The Beehive Foundry
James Hoyle and Son LTd.
It was a bright, sunny day when we visited James Hoyle & Son’s Beehive Foundry on Andrews Road, E8, right by the canal. Entering the rather dilapidated building felt a bit like stepping into a cave, or at least, back into an earlier time. The workshop is dark and dusty and an acrid smell hangs in the air. There is sand, flashes of bright light, piles of raw iron, tables cluttered with tools and protective gear. The men who work there are dedicated, friendly; everyone busy making sand moulds, tending to the furnace, wheeling barrows of raw iron around. Nothing seems to have changed since it all began back in 1880.
Foreman Luiz Nobrega gave us the guided tour. He took on this role after Alan Hoyle, head of the family firm, died last year. Luiz is Brazilian and the husband of Alan’s daughter, who also works in the business. Another family member, 25-year- old Benjamin, is a fifth generation descendant of James Hoyle, the company’s founder. Ben is currently learning all the workings of the foundry with the aim of running it some day.
It was fascinating to watch a traditional manual process that hasn’t changed much in 130 years. As a first step in producing ironwork, a sand-resin mixture is poured into wooden boxes to create the mould. Next, the moulds are laid out and secured with weights. In a crucible, the molten iron is carried from the furnace over to the moulds and the lava-like liquid metal is poured in. Once the iron has cooled down, the moulds are broken open and the finished product is revealed.
The foundry has many types of customers and commissions range from casting tiny jewellery elements to large pieces of garden furniture. But their specialisation is 19th-century design balustrades, panels, finials, etc. Beehive’s work can be seen all over London and includes the lamp posts along Chelsea Embankment and the railing heads at 10 Downing Street.
This is the only foundry left in London. Asked why their firm has survived while all the others have not, Ben says that it was “pure luck”. The industry suddenly faced tough competition from Asia, but the quality of mass-produced casting wasn’t the same and because Beehive Foundry stuck to tradition methods, their pieces had an unrivalled quality, which kept demand high.
Ben and the other Hoyles have no intention of giving up their unique, historic business and the only modernisation Luiz is thinking about right now is how to get more young people to learn the trade.
This article appeared in the June 2015 issue of E9 Magazine