Description and History of Site:-
The 1884 Commercial & General Directory advertises the products and services of Ellison & Fawcett who owned and operated Providence Iron Works situated on Cavendish Street and Cross Street, Skipton, close to the Midland railway goods yard. Sometime between 1884 and 1906, John Varley took over the Providence Iron Works. Directors were R.Varley, W. Varley and E.J. Varley. (The firm also operated another iron foundry ten miles away in Keighley). In August 1906 the Craven Almanac advertised the products and services of John Varley Iron founders and also reported that at Keighley, one of the firm's employees, Stephen Lofthouse was killed due to the bursting of a grinding wheel.
Alan McEwen the founder and owner of H.A.McEwen ( Boiler Repairs ) Limited whilst operating his steam boiler engineering firm from nearby Craven Works, Cavendish Street, Skipton in the early 1970s became well-acquainted with Varley & Co's, iron founding had finished in the late1960s (they were still supplying man-hole covers to new-build housing estates in Silsden up to 1966). Director, Doug Varley, kindly presented Alan McEwen with a large box of rare-to-find locomotive firebox stay-taps. Mr. Varley explained that throughout the previous half century his firm had carried out significant manufacture of diverse iron castings, while also carrying out repairs large and small of specialised plant in the local limestone quarries, woollen and worsted mills, and cotton mill machinery over the border in Lancashire. Amongst the cast-iron products were man-hole lids and gratings, street furniture and a wide range of domestic coal-fired heating ranges and stoves. An undated Varley catalogue seen from the early 1900's also lists products and services supplied as; warehouse cranes, sewage distribution plant, fire escapes, foot bridges, dye works tanks and repairs to gas engines.
Varley Engineering closed in the early 1980s. -

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Key Words :- iron founding engineers

Viewing the Site :- Externally from the public footpath, the building is now an antique shop and can be viewed internally.

Address :- Cavendish Street, Skipton, Skipton, North Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SD 98735 51415
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.958821 , Long -2.020767
Local Authority :- Craven District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to industrial / commercial use
Record Date :- 17 August 2022

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Andrew Garford