INDUSTRIES in Yield Hall Lane, Minster Street, an old- established business which was in existence at the beginning of the century. At the town of Wallingford there are the Wallingford Ironworks, the property of Messrs. R. J. & H. Wilder, whose ancestor Mr. Leonard Wilder was engaged in the business in 1830, as we have already mentioned. At Newbury Messrs. Turk & Son carry on the work of iron and brass founders, and are chiefly engaged in the manufacture of agri- cultural implements. Wantage has been important in recent years as the seat of a large engineering works. In 1847 a foundry was started by Mr. Charles Hart, which has attained to more than local importance. He very quickly established a wide reputation for two specialities, ' the Berkshire Plough ' and a threshing machine. After ten years Mr. Hart disposed of the business to Messrs. P. & H. P. Gibbons, who carried on the works for thirty-one years. For some years the business was carried on by Messrs. Robinson & Auden, and upon their retirement Lord Wantage of Lockinge, out of consideration for the benefit of the town, took over the works, and carried them on under the title of the ' Wantage En- gineering Company, Limited.' Lord Wantage greatly improved the works by adding new and convenient buildings, increasing the size and capacity of those already in existence, and fitting up the whole with improved machinery. In the neighbourhood of Wantage at Challow there are the engineering works of Messrs. Nalder & Nalder, Limited, founded by Mr. Thomas Nalder. The firm is mainly engaged in the manufacture of agricultural implements. At Maidenhead Mr. Charles Batting (late Batting & Son) has an iron and brass foundry, founded in 1820, which forms the principal industry of its kind in the town and neighbour- hood. About fifteen years ago he acquired the works of Messrs. Bulstrode & Rogers. Mr. Batting is an engineer and mill furnisher and agricultural implements and machine maker, and was employed in the construction of eleven of the bridges spanning the Great Western Railway, erected recently during the widening of the line. New works were erected in 1904. The works of Messrs. H. Gibbons & Sons, Hungerford, were established in 1814 by Mr. Richard Gibbons, grandfather of the present head of the firm, and carried on in Bridge Street just below the Canal Bridge until 1840, when they were removed to Charnham Street. In 1869 the works were considerably enlarged. Messrs. Gibbons & Sons are contractors to the India Office, and are the patentees and manu- facturers of moulding machines for making moulds used in casting metals. They produce also several kinds of similar machines, lawn- mower grinders, deep well machinery, agri- cultural machinery and ploughs. Messrs. Cottrell, Rose & Co., Limited, of the Eddington Iron and Wagon Works, carry on the business of agricultural, mechanical, electrical and horticultural engineers, and are the manufacturers of all kinds of implements used in the industry of farming. The im- proved patent " Climax " folding elevator for stacking hay or corn is a speciality of the firm. At Abingdon Messrs. Benjamin Ballard & Son have a foundry. Nor is the industry limited to the principal towns in the county. Some of the smaller villages have useful establishments which serve the needs of an agricultural population, supply implements used in farming, and are able to execute the necessary repairs. Amongst these are the White Well Ironworks at Compton, the property of Messrs. Thomas Baker & Sons, the ironworks at Bucklebury owned by Messrs. Hedges & Son, Messrs. Smith & Sons at Steventon, and Mr. Henry Smith at Rus- combe. BOAT-BUILDING Boat-building was extensively carried on in Berkshire in former days when the Thames was the great highway for goods traffic from London to Windsor, Reading, Abingdon, Wallingford and Newbury. The industry can certainly claim a very respectable anti- quity, inasmuch as the same river which now affords a pleasing pastime for holiday- folk, with ' Youth on the prow and Pleasure at the helm,' was once traversed by the barges of the watermen in mediaeval and later times. 385 Modern requirements have greatly increased the trade. The fashionable house-boat, the racing craft, the steam and electric launch, the ordinary pleasure boat, are much sought after by the public, and in recent years many boat-building yards have sprung up along the banks of the Thames, where a large number of these crafts are constructed. No small proportion of the boats which assemble each year at Henley Regatta are made in the numer- ous workshops which line the Berkshire side 49
