Soho Manufactory
The
Soho Manufactory, not to be confused with the
Soho Foundry, was an early
factory, opened in
Soho, Birmingham,
England at
The factory was established by the manufacturer
Matthew Boulton and his business partner
John Fothergill. In
1761, they leased a site on
Handsworth heath, containing a cottage and a metal-rolling mill. The mill was replaced by a new factory, designed and built by the Wyatt family of
Lichfield, and completed in
1766. The cottage was later demolished and Boulton's home (
Soho House) was built on the site, also by the Wyatts.
The manufactory produced a wide range of goods from
buttons,
buckles and boxes to
japanned ware, and later luxury products such as
silverware and
ormolu (a type of gilded
bronze). It was also home to the first
steam-powered
mint.
The manufactory was demolished in the middle of the
19th century and the site used for housing. In the
1990s the television
archaeology programme "
Time Team" excavated the foundations, in some of the local back gardens.
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Soho Foundry
