Cromptons Arc Works (EHER 15309)

Early 19th century iron foundry converted to electrical component works in 1878, now mostly demolished.

The exact date the foundry was established is unclear, but it does appear on the 1848 tithe map (ERO/D/CT/72) and on the first edition OS map of 1874. T. Bewley, whose father J. Bewley founded the Bewley foundry in New Street, set up the business in Anchor Street. The site was enlarged in 1878, when the foundry was taken over by Colonel Compton who established the Arc Works. The evolution of the site has seen the demolition of the original foundry buildings, which now form a car park/yard. A wall along the north of the site fronting onto Anchor Street with a small central window and ventilation slats is all that survives. To the east is the remains of the Arc Works now called Devon House (31471) <1> The Anchor Works (TL 7053 0612) began as an ironworks in the early 19th century. With a house fronting Moulsham Street, this large concern also had frontages on Queen Street and Anchor Street, and it is on the latter that industrial buildings survive. The works was acquired by R.E.B. Crompton in or before 1878. Crompton, a pioneer in the development of electrical components, was engaged in electrical engineering by 1886 if not before (Kelly's 1886), manufacturing arc lights and dynamos, at what came to be known as Crompton's Arc Works. Following a fire in 1895 Crompton and Co. built a new factory in Writtle Road, while retaining the Moulsham Street address at least until 1902 (Kelly's 1899, 1902). From that year the southern part of the site was adapted by the Clarkson and Capel Steam Car Syndicate Ltd. for the manufacture of steam cars, while the northern part appears to have been rebuilt as a power station for the Chelmsford Electric Lighting Co. Ltd. (Kelly's 1902). Both concerns changed their names at an early date: the car factory is listed as [Thomas] Clarkson Ltd. in 1906 and as the National Steam Car Co. in 1914, while the power station appears as the Electric Supply Corporation from 1908 (Kelly's 1906-14). The latter is marked as an Electricity Works on the 1919 Ordnance Survey; the 'Motor Works' was still operating at the time of the 1940 revision (OS Essex NLIV.15, 1919 and 1940). The site includes a house, which faces Moulsham Street to the east; dating from the mid-19th century, and thus from the ironworks phase of the site; it is currently a private residence, while the remainder of the southern part of the site (extending as far as Queen Street) has been redeveloped for housing. The former electricity works, fronting Anchor Street (formerly Upper Anchor Street), is now the Devon House Health and Fitness Club, and is listed Grade II. The earliest surviving elements of the complex are possibly two ranges to the rear of the Anchor Street frontage, and are probably fragments of the ironworks/car factory. Of brick construction, one with a slate roof and the other with corrugated asbestos cement, they present few features on the visible parts of the exterior, but both have a series of cast-iron fixing plates which may be associated with internal line-shafting. The range fronting Anchor Street has stylistic details suggesting a date around 1900, and appears to be the purpose-built electricity works which was established by 1902. A highly simplified elevation of the works, submitted as part of a 1904 application to erect a wrought-iron boiler house chimney, corresponds in essentials to the present structure (ERO, D/B7 Pb 120). It shows, from east to west, an entrance and covered yard, a three-bay two-storey office range, a tall north-lit engine house with a large stack inset in the west wall, and a lower boiler house with a frontage similar to that of the engine house. The 1919 Ordnance Survey map shows the boiler house extending further to the rear than the engine house, and also a rear range behind the offices (OS 1919). The entrance (minus its root), offices and engine house survive, together with what may be a fragment of the boiler house, west of a later house. The engine house consists of a tall single storey presenting six bays to the street, while the two-storeyed office range, fenestrated as three bays, occupies a single wide brickwork panel, to the east. At the east end there is a contemporary yard entrance. The building has a high plinth, in blue engineering brick, rising to a ground-floor sandstone sill band, and thereafter pier-and-panel walling in yellow brick, with detailing in orange brick and terracotta. The detailing includes aprons to the windows, and fluted terracotta key-blocks to the heads (cambered on the office windows, semicircular on the tall workshop windows), and moulded imposts, cornices, copings and finials. Pediments distinguish the office front (swept) and the large workshop entrance (segmental), which has a keysforie. The original central office entrance has been reduced to a small window, and the westernmost workshop window has been lowered to provide an additional doorway. The workshop consists of two north-lit elements, gabled east-west, the north roof having a blocked oculus to the west. West of the main range there is a length of wall in yellow brick, incorporating a louvred window; this appears to be a small fragment of the boiler house, retained as part of an electricity sub-station. South west of the street front there is a two-storeyed range, probably steel-framed, with steel trusses and a covering of asbestos. It appears to date from the inter-war period, and has large windows suggesting a continuing manufacturing or assembly role for the works at this date.<2>. The site lies at the Moulsham Street end of Anchor Street, on the SW corner. The building extends back over half the distance between Anchor and Queen Street and forms the W boundary of the Crompton site. The rest of the factory is now occupied by Last's motor car showroom and garage and is bounded by Savernake Lodge, a Victorian residence overlooking St johns church and formerly the residence of Col. Crompton. Crompton first came to the Anchor Street Works in 1871 when it belonged to valve manufacturers T.H.P. Dennis and Co. In 1878 and following a visit to Paris to inspect Grammes ring-wound dynamos, Crompton and a colleague started to manufacture electric lighting plant at the Chelmsford factory. Thus the firm of Crompton and Co. electric lighting was founded. Crompton developed and manufactured various forms of arc lamps. In collaboration with Emil Burgin Crompton designed a new type of generator which was produced at Chelmsford. Manufacture of lighting expended at the Anchor works with installation made for Whiteleys of London, the new Law Courts, mansion House, Buckingham Palace, Windsor castle and Holyrood. The largest installation designed for Berechurch hall Colchester. In 1886 he formed the pioneer electricity supply company the Kensington Court Company , the Kensington and Knightsbridge Electric Supply Co. In 1885, there was a fire at the Anchor Street Works, although the power generating station remained undamaged. Crompton acquired a larger site in Writtle Road. The generating station was taken over by the Chelmsford Electric Supply Co. In 1901 the first electric street lighting was installed by Crompton in Chelmsford. The Anchor Street works was taken over by the London Electric Supply Co. Ltd who kept the original generators and steam engines until 1931. In 1948 the company was nationalised , the eastern Electricity Board using the anchor works as a local HQ. The Anchor Street building frontage was renamed Devon House and is the HQ for Sacks and Brendlor Ltd (1979). <2> <3> Plans in ERO <4>. Additional references <5> <6> An archaeological evaluation at Devon House in 2008 uncovered substantial remains relating to the ironworks. <7> The Grade II listed lighting station is divided into three distinct areas, the engine room, ‘office range’-originally perhaps a switch room, pump room or accumulator room- and possible stores at the back. Part of the original boiler house wall survives against the street frontage. The interiors were seriously altered in the inter-war period and during the 1980s. Floors, walls and windows have been inserted and former apertures blocked. The structure is typical of late 19th and early 20th-century industrial design, in pier and panel construction, with large north lights and long arched windows to light the open working floor. The street frontage is particularly elaborate incorporating highly-styled Victorian and baroque elements in yellow and red brick which, along with the site’s rich industrial past, is the reason for its protected status. <8> <9> <10> Information from NRHE TL 7053 0612. The Anchor Works began as an ironworks in the early 19th century. It was acquired by REB Crompton, a pioneer in the development of electrical components, in or about 1878, and came to be known as Crompton's Arc Works. Following a fire in 1895 Crompton and Co moved to Writtle Road (TL 60 NE 53), and from 1902 the site was adapted by Thomas Clarkson for the manufacture of steam cars. The range fronting on to Anchor Street has stylistic details suggesting a date of around 1900, it is listed Grade II. To the west is a small building vented by a wooden louvre - probably a transformer house. To the rear are two brick ranges which are the earliest surviving elements of the complex. A house facing on to Moulsham Street also dates from the ironworks phase of the site. In the yard off Anchor Street is a two-storeyed range, which is probably inter-war in date. The remainder of the site has been cleared and redeveloped for housing. <11> <12> <13>