Established 1893 | BS 460:2002 Certified | UK & International Supply | Expert Technical Support | 0333 987 4452
Established 1893 | BS 460:2002 Certified | UK & International Supply | Expert Technical Support | 0333 987 4452
Cast iron has been used for centuries and was used in architecture in the pre-modern period. The 13th century Indian “Konark Sun Temple” used iron beams to support its structure. Cast iron was first used in pagoda construction in Tang Dynasty China. Texts by the Japanese Buddhist monk Ennin describe in detail the cast-iron pagodas and statues widespread in China during the 9th century.
The first time cast iron was used in framing a building was the Dithelington Flax Mill, built in 1796, considered the first iron-framed building in the world. Cast iron has immense compressive strength and was successfully used for certain structural components in bridges and buildings. These same properties of strength and durability would later make cast iron the standard for rainwater goods on period buildings too, a tradition reflected in enduring profiles such as the ogee gutter.
The 18th-century Britain brought new production methods allowing cast iron to be produced cheaply enough and in large enough quantities to be used in larger building projects. The new production methods, using a steam engine powered blast air, allowed higher blast furnace temperatures. The higher furnace temperatures also increased the furnace capacity. This leap in production capability is what eventually made cast iron guttering and drainage systems affordable enough for everyday use, not just grand engineering projects — see our full range of cast iron gutters and pipes for the profiles still manufactured today.
Alongside the great successes of cast iron construction, there were also some epic failures, caused by cast iron’s low tensile strength. However, experience and technical developments led to some important projects, including The Iron Bridge in Shropshire. Constructed almost entirely from cast iron, the Iron Bridge was over-designed and engineered, resulting in financial difficulties for Abraham Darby. This construction itself was not without fault, with the low quality of the iron used, some 80 brittle cracks are still visible today.
The engineers, designers and architects were learning and improvements were constantly being made. Later designers, such as Thomas Telford, improved both design and materials used in further bridges and canal aqueducts. Today we use cast iron, on or within, to replicate and provide authenticity to period and historical buildings, with cast iron drainage products, cast iron gutters and pipes, along with cast iron radiators and cast iron air vents and bricks, being some of the components still available. For guidance on choosing between the surviving historic profiles, see our guide to cast iron gutter profiles explained.
The strength, durability, and long service life of cast iron components are widely recognized. With the French King Louis XIV ordering the construction of a Cast Iron pipe main extending 15 miles from a pumping station at Marly-on-Seine to Versailles to supply water to the fountains and town. This pipe has served the palace gardens for more than 330 years.
Cast iron continued to be used in Britain and around the World, with projects, such as the Commissioners House of the Royal Navy Dockyard in Bermuda in the 1820s, the covered Valletta market in Malta, structures and facades in New York and New Orleans, with new iron foundries being created in many countries.
Cast Iron was being used to construct columns, which were slender, when compared to masonry equivalents and, enabled architects of theatres, churches and synagogues to improve sight lines when supporting balconies.
The culmination of cast iron’s use in construction and architecture came with the building of the monumental Crystal Palace in London in 1851. Designed by Joseph Paxton, the glass-and-cast-iron structure was a development from the greenhouse structures already available and became much imitated around the world. Many of the buildings from this era are now listed, and any rainwater goods replacement work on them falls under the requirements covered in our guide to Grade I and Grade II* listed building obligations.
Cast Iron products still have a significant structural, longevity and aesthetic advantage when used in both period and modern buildings, and should always be considered as an alternative to the plastics, steel and aluminium that are now so commonly used.
That story hasn’t ended — cast iron rainwater goods are still cast, fitted and specified today wherever a period or listed building calls for it. Tuscan Foundry has been casting traditional gutters, downpipes and hopper heads since 1893, including bespoke copy-casting for like-for-like replacement on listed buildings. To discuss a specification or request a quote, call 0333 987 4452.