EMPIRE STONE WORKS

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 ACC/3496
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: EMPIRE STONE WORKS
Date(s)	: 1947-1990
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 4.55 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Empire Stone Works | manufacturers of concrete cladding

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Empire Stone Works was founded in 1900. It specialised in producing pre-cast concrete for cladding. This could incorporate colour pigment and also produce a hand-finished surface to match natural stone cills, copings and cornices. The factory dominated the Leicestershire village of Narborough, with its own rail sidings, and employed over 300 people. The company ceased trading in 1994, soon after the completion of the MI6 building at Vauxhall Cross.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the The Empire Stone Works, consisting of rolled plans, 1950-1990, from the Drawing Office at Narborough. Among the buildings with which the company was involved are: Battersea Park Pagoda, British Museum, Ford Factory Dagenham, Bank of England, Haberdasher's Hall, Westminster Abbey, Royal Ballet School, Royal Free Hospital and Kingston Power Station.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The original references have been kept but there were 2 series. All plans beginning with the prefix L{A}, L{B}, L{C} relate to London. Some other places in London, particularly those in outer London, appear in a separate series for the whole county using the first letter of the place as a prefix: e.g. B177 relates to Bromley. Not all these numbers have survived.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright rests with the City of London.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

These plans were rescued from a derelict building, days before it was demolished. Plans relating to London came to the then Greater London Record Office, together with index cards for the whole of the existing plan collection.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated to the Archive in 1995.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The Company's records have been deposited at Leicestershire Record Office, Long Street, Wigston Magna, Leicester LE18 2AH (Accession DE4570). The Birmingham plans went to Birmingham City Archives, Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ. Plans of Marks and Spencers' stores were separated out by their consulting engineers WSP Kenchington Ford of Birmingham.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
July to October 2009