Wright’s Foundry
Burnbank Foundry Co.
Sites & Monuments Record
| Bankside, Bainsford | SMR 688 | NS 887 812 |
Timeline
1860: Founded by William Mitchell of Parkhouse, Malcolm and Andrew Cockburn, with RW Crosthwaite as a junior partner. The works lay just west of the Bainsford Canal Bridge, on the north bank of the Forth & Clyde Canal.
1864: Partnership dissolved. Cockburn left to start Gowanbank Iron Works. James Wright of Denny became Mitchell’s new partner.
1875: Mitchell left to start the Parkhouse Iron Co, and James Wright remained the managing director and sole proprietor until his death in 1908.
1883: J McGrouther, manager, left.
1900-1911: Additions included a travelling crane. The moulding shed roof was raised to accommodate this.
1908: Converted to a private limited company.
1911: Became a private limited company with the existing partners receiving shares. James Wright, son of Adam Wright, Glasgow; William Wright of Gogarfield in Denny, formerly a baker; John C Wright, once the clerk but then the manager of the foundry; William Wright, patternmaker, Falkirk. Capital set at £20,000 divided into £1 shares. The new directors were David G Allan, coal merchant of Yoker; James Deakin of Hillfoot; James Wright, steel manufacturers’ agent of Glasgow; John C Wright of Denny; William Wright of Denny; and William Wright, patternmaker of Falkirk.
J.C. Wright made managing director, a position he held until his death in 1933.
Illus: Burnbank on the north bank of the Forth & Clyde Canal. (The buildings of Burnbank Foundry on the right.)
1920: 2.5 acres obtained for extension.
1933: William Wright became managing director. James Munro Wright secretary.
1935: Purchased part of canal basin and adjacent football ground in preparation for an extension. A large tar boiler overheated and ignited two drums of naphtha.
1937, October: Taken over by Federated Foundries Ltd. William Rennie became a director and manager.
1939: Closed.
1948: Office transferred to the Grange Works.
1960: Liquidation.
Workforce
| 1879 | 140 employed |
| 1892 | 150 |
| 1901 | 100 |
| 1911 | 100 |
| 1913 | 110 |
Falkirk Local History Society 