Employment and Industries

FIRECLAY and BRICKS

The Bricks of Bathville and Armadale: the Atlas, the Muir of Armadale, the Barbauchlaw, the Boghead and the Etna

MARK

ATLAS

ATLAS GB

ATLAS STIRLING

CRATER GB

ETNA

ETNA GB

BAR-LAW

MUIR

MUIR ARMADALE

BOGHEAD

BOGHEAD Glasgow

CRAIGRIGG

MAKER

Atlas Firebrick Works

Atlas / Etna Works

Etna Brickworks

Barbachlaw Brickworks

Barbauchlaw Brickworks

Boghead Fireclay Works

Craigrigg Works Westfield

PRODUCTION PERIOD

1882 - 1973

1882 1973

1882 - 1973

1880/1890 - 1970s

c1890 - 1947

c1890 - 1960

1897 - 1947

c1889 - 1930

1889 - 1922

c1938 - 1950s

Photos from Armadale's Brickmaking past at Almond Valley Heritage Centre, Livingston

A description of the processes involved in brickmaking in Armadale

Caradale Bricks Ltd on the Etna Brickworks * site, Lower Bathville

Snippets from the History of Bathville Brickmaking

1797: The area of lands and estate called Harestanes was part of the Hopetoun Estate until it was sold to William Davidson who changed the name to Bathville.

1859: Bathville's industry began with a background of coalmining. John Watson of Glasgow bought the Bathville site for about £10,500 and constructed a brickworks, which would use the fireclay that was being mined with the coal.

1862: There were 6 Bathville cottages which were termed 'Etna Cottages'.

1868: By this year, there was a firebricks works, pits, clay mines and an oil works.

1871: James Wood, a coalmaster from Paisley, started operating in the Bathville area.

1874: Although Watson's company became one of Lanarkshire's largest coalmasters, financial problems forced it to sell the Bathville brickworks to James Wood.

1893 - 1894: James and William Wood formed James Wood Ltd to take over the interests in Drumpellier, Meiklehill, Neilston and Westrigg collieries together with Etna and Atlas Brickworks (Bathville Brickworks).

1895: James and William Wood had financial problems which caused their estates to be sequestered.

1897: On recovery and armed with capital of £6,000, they joined with Daniel Robertson, a firebrick manufacturer at Bathgate, to incorporate Robertson, Love and Co Ltd.

1898: Nine collieries were amalgamated under United Collieries Ltd.

c1900: Robertson, Love and Co Ltd's sales catalogue (at the top of this page) has a picture showing the site with two large groups of buildings as well as four railway sidings. The gases from a number of beehive kilns as well as the three continuous Hoffman kilns were drawn off by six large and four smaller chimneys.

1902 - 4: Twenty-three more collieries, including James Wood Ltd and Robertson, Love and Co Ltd brickworks subsidiary, were included under United Collieries Ltd producing a capital total of £2 million.

1916: Although Robertson, Love and Co Ltd was liquidated, its firebricks manufacture continued under the United Collieries Ltd banner.

1947: When the coal industry was nationalised, the brickworks were reformed under the title of United Fireclay Products Ltd, thereby including: Armadale: Atlas and Etna Firebrick Works, Bathville Pipe Works, UNICOL Tile Works; Clelland, Lanarkshire: Brownhill building brickworks.

Chief refractory brands, all based on local fireclays: Atlas (38% alumina); Atlas A (42% alumina); Etna (33% alumina). Although Stoneyburn's Bents Mine produced a good fireclay (42% alumina), it was worked out and closed by 1929, afterwards being replaced by the Drum Mine at East Whitburn. Northrigg No7 pit supplied coal and fireclay for pipes, but was replaced by Pottishaw Mine in 1963, while the Tippethill Mine (38% alumina, 2.5% iron) replaced the Drum Mine in 1960.

1934 - 1970: No 1 and No 2 Pipeworks*: made glazed sewerage pipes, traps and connections; chimney cans; firebricks; assorted fireclay products incl. British Standard pipes + fittings. They also tested pipes.
No1: Pipes all sizes 3" long or otherwise reduced; diameter 2" - 18"; traps all sizes. eg of items: pickling dishes, pig troughs, cattle troughs, perforated brick, wall coping stones.
No2: Similar pipeware as that of No1 works; chimney cans 15 " - 72", all shapes eg octagonal and square cans; slabs; ridge tiles; hand-made bricks, etc.
Process: Clay was obtained from the works' own mine, transported by own transport and tested in own laboratory for aluminia, silica , content and shrinkage ( possible 1.25 inches to the foot). Breakages etc returned to the dry hill to be reground, then mixed as 'grog' with new clay and re-used.
Workers: Women carried pipes from machine to be finished and glass-lined before drying. Otherwise, they loaded kilns or lorries with pipes weighing 32lbs - 1cwt. Men filled and emptied the kilns. The ring man brought rings to the kiln setter and laid them on the floor for the setter to place pipes on.
Moulder; engineers; electricians; fire brick workers. Moulders were highly skilled making patterns and castings. Plaster of Paris moulds had to be accurate by considering the amount of shrinkage likely in the firing process. Engineers oversaw the machinery and panmills. Fire brickies oversaw the maintenance of the kilns. The perforated floor blocks were referred to as 'Holey Buoys' and they conducted the fumes into the flues and in turn up the chimney which was controlled by dampers. Kiln temperatures were carefully monitored using temperature cones on the kiln doors. Eventually coal was replaced by oil burners to heat the kilns.

1957: United Fireclay Products was bought by Woodall-Duckham so that the firm had a reliable source of fireclay shapes for the gas retorts it required.

1960: West Works brickworks was built with a 400 foot long tunnel kiln. United Fireclay Products, Bathville, had about 460 employees in the mid 1960s and produced refractory bricks and glazed sanitary pipes from fireclay as well as composition building bricks from pit waste products.

1965: 48% of UK fireclay (much of the highest quality) was worked from the Millstone Grit series in the Scotland's Central Basin, and much of it was exported to Europe. Although refractory materials were shipped to Britain and western Europe, Canada and the Philippines, the building bricks and pipes were only supplied to Scotland. From the mid 1960s, the Bathville common brick changed in quality from firebrick standard to a much softer brick.

1970: Bathville Pipe Works closed as demand fell with the rising competition from plastic pipes. The Etna Works was developed to produce Etna-stamped bricks.

1971: United Fireclay Products was bought by Gibbons Dudley Ltd for £715,000.

1973: The Atlas Brick Works closed.

1981: As demand for refractory bricks declined, United Fireclay Products was purchased by Steetley Brick Ltd, which turned West Works into a facing-brick brickworks.

1983: Etna and Brownhill Works were bought by GISCOL Ltd (The Glasgow Iron and Steel Company).

1985: Gordon Thomson directed a 9½ minute colour 16 mm film about Etna Brickworks. The film, shot by Jim Harold and commentated by John Hume, showed the manufacture of common building bricks from the stage of crushing to the final stage of firing. There were shots of 28 chamber kiln, used for firing, and demolished soon after the film was made. Two Hoffman continuous kilns were also shown. The film was sponsored by the History Department of Strathclyde University and produced by the University's Audio-Visual Services. Further details can be obtained at the Scottish Screen Archive.

1997: Caradale Traditional Brick Company was formed.

*Information from article by John Collins in HAA's Your Magazine No 2: Industry in Armadale

One of our favourite websites includes the children's animation about Etna Brickworks of Armadale

Click on brick

We acknowledge the copyright and loan of the brick from Commercial Breaks

This project was supported by the Scottish Museums Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund, between October 2002 and March 2004, which involved children and parents in the creation of multimedia advertisements for products and services represented in the museum collection.

Other brickworks in the area, owned by Robert Muir and Co / Robert Muir and Sons

Bricks produced by Muir-owned brickworks

1880s: Robert Muir owned Barbauchlaw fireclay works.

1889: Boghead fireclay works, Bathville, initially owned and operated by Gillies Brothers until the Muir takeover in 1915 from when it operated until 1928.

1896: Robert Muir announced his intention to submit plans for new brickworks in East Main Street, Armadale.

c1897 - c1947: Barbauchlaw, a fireclay and common brickworks, operated in East Main Street, Armadale. The clay was supplied by the neighbouring mine. By the end of post-war period, building bricks were being manufactured there.

1900: Robert Muir of Bathgate represented Armadale Burgh on the parish council. He indicated plans to erect an office in South Street, the site of his other brickworks (top of the brae at Blackmoss).

In 1900, Marchbanks Cottage was built with Muir bricks for the Manager of the Muir brickworks in East Main Street. The cottage was conveniently situated as a track led from the back of the building to the brickworks site. The photo below shows the Kerr family at the back of the cottage around 1900. Originally a ploughman, Robert Kerr became the Manager of the Muir brickworks and, although he retired at 70, he was called back to work for Etna Bricks.

Robert (middle row left)

Davie (middle row second from left)

Abraham (middle of back row)

James (back row right)

Other members of the family: wife, Agnes; other sons: Thomas, John, William and George; daughters: Jane, Agnes, Isabella,

Davie was born c1856 in Duddingston, Midlothian, the son of Robert Kerr, bc1815 Dalmeny, a ploughman, and Jane, bc1813 Kirkliston.

When Davie was young, the family (with other sons: James, John, Robert; and daughters: Janet, Ann and Jean) stayed at North Mains, Inverleith.

MINES More information in Past and Present Chap II; Chap III ; Chap VI; Chap VII; Chap VIII; Chap XII Armadale NUM Banner*
Photo taken at Almond Valley Heritage Centre, Livingston
Coalmines in the Armadale area Although coal had been mined for centuries in the area now known as West Lothian, its importance was only truly recognised with the rise of the iron and steel industry. The first Statistical Account of Scotland in the 1790s showed that coal mining had been established a long time in the parishes of Bathgate, Uphall and Livingston. The Carron Company developed mines on the Barbauchlaw and South Couston estates, and eventually imported English miners, who were regarded as more reliable and hard-working, as well as pauper children (as apprentices) to continue and enlarge their profits. 1819: John Harvie, William Roberts and John Wilson formed a company and took out a 10 year lease to mine Boarbauchlaw coal near Woodhead.
Memories of working in Armadale-area collieries Extracts are from the report by R. H. Franks to the Children's Employment Commission on the East of Scotland District, which was published in 1842. At the time of the report, in West Lothian collieries and pits: 338 male adults; 98 males under 18; 61 males under 13; c68 female adults; 52 females under 18; 37 female under 13. Colinshiel Colliery: Messrs. MOORE & Co.: 16 male adults; 7 males under 18; 1 male under 13; 9 female adults; 3 females under 18; 2 females under 13. Ann Harris, a 15 year old putter at Colinshiel Colliery 'works 10 to 12 hours daily, has done so about four months, never was at coal-work before and heartily hates it, but could get no other work or would not have gone down. It is no woman's work, nor is it good for anybody'. Hard Hill Colliery: Messrs. WARK and WYLIE, proprietor: 30 male adults; 11 males under 18; 2 males under 13; 4 female adults; 1 female under 18; 1 female under 13. Alexander Wark said they employed 'about 50 persons at present below ground; the number varies with demand; the collieries in this district are not very extensive, as the consumption is chiefly local, and for lime-works................... The colliers about this district change their places of labour frequently, which has a bad effect upon their children, as it entirely prevents any settled mode of instruction being given....' He added that few women or young children worked in pits in that part of West Lothian. One of his workers, Thomas Brown, aged 10, was a putter who reported that he had worked below ground with his father and two brothers, for the last 4 years, at Bo'ness Mines, and, more recently at Hard Hill. 'I go down at three in the morning, and come up at four, and sometimes six at night, and work 9 and 10 days in the fortnight; work very hard, as father is no strong the now, and mother is dead. I hurry the hurlies [draw the carts] in harness; it is the practice here; we used only to push them at Bo'ness; never been hurt much, but often overworked. I could read before going down; have forgotten all.' One of Wark's female workers, Margaret Harper, a 13 year old putter, had been reduced to mine work because of her father's poor health and the needs of their large family. 'I work in Hard-hill Mine with sister Agnes, who is 11 years of age; we work 10 to 12 hours in the day; we get porridge before we gang, or it is sent down by mother. We hurry the carts on the railroads by pushing behind; I frequently draw with ropes and chains, as the horses do; it is dirty slavish work, and the water quite covers our ankles. I have never been much hurt; I knock my head against the roofs, as they are not so high as I am, and they cause me to stoop, which makes my back ache. Father gets 1s. a day for our work, 6d. each; he would not have sent us down but is sore bad in his breath.' Barbauchlaw Pit: Mrs M. HERVIE: 4 male adults; 1 male under 18; 5 males under 13; 0 female adults; 0 female under 18; 0 female under 13. Mrs Margaret Hervie, innkeeper, commented, 'I keep the Armadale Inn adjoining the colliery, both of which I rent from Mr. Alexander Dennistoun, of Glasgow; at the moment I employ few colliers, as the trade is off.' She said that females and very young boys had not worked at the pit for at least seven years (length of time since husband's death) because of the men's opposition. 'At present only five boys below; all read and write, and live just near at hand.' Peter Williamson, a 12 year old putter at the Pit impressed the interviewer with his literacy and knowledge when talking about the Pit that was '16 fathoms deep'. 'I have worked below with father near two years; was born in the village; work about 12 and 14 hours, and longer when needed; not much work just now. The seams are 40 inches high, and the main-roads no higher; the coals are drawn on rails at parts; the flooring is flat, no dip and rise; the carts hold about 3 cwt. of coal; the work is no guid; cannot get better. After work always goes to Mr. Wilson's night-school at Armadale, with brother; most of the collier-boys go.'
In 1842, Lord Ashley's Mines Act ended the practice of employing women and children below ground. In the New Statistical Account of Scotland - Linlithgow, 1845, it was once again emphasised that coal had been mined in the Bathgate parish for many years. Of the ones open at the time of writing the Account, there were: 1. Barbauchlaw: "The earth is here about 24 feet deep, succeeded by common freestone, a black blaes, (bituminous shale,) faikes, (thin beds of friable sandstone, intermingled with shale and clay), twenty inches of red sandstone, grey blaes, (common shale), very coarse ironstone, 18 inches of coal, fire-clay, grey blaes, 6 to 8 feet of freestone, fire-clay of variable thickness, averaging 3 feet, but sometimes wanting altogether, and then at a depth of 16½ fathoms the main coal, 4 feet thick." 2. Hardhill: "the first workable seam is found at a depth of 16 fathoms. There is nothing between it and the surface earth but faikes. The coal seam presents first 3 feet 2 inches of coal, then 3 inches of clay, and then 10 inches more of coal. the next seam of coal presents 2 feet 10 inches of coal, 4 inches of blaes, and 9 inches of coal. It lies 4 fathoms deeper than the first seam, and between them lies some excellent and very white sandstone. from 4 to 6 fathoms deeper lies a parrot coal, which is not yet wrought. the coal here dips to the north-west, at the rate of about 1 in 14." 3. Colinshiel: "after 6 fathoms of earth, freestone appears, succeeded by a seam of coal 2 feet thick; freestone very hard and white, lies between this and the coal now wrought, which is 3 feet 10 inches thick, and situated 12 fathoms from the surface. 11 fathoms deeper it has been ascertained that another seam occurs, 2 feet 4 inches thick."
Even up to the second half of the nineteenth century, however, some practices continued, such as the truck system whereby an employee was paid in goods, usually from employer's shops. By the early 1890s, a third of all local families were dependent on the coal or shale industries. About one third of West Lothian's coal was used by the area's oil works. In 1859, fireclay mining was first established around Armadale (Etna and Atlas) and stone quarrying also became an important industry in the area. Early 1860s: c500 coal miners and c200 ironstone miners in Armadale. In 1861, 483 Armadale miners were members of the local Miners' Association. Scott, the owner of an ironmongery shop, and Duncan Livingston, an affluent miner, built up an oil works east from the South Street railway level crossing. In 1865, they sank a pit to a seam of shale, and erected a plant for extracting the oil. However, they were not successful, unlike Young, and the ensuing poor quality led to its abandonment, leaving a small bing of burnt blaes and the office and weigh-house. By the 1891 census, the industrial nature of Linlithgowshire had been firmly established with 71% of the employed population working for industrial companies. By 1893, the following local businesses were some of those included in the Linlithgowshire Business Directory: brick and tile manufacturers in Armadale; Coltness Iron Company at Woodend; Monkland Iron and Coal Company at Armadale; James Wood of Armadale. WWI affected the local coal mining industry not only because of the loss of markets but also the high percentage of the population's men who were called upon to fight. After WWI, strikes for better wages to improve poor living standards, short-term working, and unemployment were familiar features of local lives, often shortened by the rise in accidents. Coal owners' wage cuts prompted the 1921 'big strike', followed later by the General Strike of 1926. Inevitably, many decided to escape and it is estimated that about 6,000 West Lothian people emigrated between 1920 - 1930. From 1952, there was major reorganisation in all aspects of the industry. By the late 1950s only 11 collieries and mines, employing 7,000 men, were operating in West Lothian, including Woodend with 595 miners. In the early 1960s, there were 3 main collieries in the Bathgate area: Easton with surface location in Bathgate and underground workings in Torphichen; Woodend with surface location in Torphichen and underground workings in Torphichen and Stirlingshire, although many of its workers lived in Armadale; Riddochhill located in Livingston but underground in Bathgate. 284 miners lived in Armadale, 124 of whom were employed at Woodend, 30 at Whitrigg; 63 at Polkemmet; 10 at Riddochhill; 54 at Easton; 31 in other NCB employment. By 1965, Woodend had also closed. In its latter years, 280 men had been employed, with production figures of 1,870 tons pw, 89,800 pa, unlike Easton colliery, established in the1880s and eventually with main workings1,224 feet deep, 4,000 yards long and 2,000 yards wide with 741 miners, producing 4,170 tons pw, 200,000 pa. By the end of the 1960s, the West Lothian County Survey found that the significant industrial concerns outside coal and oil in Armadale were: Atlas Steel Foundry and Engineering Company Ltd founded 1913: United Fireclay Products (400 employees), Bathville, Armadale Armadale Hosiery, Brown Street (100 female employees) founded 1919 Mayfield Hosiery (40 female employees) founded 1938 Griffburn Fuels (briquettes) Dickson and Mann, coal industry plant manufacturers Westfield Paper Mill 1985: Polkemmet Pit, the last pit in the area, did not reopen after the Miners' Strike.
Tom Duncan bc1883, was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1947 for working 64 years in the pits. Born in Armadale, he started in Bathville Pit as a 11 year old and later had short spells in Fife and East Lothian. When awarded his B.E.M. he had been working over 20 years in Polkemmet Pit and stayed in Whitburn for over 50 years. He was President of the Whitburn Gala Committee from 1928 till 1935 and had been secretary of the Burgh Band for many years. Mr.Duncan's grandson, also named Tom, was architect for Whitburn Town council and designed Brucefield Church.
Table of notes - work in progress
Lothians Mine Workers' Ambulance League, Armadale 1920 - 1923, NAS ref no IRS21/1538 Open	Armadale and District Miners' Welfare Society 1924 - 1970, NAS ref no IRS/21/1699, not open until 1 Jan 2021	Barr and Higgins reopened Nos. 7 and 11 Pits on Barbauchlaw Estate, and were developing the main coal seam when they sold to James Wood, a coal merchant at Paisley
Russell and son Lease location: Boghead, Hopetoun, Torbane, Torbanehill Boghead and Bathville Oil Works	Monkland Iron Company aka Buttries Company: c1850: owned Buttreys Pit, lease location: Barbauchlaw Estate 1854: built an office and store on South Street	Carron Iron Company; Clay pit on Colinshiel Farm
Mill coal and Cocksroad coal seams	Coltness Iron Company Lease location: Woodend	Bathville Coal Pit estab by 1855 on south side of Lower Bathville. At pithead, weighing machine, engine house, blacksmith and refuse bing.
Shotts Iron Company Lease location: Colinshiel; part of Polkemmet Estate Shotts Company ended lease of Polkemmet minerals> James Wood took over coal field, as well as several old pits on the north-east side of Barbauchlaw including Colinshiel. In 1900 (1902?) he sold Bathville Estate to United Collieries Co. After the take-over, a depression followed.	Boarbauchlaw Coalry Wood Pit The 'Mill' Pit and Boutgate (the 'Level') 1855: Barbauchlaw Pit No 2 (coal and ironstone) with shaft and tram road at Mount Pleasant 1855: Armadale Pit No 3 (coal and ironstone), Moss End, North St (near where Watson Park is now) with 2 shafts and tram road 1855: ½ mile north from Mossend: Colinshiel Pits no 1, 2, 3 and 4 (coal and ironstone), brickworks, tramroad and associated buildings including houses. 1855: Woodend: 2 pits (coal and ironstone, east and south of Woodend Farm) 1855: Bathville Coal Pit + 2 old quarries on south side of Hardhill Road, east of the Cross. East of the Cross, north side of Hardhill Road was Hardhill Pit no1 and quarry near Wester Hardhill Farm 1860: Ironstone Pits at Northrigg and Armadale were abandoned. Barbauchlaw Collliery operated from 1900 - 1973	John Watson and Sons found ironstone, steam coal, shale. The seams of gas-coal and shale lay so near to the surface that they created an oil works to convert the raw material into a finished product. By 1864, Armadale had many chimneys for the black smoke emitted during the manufacturing process. Lease location: Bathville Estate
Coal Mining History Resource Centre very detailed site including local maps showing coal mines	Search the following for Armadale area mine deaths: 1863 ; 1877 ; 1882 ; 1884 ; 1908	Linlithgowshire / West Lothian mines 1869; 1880 ; 1908 ; 1918 ; 1938 ; 1945
United Colliery c1914*	Northrigg Colliery* Northrigg ironstone pits abandoned in 1860.	Linlithgow Mines 1896
At Woodend Pit coal was hauled from the pit bottom to the surface by using water to pump coal, but the method was not a success.	The United Collieries Limited Roll of Employees On Active Service, 1914 – 1919	Hilderston and silver mining (includes wonderful children's drawings related to the project!)
Preparation plant, Woodend Colliery*	Woodend Open Cast site*	Scottish Mining Villages Names Index
"I left school on the Friday and I went doon Woodend Pit on the Monday. Ye were doon the pit when ye were 14 then." Courtesy of HAA: School interview extract interviewee: Jim Sykes

FOUNDRIES

Bathville became the industrial district of Armadale and was conspicuous because of its many chimneys.

Stevenson founded the Bathville Steel Works near to the railway level crossing on the Bathville and Bathgate Road.

Later an iron foundry was established by Dickson & Mann, managed by Harry Chalmers, and crucible steel castings became their speciality. The company produced material for the local collieries. Theirs was the first works chimney to be knocked down in Armadale.

1876: New wagon works (owned by James Wood but tenanted by Dickson and Mann)

1880s: Locomotive shed

Later steel bridge building and machine-construction shops (extended 1892) were established.

1892: Dickson & Mann (which introduced the steel industry to West Lothian) was founded. It supplied the surface conveying and coal-handling equipment to the coalmines in the Armadale area, as well as other areas of Britain.

1893: Bathville Steelworks electrified

1902 Armadale Iron Company was established at Bathville.

1903 First castings produced at Armadale Iron Company

1907-8: 12 new furnaces were installed.

Dickson and Mann secured a patent for the Bothwell Underground Conveyor.

Dickson & Mann settled down on the site of the old oil works as carriage and wagon builders. [Records of Dickson & Mann Ltd, Colliery & Structural Engineers, Bathville Steel Works (tenants 1888 at Bathville Foundry, owned by Mrs Mann), 1888 - 1969: NAS cat ref: GD1/728]

1955 - 1960: Dickson & Mann extended its business premises when electricity replaced steam power. In 1965 the firm emplooyed 115 men.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The West Lothian Steel Foundry aka The Wee Foundry: built after WWI: The business was small, and so were the items they produced there initially. They had several departments or 'shops': dressing; blacksmith; engineering; pattern.

A mixture including pig iron and steel puncheon was melted in crucible pots (in square holes in the floor). The mixture had to be lowered carefully and workmen often protected their legs with wet cloth, because of the heat of the fires. Under the holes were fires made with small coke pieces that had been broken up on site. Once the pots were situated over the holes, the tops were covered over with a frame that was lined with firebricks. A metal arm was used to position the frame. Once melted, the metal was taken to the moulders who poured it into the castings. The smelting holes were connected to flues, which were connected to the chimney. Small stoves for annealing steel were also connected to it. As demand increased for their products, a furnace likened to a large blowlamp was installed and the holes were no longer needed.

Local people remember that when a cupola was introduced for melting of steel, a very noticeable orange smoke was emitted into the local environment as a result.

A small railway line led to the foundry.

Later improvements included the use of pneumatic guns instead of the former peg rammers and processes which no longer required skilled workers.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Atlas Steel Foundry and Engineering Company Ltd founded 1913: May 1912: inaugural meeting attended by James Wood of Wallhouse, James M. Watt of Woodlands House, R.C. Rodger, director of Messrs Cockburns Ltd of Cardonald and Provost Donald of Troon. They decided to begin steel making in Armadale, producing top-quality castings. (Up until then, Denny, Falkirk and Polmont had been the centres for such production.) It took over the premises of the former Armadale Iron Company and began to produce steel castings.
Rosebank Cottages (6 houses) and later Woodlands Cottages (6 houses) were bought to house qualified workers coming into Armadale. Rents were kept at a minimum.

1914-1918: Women employees were taken on initially to replace those on war service, but they were soon needed as extra workers because of the war-induced demand for ships' castings. A new foundry and a Open Hearth furnace were installed to increase the company melting capacity.

1921 onwards, more houses were provided for workers: 6 more cottages were added to Woodlands Cottages + 3 x 4 blocks of houses were built at Church Place + 18 houses in Watt Avenue

The works was large with several departments: moulding, dressing, pattern-making and engineering, all connected by a small engine that ran on tracks between them, and a large locomotive, which pulled all the wagons to the main line.

The work day was signalled by a horn, the most distinct of the hooters and whistles that sounded daily in Armadale. Working hours: 6.45 - 9.00am, 9.30am - 12.30pm; 1.15pm - 4.30pm, with ½ day on Saturdays.
Once the new company had met the inspection requirements of bodies such as the Admiralty, they were able to work on prestigious contracts such as the provision of Atlas turbine casings and lighting units on the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth, which were being constructed on the River Clyde. Their furnace could hold 20 tons of molten steel, and when repairs had to be undertaken, which often took a fortnight, 2 days were needed to cool the furnace to a temperature where bricklayers could enter, albeit uncomfortably. Andrew MacDonald worked at the company for 34 years, testing bomb casings during the war years.

Moulding: there was a great demand for moulders during the 1930s. The moulding shop was large, cold in winter and bright and hot in summer. First year apprentices earned 8 shillings for a 47 hour week. Second to fifth year apprentices were on piecework, earning about 30 shillings per week. After completing the five year apprenticeship, moulders earned about 65 shillings per week.

Patternmaking: a patternmaker worked with a draughtsman's blueprint (possibly 3 ' x 4' ) to make a pattern as large as the object required, whether a small casting or steam turbine casings. Since the skill involved the inside as well as the outside of the object, he also had to construct core-boxes, which could be filled with clay-bonded sand for placement in a mould before casting, thereby showing the need for an understanding of moulding and casting as well as patternmaking.

By 1939: the Company's reputation had been strengthened by its production of items (turbine casings, steam chests, valves) for the electricity-generating power stations.
1948: Electric melting furnaces were introduced, thereby simplifying the manufacture of alloy castings and stainless steel casings.

1953: Electricity was used for all processes.

Armadale Works drawing office c1956*

1958: 170 laid off at Atlas Steel Works

1960: Dickson and Mann's premises were extended, more specialist work was carried out and, by the mid 1960s, they were employing 339 men.

Armadale Works c1965*; (2)*
1968: The company became known as the Armadale Works after a merger with the North British Steel Foundry of Bathgate. Castings manufacture continued added to other engineering work such as the production of earth moving equipment. The prospects seemed promising because of the development of advanced moulding methods, but, by 1990 two of the three foundries in the Bathgate/Armadale area had closed.

Atlas Steel Foundry memorial

1972: Atlas Works closed.

Atlas Foundry Main Office (demolished 1990s) front boundary wall

According to Andrew MacDonald (cited in the HAA's Your Magazine No 2: Industry in Armadale) there was a problem with the change-over 'from the old steam Pug to the new diesel loco....It seems that the carefully timed change-over, (to avoid disruption to the flow of materials and castings,) gaed badly agley when the new engine failed to arrive at the appointed time. After a few frantic phone calls the whereabouts of the missing pug was finally traced to the ferry just about to dock at the pier at Armadale on the Island of Skye.'

Armadale Works: The North British Steel Group Ltd

Mons Meg was tested in Armadale in 1980

Photo courtesy of Ron Dingwall