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 Distinct
from John Craggs 'Mersey Iron Foundry'
in Tithebarn Street 'The Mersey Forge' was
founded by Mr. Ralph Clay in in 1810. In 1855 William Clay
was manager. Robert Griffiths records that
in 1864 the company officially became 'The Mersey Steel and Iron Co. Ltd'.
Prior to this name change, the forge occupied land on either
side of Sefton Street, but after incorporation it moved its position
to allow for the construction of the Garston Railway line, which
cut through the premises. The forge then also benefited from its own
railway access, by means of a siding. The Forge now straddled either side of the south end of Grafton Street, separated by Sefton Street
and Horsfall Street, it was spread over three sites in all. The
different parts were connected by tunnels.
At its peak over 1,500 men were employed there, mostly on work for the Admiralty and various foreign governments. The high wages which
were paid brought a new prosperity to the district. The Mersey Forge had a history of
government munitions contracts, manufacturing mostly battleship parts and large guns.
In 1845 they constructed an un-named 'huge gun' , 13 feet long for the American frigate
'Princetown', (not to be confused with the Peacemaker gun which
exploded on the American frigate 'Princeton' in 1844). Parts
were made for the H.M.S. Penelope, an ironclad battleship launched
on 18th June 1868. (this became a prison hulk in 1897 before being
sold for scrap in 1912). Also for H.M.S. Achilles an Ironclad
frigate launched in 1863. Navy vessels associated with the
forge are Agincourt (later renamed Boscawen III, Ganges II
and broken up in 1927), Achilles, Minotaur (later renamed Boscawen
II, then Ganges, then broken up in 1922) and Penelope.
All of
these were present at Portland Harbour on 10th August 1872 when
Prince Albert laid the final stone of the breakwater there. Minotaur
was part of the Channel Fleet (there was a pub of that name nearby)
and along with Northumberland
and Hercules, under the command of Rear Admiral Hornby, this
fleet visited
the Mersey on 22nd June of this same year.
In 1855 The Northern
Daily Times contained a detailed report which is available on the excellent Old
Mersey Times site. It is notable that Mr William Clay was the manager at
that time and it is difficult to resist suggesting a link to the founder Ralph
Clay. Mr W.J. Horsfall was one of the proprietors at this time. He and his family
are connected both with Horsfall
Street and with various churches in toxteth.
 In
1856, when owned by Messrs Walsall, the forge produced 'The
Monster Horsfall Gun' weighing an incredible 21 tons and
17 cwt. This 13 inch, smoothbore gun was tested on the north shore, near Formby.
Apparently its transportation there was along streets
decked with bunting and crowded by enthusiastic onlookers. A
newspaper of the time records that "for presentation
to the government it was proved that a ball weighing 300 pounds
might be shot with effect 5 miles" This test was
on May 21st 1856 , the Crimean War Society states that the peace treaty
was signed on 1st April 1856! It is an irony and perhaps
a blessing that this
gun never reached the Crimean War
for which it was intended. 'The Scientific American', April
26th, 1862 mentions this exact gun. 
I was delighted to discover
that The London Illustrated News for
September 6th of 1856 contained an illustration entitled "Horsfalls
Monster Wrought-Iron Gun". John Weedy who runs the Illustrated
London News site at www.iln.org.uk
went to a lot of trouble to photograph this woodcut for use
here, (above, left) and I am very grateful to him both for this and for
the copy of the attached text, (right) which I did not know about..
In 1862 another
gun ' The Prince Alfred' was exhibited at South Kensington. The
size and weight of these guns was so great as to influence the design
of the ships which they armed. A fascinating
site describes and illustrates the history of guns of
the same weight, cast in the same years, but used in the American
Civil War. Finds from this period at the Woolwich Arsenal
in London are preserved and treasured, a 42 lb gun is on exhibit
there, what a shame that we do not know what was the eventual fate
of the 42,000
lb Horsfall Gun.
One, much reported, feature
of the forge was a massive steam hammer, a hammer so large that its sound could be heard on
the other side of the River Mersey. The
piston and hammer together weighed 15 tons. The hammer, however, was closed down as a result of
complaints and an eventual injunction brought both by local householders and mill owners.
The Mersey
Forge started to decline about 1878. Government contracts
dried up and it seems to have closed gradually, with various items
of machinery and plant being removed little by little. The final shipment of scrap iron was sent from there in 1898.
 By 1908 the "deserted and ruined remains" of the Mersey Forge "presented a melancholy spectre of their former greatness". Part
of the site was later used for coopering and part of the North Yard was developed
for housing. Some of this housing remains today but it is missing
from the 1905 map of the area, thus dating its development with a degree of accuracy. The
photograph (left) taken from the chimney of the nearby Lavrock
Bank Incinerator, shows the former yards of the Mersey Forge
after clearance.
A part of the south yard has now been cleared and looks ready to be developed
as does the adjacent Caryl Street gasworks.
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The
Mersey Forge 1810 -1898