Eagle Ironworks, Oxford

The Eagle Ironworks was an ironworks owned by Lucy's on the Oxford Canal in Jericho, Oxford, England. The ironworks was on Walton Well Road at the northern end of Walton Street and backed onto St Sepulchre's Cemetery. The site is now closed and is being redeveloped, mainly with apartments.

History

William Carter moved his iron foundry from Summertown in north Oxford to the banks of the Oxford Canal in 1825, one of the first developments in what is now the district of Jericho in central Oxford. The company specialized in cast iron objects, especially ornamental ironwork. William Grafton became a partner and in 1830 Carter moved to the Eagle Foundry in Leamington. Grafton continued to manage the foundry in Oxford, which became known as the Eagle Ironworks. In 1854, the company obtained the freehold for the site from St John's College, which owned much of north Oxford. When Grafton died in 1861, William Lucy, his partner, took over the running of the foundry. When he in turn died in 1873, the name of the ironworks became "Lucy's".

The company produced ornamental ironwork for the development of North Oxford and the University of Oxford colleges during the expansion of Oxford in the Victorian period. Production changed to electrical engineering and stainless steel, including arc lamps, electric lamp fittings, steam roller castings and, appropriately for Oxford, library stacking. During both World War I and World War II, Lucy's manufactured munitions. Between the wars, they concentrated on electrical engineering and switchgear manufacture. After WWII, machine tool production was also undertaken.

In the 1960s, the company built two large apartment blocks on the wharves by the canal. The company has now ceased operation on the premises, but the redevelopment of this site has been controversial due to environmental considerations.

Literature

The Eagle Ironworks was featured in the 2003 novel "Lyra's Oxford" by the Oxford-based author Philip Pullman [http://www.bridgetothestars.net/index.php?d=encyclopaedia&p=lyrasoxford] . The story includes a fictitious Randolph "Lucy", a 17th-century alchemist with an eagle-demon who had his laboratory on nearby Juxon Street. An entry for the Eagle Ironworks is included in an extract from a fictitious version of the Baedeker guide.

References

* Andrews, Philip W. S. (1965). "The Eagle Ironworks Oxford: The story of W. Lucy and Company Limited", Mills & Boon.

External links

* [http://pstalker.com/echo/sk_lucys.html Lucy's Eagle Iron Works]
* [http://pstalker.com/echo/f_47a.html Lucy's plan gated housing]