One of Scotland’s last remaining iron foundries has taken on a remarkable role in the restoration of Westminster’s landmark buildings.
West Lothian-based Ballantine Castings is using traditional handcrafted methods to create thousands of cast iron tiles for the roof of the Elizabeth Tower, the structure that houses Big Ben.
The Bo’ness foundry, which just four years ago faced the risk of closure after being stung by the financial crisis, is also casting hundreds of tonnes of iron tiles to replace decaying tiles on the roof of the Palace of Westminster.
That work, which is expected to take several years to complete, involves the 200-year-old foundry creating exact copies of the original cast iron tiles, now so badly eroded they are leaking and causing damage to stonework and historic interiors.
The Palace of Westminister and the Elizabeth Tower – named after the Queen to mark her Diamond Jubilee – are both Grade 1 Unesco World Heritage sites, and among the most instantly recognisable symbols of British life.
However, decades of wear and tear with little investment in maintenance, means the buildings are in a race against time to ensure they do not fall into further disrepair.
The Bo’ness foundry, which has survived since the dawn of the industrial revolution – kickstarted just a stone’s away at Kinneil House where James Watt perfected his ground-breaking steam engine – faces a massive task to produce around 1000 tiles of varying shapes for the tower alone.
Each one will be handmade using molten iron which is poured by hand into individual moulds, cooled and then finished before being sent by road to London.
The three year £61m restoration of the Elizabeth Tower, the Great Clock and the Great Bell, is being overseen by construction and engineering giant, Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. The firm, which is marking its 150th anniversary, was founded in Newarthill near Motherwell.
The clock and its 96m tall tower are currently encased in hundreds of feet of scaffolding, with just one of its familiar faces on show. It’s famous ‘Big Ben’ bell is expected to remain silent for four years while work is carried out.
Work to repair the Palace of Westminster roof – including the House of Commons and the House of Lords – is understood to be costing in the region of £60m. Ballantine Casting, which employs 56 at its B Grade listed site in Bo’ness, will supply replacement tiles to the exact measurement and design of the 150-year-old originals.
So far the foundry, which can trace its history to 1820, has cast almost 4000 replacement iron tiles for the Palace roof.
The foundry’s work at the two world famous sites comes after it was involved in the major restoration of ironwork on nearby Westminster Bridge.
Ballantine Castings Director, Gavin Ballantine, said the Westminster ironwork is being made as it would have been almost 200 years ago.
“Everyone knows Big Ben, and it is one of the most photographed structures in the world.
“We are working with a conservation contractor, we’re not doing any installation. All the tiles are different sizes, we have to take originals from site, bring them here, hand carve the moulds and then make the castings.
“We are just glad to play our part.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel