Blacksmiths Forges at Underfall Yard workshop Bristol made by Andrew Handyside

Blacksmiths Forges at Underfall Yard workshop Bristol made late 1800's

Andrew Handyside Ltd of Derby who made Friargate bridge didnt just make bridges and fountains, they also made lots of stuff you may not know about such as forges !

The Britannia foundry in Derby had many forges at the time and I guess it was inevitable that they would also sell them but not many examples of them have survived the 130 years since they made them so it was really good to see these three forges in Bristol. 

I would like to say a massive thankyou to the staff at Underfall Yard for opening up the workshop for me to see them as it was closed when I visited.

In 19 years of researching Handyside stuff I have only found two places that still have intact Handyside Forges, the other place is Combe Mill in Oxfordshire, the forges at Underfall are in excellent condition as you can see below. If you know of any other forges made by Handyside around the world then please get in touch.

The three Andrew Handyside forges in a line : 

Andrew Handyside makers badge on the hood of the forge : 

Here is a little video I made in 2025 of the forges at Underfall Yard :

Here are examples of forges and hearths that Andrew Handyside used to sell, from their sales brochure of the time : 

Here is a 360 degree photograph I took for Google Streetview in front of one of the forges : 

I can highly recommend a visit to Underfall Yard if you are down that way, see their website for more information : https://underfallyard.co.uk/

Click here for a map location for Underfall Yard, Bristol, UK

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Andy

The Royal Drill Hall Derby built 1869, Roof by Andrew Handyside.

The Royal Drill Hall in Derby was built in 1869 Built for the 1st V.B. Sherwood Foresters (Notts. and Derbyshire Regiment), It had an impressive roof of 150 feet length by 75 feet span made from 72 tons of steel fabricated by Andrew Handyside . The Engineer was R.M. Ordish

This drill hall was demolished in 1969 to build Forester House.
Here is a video of where it was located and of the amazing roof made by Handyside.

Best viewed on a large computer screen or smart TV as this is recorded in 4K resolution with great music so a real waste watching it on a small phone screen. Did you know you can cast it to your smart tv from the YouTube app?

Wright’s 1874 directory of Derby lists the Beckett street premises thus:

THE ROYAL DRILL HALL well deserves a favourable notice. It occupies a site beyond the Convenient Poor Law offices and the Chapel of the United Free Methodists, in Beckett street, on the opposite side, and, with its suite of apartments, officers mess-rooms, stabling, and residences for those who have the care of the premises, extends along the greater part of Newland street. It was erected by voluntary subscription, for the special use of the Derbyshire Rifle Volunteers, and was built from the plans, and under the supervision of Mr. Robinson, architect, Derby, an officer of the force.

Kelly, 1891, describes:

The Royal Drill Hall, Becket street, built in 1869 by a limited liability Company, for the use of the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, comprises a hall 150 feet by 75 feet, with an and retiring rooms in addition there are orderly rooms, sergeants’ quarters, armoury and stabling.

My source "Steel & Iron structures made and erected by Andrew Handyside & Co Ltd Derby and London reproduced from photos taken on the spot."

Hope you find my video of interest, if you do then please leave a comment.

The massive steel roof structure in this drill hall was made in Derby by Andrew Handyside Ltd,  join my Andrew Handyside Facebook group to learn more :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/andrewhandyside

Thanks
Andy

My 1873 book "Works in Iron" by Andrew Handyside Ltd brought to life using A.I.

 I bought this 1873 book from an antique shop, it lists lots of stuff around the world made by the Derby firm Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge. It has full details on lots of their bridges such as Trent Bridge in Nottingham and I thought I would have a go at bringing the book to life. 

Hope you enjoy.

The book is a first edition of "Works in Iron - Bridge and Roof Structures" by Ewing Matheson of the firm Andrew Handyside And Co., Engineers, Derby and London. Published by E & F.N. Spon 1873.

It lists 60 examples of bridges and roofs they have made around the world.

I also have the 1877 Second edition.

Rigmaden Bridge, Mansergh Civil Parish, Cumbia, North West England built in 1872 by Andrew Handyside.

Andrew Handyside Ltd of Derby who made Friargate bridge made hundreds of bridges around the world of all sizes and styles, this is one such bridge which was made 5 years before Friargate bridge.

Rigmaden Bridge, Cumbria, UK built 1872

This is a single lane road bridge over the river Lune, west of Rigmaden in Cumbria and is Grade II listed. This bridge was built for the Rigmaden estate around 1872.

A total of 52 1/2 Tons of ironwork was shipped from Derby's Britannia foundry to the banks of the river Lune for assembly of this bridge.

It carried people and vehicles for almost 150 years but was closed in December 2021 after a structural assessment found it to be unsafe for pedestrians and vehicles.

In August 2025 the Department of transport committed £370,000 to the repair and strengthening of the Rigmaden bridge but apparently this is a tenth of what is needed to carry out the work.

I think its still not been repaired yet as of March 2026.

My sources :
Page 159 Example No 27 Works in Iron - Bridge and Roof Structures by Ewing Matheson of the firm Andrew Handyside and Co., Engineers, Derby and London. Published by E & F.N. Spon 1873.

This bridge has a 116' single span which is 12' 6" wide. The vertical struts in the main girders are of wrought iron.

The abutments are of stone, and the girders rest on cast iron bed-plates, planned to allow the girders to move, in case of expansion and contraction.

The bottom flange is composed of tie bars 9" by 13/16th". The top flange of wrought iron girder 1' 7" deep and 12" wide.

The roadway is composed of ordinary metalling on arched wrought-iron plates.

The weight of the two main girders is 16 tons, The cross girders 5 1/2 ton, The platform 20 tons and other ironwork is 11 tons.

I only found this bridge recently after seeing it in my 1873 book, great to see its still standing over 150 years later even if its not being used for its intended purpose at the moment.

Rigmaden is a hamlet in Mansergh Civil Parish, Cumbia in North West England.

Google Streetview of the bridge shows it as open in April 2009 and closed in the June 202 and April 2024 views.

I hope to see this bridge open again sometime in the future as Im sure the locals would too as they have to do a 40 minute detour.

Hope you found this post of interest. 

Hooghly (Howrah) Pontoon Bridge, Hooghly, Calcutta Made by Andrew Handyside in 1874. Demolished 1945

Did you know that Andrew Handyside who built Derby's Friargate bridge, built hundreds of other bridges around the world.

By 1892 over 270 bridges made at their Britannia Foundry were shipped to India. 

Hooghly (Howrah) Pontoon Bridge is one example, Work started on construction of this bridge in 1873, The bridge opened to traffic on October 17th October 1874.

This bridge was 1528 feet long and 62 foot wide, consisting of a 48-foot roadway and two 7 foot footpaths.  All the ironwork was fabricated by Andrew Handyside in Derby, a total of 2525 tons was shipped from Derby to India, assembled on site.

1500 tons of Johore teak wood was incorporated into the super-structure.

A colourised photograph from the 1890s of Hooghly (Howrah) Pontoon Bridge : 

Different parts were constructed in England and shipped to Calcutta, where they were assembled.

The assembling period was fraught with problems. The bridge was considerably damaged by the great cyclone on 20 March 1874. A steamer named Egeria broke from her moorings and collided head-on with the bridge, sinking three pontoons and damaging nearly 200 feet of the bridge.

From August 19th 1879 this bridge was illuminated by electric lampposts, powered by a dynamo at the Mullick Ghat pumping station.

The bridge was a floating pontoon bridge, carried by 28 narrow pontoons braced in couples. Each of the pontoons was moored to a 3 ton anchor with 450 foot of chain cable.

It had a 200-foot opening for ships to navigate under the bridge.

A colourised photograph from the 1910 of Hooghly (Howrah) Pontoon Bridge : 

This bridge lasted 70 years and was demolished in 1945 and a new bridge built which was a cantilever style, this bridge is known as the Rabindra Setu bridge.

Hope you found this of interest.

Stoke-on-Trent railway station - Roof and support columns made in 1893 by Andrew Handyside

Stoke-on-Trent Railway Station, originally opened in 1848 by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) and designed in a distinctive Neo-Jacobean style, it underwent a major improvement around 1893 with the addition of a significant glazed roof and many cast iron supports these were all made in Derby by Andrew Handyside. Their makers badges can be found throughout this station as you can see in the photographs. 

I would like to thank Oliver and Lyn Sharpe for the photographs.

At the base of the large cast iron supports for the entrance roof over the tracks you will find this Handyside makers mark :

This Handyside makers plaque dated 1893 is located on the support columns outside of Bod Stoke which is located on Platform 1, Stoke-On-Trent Railway Station : 

This Handyside makers plaque dated 1893 is located on the support columns outside of Bod Stoke which is located on Platform 1, Stoke-On-Trent Railway Station : 

At the base of the large cast iron supports for the entrance roof over the tracks : 

The classic glazed roof, built in 1893, that spans the platforms.

Large cast iron support for the entrance roof over the tracks with Handyside makers mark at the base :

Large cast iron support for the entrance roof over the tracks with Handyside makers mark at the base :

Hope you found this of interest.
Andy

Cake Mill "Cattle Cake Breaker" - Made by Andrew Handyside Ltd of Derby.

Andrew Handyside of Derby didn't just make bridges, fountains, post boxes and railway station roofs, they also made some rather unusual farm machinery as you can see here. This is the first time Ive actually seen a real one rather than in their brochures.

This item is a Cake Mill or "Cattle Cake Breaker" and was used on farms to break up Oilcake which comes in hard large slabs and needs to be broken up for cattle feed.

I would like to thank Ken Heathcote for getting in touch about this item and for sending me photographs after he had restored it. 

Here are four photographs showing the cake mill in its restored state.
Looking into this it would appear that Bentall and Co of Heybridge also made Cake Mills around this time. In 1876 there were 33 Oil and Cake Merchants in Hull, 1954 directory listed five Seed Crushers & Cattle Cake Manufacturers.

Feel free to link to my blog post about this item.

Thanks

Andy Savage