Soho Manufactory

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates

The Soho Manufactory in 1800.

The Soho Manufactory ({{#if:SP051890|[[Ordnance Survey National Grid|{{#if:Template:Yesno|Grid|grid}} reference]] {{#invoke:Ordnance Survey coordinates|oscoord|SP051890_region:GB_scale:25000|SP051890|name=}}}}) was an early factory which pioneered mass production on the assembly line principle, in Soho, Birmingham, England, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It operated from 1766–1848 and was demolished in 1853.<ref name="PHH" >{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

BeginningsEdit

In 1756, Edward Ruston leased land on Handsworth Heath from the Lord of the Manor. He deepened Hockley Brook, and built a rolling mill powered by it.<ref name="Harman">Template:Cite Q</ref>

In 1761 (or 1764<ref name="Harman" />) the "toy" manufacturer Matthew Boulton and his business partner John Fothergill leased the site including a cottage and the mill. The mill was replaced by a new factory, designed and built by the Wyatt family of Lichfield, and completed in 1766. The cottage was later demolished and Boulton's home (Soho House) was built on the site, also by the Wyatts.<ref name="MidsPubs">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ProductionEdit

File:Picture of Soho Manufactory 1860-1865.jpg

The Soho Manufactory Template:Circa.

The Manufactory produced a wide range of goods from buttons, buckles and boxes to japanned ware (collectively called "toys"), and later luxury products such as silverware and ormolu (a type of gilded bronze).

Steam enginesEdit

In 1782, it became the first site with a Watt steam engine with the sun and planet gear.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was also home to the first steam-powered mint, whose presses were subsequently used at the first Birmingham Mint.

LaterEdit

In later years, the Manufactory was served by canal at Soho Wharf, at the end of the short Soho Branch of the Birmingham Canal Navigations' Soho Loop.

The manufactory was demolished in 1853 and the site subsequently used for housing.<ref name="Harman" />

Cultural referencesEdit

In the 1990s the television archaeology programme Time Team excavated the foundations, in some of the local back gardens. (Series 4, Ep. 3, 1997)

The Manufactory is featured on the Bank of England £50 note along with Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and the Whitbread Engine.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>