordshire Record Offices.

External links

• Wilden Estates history page