Westport Foundry And Attached Iron Railngs, Piers And Gates

The Westport Foundry, established in 1870, incorporates an early 19th-century range of farm buildings. The structure features limestone rubble outer walls and late 19th-century brickwork, topped with a slate and Double Roman roof. It has a U-shaped plan with single-depth ranges, arranged in pairs along the southeast side, and includes a rebuilt former office on the southwest open side.

The foundry is two storeys high with an attic, and there is a single-storey northeast range. The courtyard side has three 3-window ranges. The parallel two-storey ranges have segmental-arched heads and metal-framed windows, with the ground floor being blind. The west range has a one-window rubble end gable and a small hatch to the left of the ground-floor window, while the east range features a right-hand parallel gabled range that is set forward, with brickwork, altered carriage doors, and hoist doors above. These ranges are connected by a single-storey rear range that has a left-hand doorway and arched left-hand and flat-headed central and right-hand windows. The rebuilt former office has an inward-facing doorway and small windows with thin mullions.

Inside, the foundry retains details such as line shafting for lathes and a pillar drill in the north range, as well as a fan for the brass furnace and forge in the west range, which still has early bellows powered by a Tangye gas engine. The east range contains a pattern maker's shop and casting floor, which formerly housed a cupola.

The foundry is complemented by attached iron railings, piers, and entrance gates that enclose the courtyard. Notably, there are a pair of capped ashlar gate piers with iron gates at the west corner. This site is a fairly complete example of a rural town foundry, a type that is now quite rare.