Carron Company - Prosperity and Fall

Prosperity and Fall

By 1814, the Carron Company was the largest iron works in Europe, employing over 2,000 workers, and it attracted many innovators. William Symington was an engineer for the Carron Company in the early 19th century, and the company made engines for his steamboats, the Experiment and the Charlotte Dundas. John Smeaton was a consultant for the company. Henry Cort experimented on methods to produce malleable iron, anticipating the puddling process. Benjamin Franklin visited the factory, leaving works and is said to have left a design for a stove- 'Dr Franklin's stove or the Philadelphia stove'

The company continued to produce pig iron through the 19th century, together with cast-iron products such as balustrades, fire grates, and the Carron bathtub. It ran its own shipping line, and produced munitions in both World Wars. It later became one of several foundries producing pillar boxes and was one of five foundries casting Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's classic Red telephone boxes. In the 1960s, it produced cast-iron rings to line the Tyne Tunnel under the River Tyne from Jarrow to Howdon and the Clyde Tunnel under the River Clyde from Whiteinch to Govan near Glasgow.

The company diversified into plastics and stainless steel, but the works went into receivership in 1982.