Iron & Agricultural Works in Steventon

There were three works in Steventon:

The Steventon Iron Works (SIW) established by blacksmith William Kimber in the late 1860s, with a foundry initially on the east side of the High Street next to Stone Cottage but latterly on the west side between the Causeway and what is now the Coop;

The Vulcan Iron Works established by boiler maker William Smith and sons in Pugsden Lane in the mid 1870s;

The Causeway Agricultural Engineering Works established by Frank Smith, possibly son of William, around 1910.

Kimber's business went through various ownerships after he died in 1900, including Boyd & Hadaway prior to WW1 - whose lampposts and manhole covers can still be seen in Wantage and Abingdon - and Freddie 'Shoe-y' Lee after WW1. Freddie Lee employed Arthur Grace who after WW2 set up his own business in Drayton (later moved to the old Culham airfield site by his son Ben and now run by Ben's son Colin). Freddie formed Lee Magnum engineering which continued on part of the SIW site after his death in 1961 until the 1980s.

William Smith's Vulcan Works - which made boilers and steam powered boats, as well as hiring out steam traction engines and steam ploughs - briefly continued past William's death in 1907 under the management of son William George who sold up in the 1910s. Bill Denton remembered some of the buildings still being there in the late 1950s.

The site of Frank Smith's Causeway Works is still unclear, but perhaps it was in the area now known as Frank's Lane. He was a boiler maker, agricultural implement agent, steam roller proprietor and haulage contractor. He later concentrated on haulage, moving to Tudor House in the early 1930s - where he maintained a forge, parts of which still remain. Frank sold Tudor House to Dr Eric Evans in 1949.

Next Object

Possible remains of the south wing of Kimber's first foundry

A Steventon Iron Works, Boyd & Hadaway inspection plate. In St Edmunds Lane, Abingdon and still in use!