Story of Wandsworth

Factories and furnaces

Photo of Price's candles and cycle lamp oil products
Price's candles and cycle
lamp oil

New industries developed along the Thames during the 19th century. The river supplied plenty of water to run steam engines and other manufacturing processes. It also provided cheap and easy transport for bulky and fragile goods. Price's Candles and Morgan's Crucibles were amongst the companies that built major factories here.

Painting of the Orlando Jones' Starch Factory, York Road, Battersea, c. 1850
Orlando Jones' Starch Factory,
York Road, Battersea, c. 1850

Smaller works were also set up, making a variety of goods such as gas mantles, pencils and bottled water. These new industries, together with railways, attracted many workers to the area. Shops, laundries and other businesses developed specifically to meet the demands of the growing local population.

 

  1. Introduction
  2. Prehistoric times
  3. Roman lives
  4. Medieval villages
  5. Tudor and Stuart times
  6. Civil war
  7. Refugees from Europe
  8. Georgian Wandsworth
  9. The Mayor of Garratt
  10. The Surrey Iron Railway
  11. The railway revolution
  12. You are here: Factories and furnaces
  13. Building the suburbs
  14. Schools and other services
  15. Time off
  16. Radical Battersea
  17. The First World War
  18. The 1920s and 1930s
  19. The Second World War
  20. Into the 50s
  21. A new landscape
  22. The Festival of Britain and the Coronation
  23. The 1960s – amalgamation of the boroughs
  24. The Changing face of Wandsworth

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