Steel Building and Windows of former Rolls-Royce Motor Works on Nightingale Road, Derby built by Handyside in 1907. (now Demolished)

NOTE : This no longer exists! The entire factory site apart from the facade was demolished and cleared in 2011.
The Derby firm Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge in Derby also manufactured steel structures for buildings around the world. Here in my dedicated blog to this company I am detailing every item I can find manufactured by them.
The steel fabricated building and Windows of former Rolls-Royce Motor Works on Nightingale Road, Derby built by Andrew Handyside in 1907.

This steel fabrication project was one of the last commissions by Andrew Handyside before the untimely collapse of the company.
In 1907 Royce himself wrote to Derby Solicitor C.R.B. Eddowes...

"Mr Royce and Mr johnson are of the opinion that if the work of erecting the buildings is entrusted to such a firm as Messrs Handyside of Derby it would be quite unnecessary to employ an architect to prepare drawings or to supervise the erection of the buildings as Messrs Handyside are engaged and have for some years been engaged in erecting buildings of a similar nature and are thoroughly competent and trustworthy firm"
(Nixon 1969, page 171)

As a side note - The Derby Solicitors used by RR back then are still going today www.ewlaw.co.uk !

This particular project was delevered to this site from Britannia Iron Works using horse and cart! well it was a local delivery !

Below are some photographs of the Rolls-Royce Motor Works on Nightingale Road, Derby, Derbyshire, UK. The original factory which opened (officially) on 9th July 1908 consisted of what became known as Number 1 shop. In those days RR only made cars. Aero engines were to come later.

Andrew Handyside fabricated the steel structure and also the windows for the RR Motorworks here on Nightingale Road.

Photograph showing the facade of the RR building on Nightingale Road.


These Photographs courtesy of Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust.
A view inside the building showing the structure of the building by Handyside.


Another view inside the building showing the structure of the building by Handyside.



The aerial view photo doesn’t show the commercial block which stood between the workshop & Nightingale Road. The commercial block was built in 1912 so the photos are of an era between 1908 when the factory opened and 1912 when the commercial block was built.



As you can see in the view from above the site was massive (click on "Sat"):

View Larger Map


Google Streetview:
The Google streetview car has captured this location well and you can see the facade of the building. See it HERE.

Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the exact location of this bridge on the world map.
My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

Can you help find more Handyside stuff ?
If anyone out there knows of any items around the world bearing the Handyside badge that I have not mentioned yet then please get in touch with details, location, photographs etc.

Thanks
Andy

Chapelfield Road and Union Street viaducts for Manchester Piccadilly railway line built by Andrew Handyside around 1840.

The Derby firm Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge in Derby also made many hundreds of other bridges of many different sizes around the world. Here in my dedicated blog to this company I am detailing every item I can find manufactured by them.
In Manchester there are many viaducts that cross roads leading into Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station. Some of these viaducts have the plaque "A. HANDYSIDE & Co Ld Derby & London".
Thanks to Google Streetview its possible to wander around these viaducts to inspect them for Handyside plaques.
I have managed to find two that still have the plaques. These are over Chapelfield Road and Union Street. I dare say some of the other viaducts into this station may well have been made by Handyside but the badges have fallen off.

Manchester Piccadilly (Manchester London Road until 1960) is the principal railway station in Manchester,
The station opened on 8 May 1842 as Store Street station and as Bank Top station, The station was then renamed London Road station in 1847, London Road station. It was then renamed yet again to Manchester Piccadilly when it reopened after reconstruction on 12 September 1960.

Handyside plaque on the viaduct carrying the railway lines into Manchester over Chapelfield Road.

Chapelfield Road Under the viaduct leading to Piccadilly Station

Google Streetview:
The Google streetview car has captured this location well and you can clearly see the Andrew Handyside plaque on the ironwork. See it HERE.
Also the plaque on Union Street viaduct too HERE.

Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the exact location of this bridge on the world map.
My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

Can you help find more Handyside stuff ?
If anyone out there knows of any other bridges around the world bearing the Handyside badge that I have not mentioned yet then please get in touch with details, location,photographs etc.

Thanks
Andy

Fountain in Pearson Conservatory, St. Georges Park, South Africa, Made By Andrew Handyside about 1882.

Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge also made lots of decorative fountains. These fountains were made right here in Derby at the Duke Street Foundry "Britannia Iron Works". Andrew Handyside exported many decorative fountains around the world during the Victorian era.  The Britannia Foundry's work was well known for its fine quality so these fountains can be found all over the globe but where exactly they are located is difficult to find out.

Here is one I found last year but decided now was a good time to post about it due to the fact that I've just seen it in the background of a TV Advert !!!
This Handyside fountain is located inside the Pearson Conservatory, St. Georges Park, South Africa. It was made in Derby around 1882.

This particular design of fountain is listed as Design Number 15 on Page 30 of the 1879 publication "An Illustrated book of Designs for Fountains and Vases, costing from £1 to £1200 manufactured by Andrew Handyside".  Its the same design as the one at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, Australia. and the one at Sarmiento School Fountain in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, South America.

Photograph of the Handyside fountain :

The TV Advert for Truvia sweetener that features this fountain.


The advert was filmed in St. Georges Park, South Africa, the advert is set in a greenhouse originally brought from Scotland in 1882. Filled with hundreds of locally grown Stevia plants, the scene brought beauty and nature together in perfect syngery. In the advert Ebony Buckle, a classically trained singer takes centre stage as she sings ‘Truvia® Scrumptious’ to the tune of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s iconic ‘Truly Scrumptious’.

Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the exact location of this fountain on the world map.
My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

Can you help find more Andrew Handyside stuff ?
If anyone out there knows of any other Fountains around the world bearing the Handyside badge that I have not mentioned yet then please get in touch with details, location, photographs etc.

Thanks
Andy

Former New Brighton Tower, Wallasey, Merseyside, UK Built by Andrew Handyside in 1896 (now Demolished).

NOTE : This no longer exists! It was completely demolished in 1919.

Update : October 2022, Darren of the YouTube channel AdventureMe has made a really interesting and details video about this wonderful structure, highly recommend you watch it :

https://youtu.be/Z27vSyceY4Y

You may have seen this on Episode 7 of the BBC2 TV Series "Britain's First Photo Album - Liverpool to Blackpool" shown on Tuesday 20th March 2012.

Did you know that Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge in Derby also made the Structural steelwork and cast-ironwork for many buildings around the world and they were made right here in Derby at the Britannia Ironworks.

The New Brighton Tower was inspired by the Eiffel Tower (Paris, 1889) and built as the centre of a popular amusement park and pleasure garden. Located near Liverpool in Wallasey, Merseyside.

At the time, this was the highest structure in England !

It was begun in 1896, finished about 1900 at a cost of £120,000. The architects were Maxwell and Turk of Manchester

According to my 1904 guide published by Andrew Handyside the tower was 574 Foot high (From the ground to the top of the Cooper Ball on the flag-staff) and the base was 143 foot wide.

The weight of Steel used in the Tower is 1,760 Tons
The weight of Steel in the buildings surrounding the tower is 650 Tons.
Handyside designed it with an octagonal cross-sectional design unlike the simple square plan used on Blackpool Tower (518 feet, built 1894).

In the building which surrounded the base of the tower was a ballroom and other popular assembly spaces.

The tower had four lifts to take sightseers to the top of the structure at a cost of 6d.
From there you could see for miles around including the Isle of Man, part of the Lake District and the Welsh Mountains. The Tower attracted a half a million people in its opening year.
During the first world war the steel structure was neglected and became rusty through lack of maintenance and the cost of renovating was more than the owner could afford.

The top portion of the structure commenced to be dismantled on 7th May 1919 and was completed by June 1921 (see the photographs below)
The brick portion comprising of the Ballroom and Theatre remained, together with the turrets. During the Second World War the basement was used as a communal air-raid shelter.
The remaining parts of the surrounding buildings were destroyed by fire in 1969, the entire area was redeveloped as River View Park. Nothing remains of this site.


Photographs of this Victorian Tower built by Andrew Handyside.


Photograph by Noctorum.

Photograph by Andrew Handyside at the time of construction of the lower section of the tower from 1897 :

1912 Souvenir Guide for the New Brighton Tower and Amusement Park.

Photograph by Noctorum.

New Brighton Tower Guide Cover.

Photograph by Noctorum.

Photograph showing the tower during its demolition 1919-1921.

Photograph by Les Ward.

A video "Wallasey - New Brighton Tower's Rise & Fall"
From 1897 to 1969, when the Tower met its final demise. This short pictoral history video captures what has gone and in many ways been forgotten.

Video by Parapiranha.

Learn more about New Brighton Tower here :
http://www.liberator31.co.uk/wallasey/towergrounds/index.html


My Reference :
Page 38 of Steel & Iron Structures Made and erected by Andrew Handyside & Co Ltd of Derby and London. Published 1904.

Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the original exact location of this tower on my world map.
My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

Can you help find more Andrew Handyside stuff ?
If anyone out there knows of any other items around the world bearing the Handyside badge that I have not mentioned yet then please get in touch with details, location, photographs etc.

Thanks
Andy

Drinking fountain in St Pancras Old Church Gardens built by Andrew Handyside in 1877.

Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge also made lots of decorative fountains. These fountains were made right here in Derby at the Duke Street Foundry "Britannia Iron Works".

Andrew Handyside exported many decorative fountains around the world during the Victorian era.
The Britannia Foundry's work was well known for its fine quality so these fountains can be found all over the globe but where exactly they are located is difficult to find out.
Thankfully because of my research here people are beginning to contact me with details of Handyside work, I am then able to add it to my world map. It really helps my research being able to use Flickr to see these items for myself and share these finds with the world.

This drinking fountain is located in the gardens of St Pancras Old Church, London.
Dated 1877 on plaque. Manufactured by Andrew Handyside and Co of Derby for William Thornton, a
senior Church Warden who presented it to the church.

This particular design of fountain is listed as Design Number 48 on Page 40 of the 1879 publication "An Illustrated book of Designs for Fountains and Vases, costing from £1 to £1200 manufactured by Andrew Handyside".

There is another of these fountains and in much better condition in Australia.
See my post : Belcher Drinking Fountain in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Photographs of this fountain.

View of the fountain in the Church gardens.


View of the top of the fountain.


The makers badge on the base of the fountain.


Showing the location of the fountain within the church gardens





Google Streetview of this fountain.

Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the exact location of this fountain on the world map.
My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

Can you help find more Andrew Handyside stuff ?
If anyone out there knows of any other Fountains around the world bearing the Handyside badge that I have not mentioned yet then please get in touch with details, location, photographs etc.

Thanks
Andy

Footbridge at King's Cross Railway Station, London was made by Andrew Handyside in 1892.

The Derby firm Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge in Derby also made many hundreds of other bridges of many different sizes around the world such as this world famous footbridge which up until December 2008 was located in King's Cross Railway Station, London, UK.

As well as King's Cross footbridge, this bridge has many other names such as The Harry Potter Bridge, Handyside bridge.

Update for June 2013 : This bridge is now open at Ropely, Hampshire. See my video here.

King's Cross Footbridge is a Grade I listed structure built in Derby in 1892 by Andrew Handyside and installed at Kings Cross in 1893.

In 2008, as part of a major redevelopment of Kings Cross, the footbridge had to be dismantled and removed. English Heritage and the London Borough of Camden, as Planning Authority, stipulated that Network Rail should find a suitable alternative use for the footbridge. This alternative use has now been found at Mid-Hants Railway, Watercress Line, Alresford, Hampshire.

www.watercressline.co.uk

The Handyside footbridge used to run across the main station train shed, between platform 1 on the E side and platform 8 on the W side. This structure, approximately 66m long, and is made of composite lattice girders with diagonal straps and it is supported by cast iron columns with octagonal bases on all platforms except on platforms 7-6. Although it only linked platforms 1 and 8, the presence of gates within the south parapet in line with the intermediate platforms suggest staircases were once present to allow access to these.

A clock was situated directly over platform 8, with two large clock faces, to N and S, fixed above the faces of the bridge, driven via a rod by a clock mechanism housed inside the W range of buildings nearby. The West side of the footbridge was constructed in 1892 and has makers plates "A. Handyside & Co. of Derby and London" The East half of the bridge looks like an addition, or else a replacement. Perhaps the western half, if built first,was to connect only departure platforms, which the clock would also have served, when trains arrived at and departed from different platforms in the two halves of the station.

A new hope for the Handyside footbridge.

Currently (Nov 2011) the bridge is being shot blasted and will be installed at a heritage railway site in Mid-Hants. The plans for the bridge are based on 1/2 the bridge crossing the Mid Hants Railway’s main line, yard shunt road and two tracks into a new workshop i.e. 4 in total, with the second half creating a walkway from the end of the first bit to the entrance to viewing galleries in the workshop where we will place most of the interpretation materials. It could well be 6 months before this is complete.

I would like to thank David Snow and Elissa May at Mid Hants Railway watercressline for their help and information.

Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone :

On this footbridge is where Hagrid was filmed giving Harry his first Hogwarts Express ticket in the well known 2001 film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

For many years the trellis lattice work was covered along the inside of the bridge by fiberglass panels, these were removed for the film. Fans of Harry Potter used to visit this bridge so they could stand where Harry was when he was given his special ticket. See my images lower down of this bridge as seen in the Harry Potter film.

Photographs

Long Panoramic photograph of the entire King's Cross footbridge when it was still in location.







"A. Handyside" makers plaque on the stairs in Kings Cross Station.



A Handyside badge on one of the footbridge supports.


Video
A time-lapse video showing the removal of this footbridge in 2008



King's Cross bridge removal time-lapse from NCE Magazine on Vimeo.

Handyside bridge as seen in the Harry Potter film:







Photographs of the bridge in its new location:
Awaiting restoration before installation at the Watercress line.


Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the exact location of this bridge on the world map.

My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

Can you help find more Handyside stuff ?

If anyone out there knows of any other bridges around the world bearing the Handyside badge that I have not mentioned yet then please get in touch with details, location, photographs etc.

Thanks

Andy

Shoe Lane road bridge, Holborn Viaduct, London Built by Andrew Handyside in 1869.

The Derby firm Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge in Derby also made many hundreds of other bridges of many different sizes around the world.
On a recent trip to London while investigating some other work by Andrew Handyside I found a bridge with some lions heads on it and wondered if it was by Andrew Handyside so had a real good look around and managed to find a makers badge on one of the panels. It reads "A. Handyside & Co Britannia Foundry Derby". This bridge is located on Holborn Viaduct and goes over Shoe Lane.

Photographs of this bridge.
A vew of the decorative panels on the top of this bridge as seen from the A40.


Another view of the decorative panels showing the 3D lions heads.


One of the decorative cast iton Lions Heads


A view underneath from Shoe Lane


Another view showing the construction of the bridge from underneath


The decorative cast iron scrolls


The makers badge "A. Handyside & Co Britannia Foundry Derby"



Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the exact location of this bridge on the world map.
My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

Google Streetview has captured this bridge HERE.

Can you help find more Handyside stuff ?
If anyone out there knows of any other bridges around the world bearing the Handyside badge that I have not mentioned yet then please get in touch with details, location, photographs etc.

Thanks
Andy