Paul Dadson enthuses

about a common but unglamorous

building material

REDISCOVERING

CORRUGATED IRON

My interest in this material came about

when I was searching for a dissertation

subject for the AA Conservation Course.

I have to admit that, when a friend first

suggested corrugated iron to me as a

subject, I thought she was ‘off her rocker’,

but as I had not got a better idea at the

time I decided to do some research — and

the rest is history! There is only space

here to scratch the surface. But I hope

that what follows may begin to challenge

some who have dismissive thoughts about

the material as I once had.

OIUGINS

The first iron sheets made in Britain were

rolled at the end of the 18th century for

the recently introduced tinplate industry.

Sheets were rolled from iron bars in

rolling mills know as “Two High Mills”

similar in conception to the old fashioned

kitchen mangles. The traditional sheet-

using trades of the Midlands were nail

making, the toy trade and tinplate

production.

The progress of the industrial

revolution brought an increasing demand

for much larger industrial and public

buildings, railway stations being an

obvious example. The traditional roofing

materials of tiles and slates were not

suitable for the large spans of the new

buildings and the traditional sheet

roofing materials of copper and lead were

expensive and inappropriate for utility

buildings.

In the Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm

and Villa Architecture (1833), Loudon

refers to iron sheet being used in Moscow

in 1814. Sheet iron coverings were

universally made use of on all new

buildings in Petersburg and Moscow by

1832.

The corrugation of sheet iron increases

the strength of the material significantly.

It is claimed in Loudon’s encyclopaedia

that “Walker of Rotherhithe” was the

inventor of corrugated iron. However the

first patent connected with corrugated

iron was granted to Henry R Palmer of

Richard Walker 1832 advertisement in Robson ‘s

London Directory.

the London Docks, a London civil

engineer, in 1829. Palmer did not claim as

his invention the mode of forming sheets

— “the means of producing such forms

being well known”. But he claimed

originality for its application to roofs and

walls.

It seems that the material was first

used for large-span roofs in the London

Docks. The corrugation of sheet iron was

an ingenious invention in itself but

almost at once it was found that by

curving the sheet it could be connected

with other sheets to form an arch to

provide a self supporting roof.

The galvanising of corrugated iron

sheets began around the late 1830s

following the adaptation of an already

known process created by Sorel in Paris in

1836. Nevertheless it soon became clear

that galvanising only forms a temporary

protection against weather attack or indeed

by steam and gas from locomotives.

PORTABLE BUILDINGS

The saying goes that “necessity is the

mother of invention”. Corrugated iron

filled an essential need for roofing large

span structures. But the material is also

ideally suited to prefabrication in terms of

workable sized sheets, relative lightness,

strength and compactness, that it is easy

to imagine that it was invented specifically

for that purpose. Indeed no other material

has been so inherently suitable.

In the mid- 19th century there were a

few pioneering manufacturers of portable

buildings. One of these firms, Richard

Walker & Sons, had a lead over its

competitors for several years. But by the

1840s several leading firms were

producing catalogues of their own work

and advertising in the journals of the day.

Such was the novelty of these buildings

that they attracted considerable public

attention. The range of products grew

progressively though the 19th century as

the manufacturers exploited the market

potential. A few of the firms developed a

definite style in their buildings and some

were also able to specialise in producing

particular types of buildings, for example

churches and chapels. The export

potential for portable buildings was soon

recognised by the manufacturers and they

were quick to exploit this potential when

the opportunity arose, for example with

the Californian Gold Rush in the mid-

19th century and the Gold Strike in

Australia during the same period.

Among the many hundreds of

buildings that were exported were a few

architectural gems, for example, the Iron

Palace for King Eyambo manufactured by

Lacock of Liverpool in 1843. When

Lacock built his Iron Palace in his yard

before its exportation to Africa he opened

it to a public exhibition and charged an

entry fee which went to charity.

Prince Albert was so impressed by the

technical ingenuity of Edward T

Bellhouse’s work in Manchester that in

1851 he commissioned Bellhouse to

construct a Ballroom at Balmoral Castle.

Bellhouse developed an impressive

capability to handle large buildings

especially for export to South America.

This firm is most renowned for

producing in 1854 the Custom House

and General Store for Payta Peru. This

building attracted huge public attention

when erected in Manchester prior to

export as reported and described in the

Civil Engineer and Architects Journal

which stated that it was inspected by

25,000 people in ten days. Charles D

Young and Company of Edinburgh had a

reputation founded upon production of

fine prefabricated cast-iron buildings.

They also produced a range of simple

corrugated iron structures for export.

Young illustrated these utilitarian

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