Drogheda Engineering Industry Lecture

 

Old Drogheda Society

 

The fourth and final talk in the series hosted by The Mill Enterprise Centre and Drogheda Museum Millmount will take place tomorrow evening at 8pm.

It will focus on the engineering industry in Drogheda. Dan Mullan from the Museum, will be speaking on the history of engineering including Grendons Foundry and Drogheda Ironworks, and Stuart Carolan of Cisco Engineering Ltd will discuss how they built an engineering business in Drogheda.

The talk will look at the investment in Drogheda from German Engineering firm, Hauni during the 1960’s, and how its closure spawned a number of Entrepreneurs (including Cisco Engineering) in Drogheda when it closed in 1974.

Thomas Grendon & Company opened on the South Quay in Drogheda in 1835 and at its height in the mid nineteenth century, occupied a site from Old Graves Lane to Ship Street, employing over 600 people. Grendon’s built bridges, water tanks, drain covers, farming implements, lighthouse equipment, buoys, ships, steam boats, barges, train engines and some brass works.

They built Dominic's Bridge in Drogheda, the lattice railway bridge across the Royal Canal, the Obelisk Bridge across the Boyne at Oldbridge and many more bridges at home and abroad. In 1866 they constructed the Diving Bell used to create Dublin port and Alexandra Basin, which continued to be used until 1958.

They were the only commercial makers of broad-gauge steam locomotives in Ireland, and built around 50, supplying the Great Northern Railway, the Midland Great Western Railway, the Dublin to Kingstown Railway and most of the railways in Ireland between the years 1844 and 1885. One of their locomotives is in Brazil.

Their street drainage gratings can still be seen throughout Drogheda including Magdalene Street, Fair Street and Bolton Square.

Also on the night Stuart Carolan of Cisco Engineering will speak on the industry today. Cisco Engineering has been involved in many projects in the Louth area, including the Boyne Cable Bridge, Laurence Shopping Centre, and construction of the M1 Motorway.

Admission to the talks is free but places must be prebooked by ringing 041-9802444

Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage, Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097