Photoscoot 2020: site of Green's Foundry, Aberystwyth

Disgrifiad

The 'Borough' guide published by the town council and Edward J Burrows & Co Ltd notes amongst the local industry of the town a 'slate enamelling works in Cambrian Street and Cambrian Place'. The process of enamelling slate was patented in 1840 by George Eugene Magnus. He spent a portion of his youth in the Staffordshire potteries and then acquired an interest in a North Wales slate quarry in 1848. His initial interest was in the production of billiard tables, but soon after his patent was registered, his company began producing a large number of household items (slate clocks, baths, wall panels, etc) enamelled to look like marble. The Magnus method was to apply a mixture of linseed oil, ground umber, spirit of tar and asphaltum onto the slate and then fired it in a kiln at two hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The enamel layer created after forty eight hours in the kiln would then be hand-polished with pumice and rottenstone.
This site is more commonly known as the former 'Green's Foundry'. It may have been the site of the kilns used for the slate enamelling works? The foundry was established by George Green in 1850 and the company was known for producing specialised equipment for the metal mining industry. A fire gutted the foundry in 1908 not long after the Burrows guide was produced. The last surviving foundry was demolished in 1994.