Manholes,Drains and Gully Grates

While out taking pictures the other day my eye caught the sun glinting off a drain cover.
Having spent much of my working life in the production and distribution of steel, I tend to look out for the manufacturers name. (I once saw my own writing on a steel plate in a distributors yard in Ireland)...

...and if you walk over Sydney Harbour Bridge you can see universal beams with 'Appleby Frodingham' stamped on them.

As a youth at John White and Sons, Auchtermuchty,I remember the smell of the foundry casts as they were filled with molten metal.

I got to thinking about the decline of steel making in the uk.
I found an article in this months Financial Times that makes for grim reading.
UK set to slide in steel rankings

In 1850 we were responsible for two-thirds of global production.

In the early 1970s we were the fourth largest steel producer behind Japan, the US and Germany.

In 2009 we were responsible for 0.8 percent of the worlds output.

According to projections from Meps, a steel consultancy,this year our output will drop to 0.6 percent of the worlds output.
That's us down to 18th below Spain,Iran and Mexico (I remember a lot of steelworkers in the 70's being tempted by the big money in Mexico).

The UK set the rest of the world on industrialisation.
Many of the names etched on the pictures below will have long since ceased to exist.
Isn't it time we got busy again ?




























Added 3rd of November 2010.




The one above is of quite a bit of interest to me.

While living and working in England I occasionally delivered steel by lorry.
One regular customer was Misterton Castings at Misterton near Gainsborough.Although they were still trading in the 90's I've a feeling that this is another iron and steel company that no longer exists.

This drain is situated near Douglas Ewart High School,Newton Stewart.

Added 26th of November.

Here's a few more.The newer the product,the further south the production by the look of it.