Trivia Investigation Team

[mickthemaverick]

A quick delve with DDG did indeed produce an interesting article which included this paragraph:

At the other end of the scale are the 1960’s lightweight yet sturdy wheelbarrows from Ironcrete. These were a large range of wheelbarrows to suit the busy gardener and available with either a galvanized or a red polythene body. Ironcrete wheelbarrows had a lightweight tubular frame and either a solid narrow wheel or a pneumatic tyre. This is something our Edwardian gardener would have dearly loved to have had no doubt.

You can find the full wheelbarrow story here!

Maybe one of the first dual purpose gardening aids?

[CitroJim]

That was a fascinating little dig into the depths of the Internet... I recall their rollers but not their mowers... The 'Valor' from the 50s with a BSA engine sounds interesting - as revealed by the Old Lawnmower Club website - but sadly I could find no pictures of it on that website or Google Images - just loads of pictures of their garden rollers...

Most enjoyable!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Thanks Mick and Jim I can now regurgitate some stuff from Graces Guide the go to place for British Industrial History and I'll answer those questions.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Main_Page

or have a dip into graces guide and bring back some more related "Ironcrete" trivia to the thread.

Burn find

What is it

Ironcrete into graces Guide's search box leads to the page dedicated to Scoffin and Willmott (name-noticers top name!), Ironcrete Works Barking Essex https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Scoffin_and_Willmott

and low and behold we have a 1938 advert for our roller which is a 14" Diameter, and the pair of rollers would equal 14" width, and cost around 28/- in 1938

https://graces-guide-s3-live.s3.amazonaws.com/gracesguide/5/52/ImIDH1938-ScoffinWillmott.jpg

More to follow...


Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Is there a similar image on the World Wide Web

Graces Guide again comes up with the goods



There is more...

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Once you know the Scoffin and Willmott Ltd. of Ironcrete Works, Barking, Essex connection the door is opened to the Barking and District Historical Society...and their piece about Scoffin and Willmott, er...probably too much detail but an interesting read.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2507134 ... 923240155/

One comment was on the Telephone number which they maintained at 3333 but swopped exchanges from Grangewood to Rippleway as noted at the heading of the letter.

Click to enlarge
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4021264767961269&set=pcb.514274923240155

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

A return to the scene of the burn find gathered another couple of bits of the roller from the water, along with one bit of the ironwork which hadn't totally been carried or eroded away.

Ironcrete roller two extra bits.
burn find 16/04/2023
NF Original

Surviving ironwork
burn find 16/04/2023
NF Original

Neil

[CitroJim]

Being a SouthWesterner I initially thought 'burn find' was a spelling error or a quirk of a spellchecker when what you really meant was 'barn find' Neil...

After a bit of re-reading I get it... We don't call them that down our way! A burn is what happens if you touch something hot...

[NewcastleFalcon]

Being a SouthWesterner I initially thought 'burn find' was a spelling error or a quirk of a spellchecker when what you really meant was 'barn find' Neil...

After a bit of re-reading I get it... We don't call them that down our way! A burn is what happens if you touch something hot...

Here's some old cars going through the same "burn" Jim a little further upstream. There is a Ford but the rally route specified use of the wooden bridge, but many had a paddle and had to reverse back and use the bridge as intended.




Neil

[CitroJim]

Wow! That's magic Neil

Looks like huge fun!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Being a SouthWesterner I initially thought 'burn find' was a spelling error or a quirk of a spellchecker when what you really meant was 'barn find' Neil...

After a bit of re-reading I get it... We don't call them that down our way! A burn is what happens if you touch something hot...

Back in North-West Durham and going back to Old Norse, a small stream the proper name of it being the Smallhope Burn was always known as just "The Beck", a fairly common North of England name.

In those days of my youth, "The Beck" in spite of regularly being the chosen location for sheep to expire and happily rot, and in general an overgrown and uncared for little stream, was a haven for a decent population of water rats and sand martins.


Water Vole on Boot Hill (5592665124)
Peter Trimming from Croydon, England, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Neil

[CitroJim]

All these different names for small watercourses Neil

Down in Somerset they're called rhynes...

Up here in my adopted homeland they're largely known as brooks...

[Hell Razor5543]

While in Scotland they are known as burns.

[mickthemaverick]

In Hertfordshire they are either streams or brooks depending on who you are talking to!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Before the Trivia Investigation thread moves to its next thing, to conclude "Ironcrete" a bit of colour brings life to this bit of more contemporary promotional material. Not bad Ironcrete, bright colourful, and a bit of character in the moustachioed Gardener with his natty waistcoat, hat, and very sharp winklepickers.

It is a very good bit of graphic art

https://vhgmc.co.uk/photo-galleries/ironcrete/ironcrete-brochure-imgiron001/

Neil

[CitroJim]

I just love those old ads and their graphics That one's a bit of a classic and how the gardener is depicted is very much of its time... I remember them looking just like that...