Cambridge IAG – The Headley Iron Works, Plus!

The talk will be given by Professor Helen Weinstein who will be sharing her research on Headly, a local foundry and engineering company. The firm’s Eagle Foundry was originally based on Cambridge Market Place from the 1830s, later moving to a site off Mill Road before finally relocating to Cheddars Lane in the 1890s.

Professor Weinstein will chart the social and industrial history of this important local company whose products included bridges, boilers, railings, garden ornaments, gas-works and brewery fittings, a steam locomotive and stationary engines. Headly also ran a coprolite mining and milling company. The talk will give insights about the skilled Victorian workers who lived in the streets nearby, such as the foundry managers, turners and moulders. Helen will also show how the Headly foundry and coprolite mill contributed to the local business economy.

This will be a richly illustrated talk with photos taken by Helen of objects and documents in archives not only at the Cambridge Museum of Technology, but also in the Cambridgeshire Archives at Ely and the Cambridgeshire Collection, and in some watery outdoor environments!

Helen Weinstein is the Director of HistoryWorks and started research about Headlys in her role as the Community Historian for the Sturton Town local history project telling the stories in and around the new development called ‘Ironworks’.

Tickets for the talk are available on the door for £3 a head.