Soho Foundry Former Boulton And Watt Foundry Pattern Stores And Erecting Shops

This is a substantial foundry complex, pattern stores, and erecting shops built between 1794 and 1868/9, originally established for Matthew Boulton and James Watt. The complex was extended significantly in the early 19th century and later in the 19th and 20th centuries. Constructed primarily of red brick, the building features Belfast truss roofs covered in corrugated sheet steel with ventilation louvres along the ridges and brick-coped gable ends.

The original foundry has a rectangular plan and includes a casting pit and boring mill at its eastern end. It was extended westward around 1800 and a parallel range was added later in the 19th century to the north side. A tunnel connects the original foundry to a long range of pattern stores located to the northwest. These stores were extended in 1799-1800, 1809, and later in the 19th century, with a wider pattern store and pattern shop built above. A large erecting shop was added to the north of the original foundry in 1850.

The exterior features 20 bays and three tiers of segmentally arched windows, some of which are now blocked, all below corbelled brick eaves. Large blocked round arched openings with three oculi are visible in the gable ends.

The interior includes two orders of blind arches in the walls, with buttresses between them. At the east end lies the casting pit and boring mill. A long, vaulted brick tunnel runs north from the original foundry, leading to the long range of vaulted pattern stores to the northwest.

The Soho Foundry was established in 1794-1795 by Boulton and Watt to manufacture steam engines more efficiently. Previously, Boulton had needed a power source for his Soho Manufactory and Watt had been consulted, leading to their partnership. At the foundry, Boulton and Watt produced complete steam engines on one site. From 1798, William Murdock, an engineer and inventor of gas lighting, managed the foundry, and gas lighting was installed between 1800 and 1803, making it one of the earliest factories to use this technology.