99, Water Lane

This is a late 18th-century foundry workshop, built between 1795 and 1798 for Matthew Murray, and later altered in the late 19th century. It now functions as a motor repair workshop. The building is constructed of dark red/brown brick in a 5:1 English bond, with bricks of irregular sizes, and has a corrugated asbestos roof with a projecting stack. The prominent gable end facing Water Lane is three storeys high and has four bays. It extends further to the rear, with five tall single-storey bays and a two-storey bay.

The facade to Water Lane has three first-floor windows with cambered heads, stone sills, and four-pane sashes. A tall entrance has been inserted on the left side, and there are traces of two original first-floor windows above the lintel. Blocked loading doors are visible on the first and second floors to the right. A narrow window high in the gable of the three-storey block has a shallow brick arch and a four-pane sash. Lower windows with stretcher arches and altered frames are also present on the rear. The tall, single-storey range to the south has a yard entrance on the west side and features two two-light casements. The south end of this range has been reduced from three to two storeys, and a fish-belly girder is used as a lintel for what was originally a wagon entrance on the west side. On the south side, three original openings remain, one entrance and two blocked windows. A cobbled pathway is visible within the yard.

The interior reveals the original layout of the central section, featuring a single large room with the remains of three hearths and flues along the south wall, and a large structural arch built into the east wall. The south bay has three blind arches on the north wall, alongside traces of former jack arches on both the north and south walls. The roof structure consists of two queen post trusses with iron ties and nailed joints at the north end, while the central and southern sections have been re-roofed.

Historically, the building represents significant remains of a greensand foundry built by Matthew Murray, believed to be part of one of the world’s first integrated engineering works. It faces a courtyard behind No. 101 Water Lane and is positioned opposite the dry sand foundry. It was part of a complex described by James Watt in 1802, originally containing two air furnaces and a cupola, and depicted in an 1806 view of the works when the southern bay was taller.