Glenfield is a large industrial manufacturing company based in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, Ayrshire, Scotland. At its height it was reckoned to be the largest company of its type in the Commonwealth.

Company history

Thomas Kennedy (senior) was a watch and clockmaker, who moved to Kilmarnock in 1824 from Argyleshire. At around that time, he patented the Kennedy Water Meter, which he designed with the help of John Cameron, another watchmaker in Kilmarnock. A valve directs water entering the meter into a cylinder of known volume containing a piston. As the piston rises and falls, the measured quantity of water is expelled and the mechanism is connected to recording dials to track the volume of water used. In 1863, the Kennedy Patent Water Meter Co Ltd was established on a site formerly used by the Glenfield Printing Works. Two years later, Kennedy established Glenfield Co Ltd on the same site, which specialised in the supply of castings and general foundry work. Kennedy's nephew, also called Thomas Kennedy, directed both companies between 1871 and 1904, when they experienced a period of significant growth. The companies were merged in 1899, to become Glenfield and Kennedy, and became an important hydraulic engineering concern in Britain, with substantial export orders to most parts of the world. The company was affectionately known as ‘The Glen'. 19th century Glenfield water meter

19th century Glenfield water meter closeup of meter face

A subsidiary company, the British Pitometer Co Ltd, was established in 1921 and was also based in Kilmarnock. Another subsidiary, Hydrautomat Ltd, was established in 1924 and was based in London. The company was liquidated voluntarily in 1931, and reformed to become Hydrautomat (1931) Ltd. The parent company continued to expand, and acquired Alley & MacLellan Ltd in the 1940s. This company had been founded in 1875 in Bridgeton, Glasgow, and initially manufactured valves. They later diversified into making compressors, vacuum pumps and steam engines, before being taken over by Glenfield and Kennedy. In 1982 the manufacturing site on Low Glencairn Street was demolished, after a new site had been established on Queens Drive, Kilmarnock. In 1985, Glenfield and Kennedy was acquired by Biwater, a company which had been founded in 1968 by Adrian White CBE. The name reflected the fact that the company was involved in the treatment of two types of water, clean water for drinking and waste water from sewers. Originally located at

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...

, once part of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

but now in

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

, they transferred to

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

in 1971. The takeover was part of Biwater's policy of buying up established companies in the UK water industry. However, this was a relatively short phase in Glenfield's history, as Biwater sold the valves operation in 1996 and the penstocks and pumps business in 1998. In 2001, Glenfield Valves became a member of AVK Holdings A/S, and traded as Glenfield/AVK. AVK Holdings is a Danish company founded by Aage Valdemar Kjaer. They are now known as Glenfield Invicta, although they are still owned by AVK Holdings. Invicta were known for site solutions, penstocks and flood defence solutions, while Glenfield produced valves for dams, reservoirs and hydro-electric schemes. Both companies were subsidiaries of AVK Holdings, and they merged their operations on 6 January 2020.

Major projects

Papplewick Pumping Station - hydraulic pumping engine - geograph

Glenfield and Kennedy were involved in a number of major projects through the years. In the early 1930s they won the contract for the design and construction of Kinloch Rannoch weir for the Grampian Electricity Supply Company. This consists of three flood gates, each wide, designed to regulate the depth of

Loch Rannoch Loch Rannoch () is a freshwater loch in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is over long in a west–east direction with an average width of about , and is deepest at its eastern end, reaching a depth of .Tom Weir. ''The Scottish Lochs''. pp. 69-75 ...

at its outlet to a maximum of . The impounded water is used to generate hydro-electric power at Tummel power station, which is located further downstream on the River Tummel. When the outbreak of war was distinctly possible in 1938, they were approached to manufacture flood gates for the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

, as there were fears that bomb damage could result in flooding of the tunnels and the complete disruption of the system. The first floodgate was installed on 1 September 1939, coinciding with the date of the German invasion of Poland. A total of 25 floodgates were quickly installed to protect the nine stations most at risk of serious flooding. These were

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

Embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railway ...

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

, London Road,

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

Wapping Wapping () is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is in East London and part of the East End. Wapping is on the north bank of the River Thames between Tower Bridge to the west, and Shadwell to the east. This posit ...

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

and

Bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

. Fifty stations were identified as needing protection, and Glenfield successfully fitted floodgates at 31 of them without disrupting the train service. Services had to be temporarily suspended while the gates were fitted at the remaining 19 stations, as the engineering work was more extensive. Glenfield used tilting, radial, sliding or lift gates, depending on the requirements of each site. The gates were closed during air raids, and re-opened when the danger of flooding had passed. They were also involved in the supply of valves for

PLUTO Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

, the Pipe Line Under The Ocean associated with

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

. The pipelines carried petrol across the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

to support the allied invasion of France towards the end of the war.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://www.glenfield.co.uk , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911082656/http://glenfield.co.uk/ , archive-date=11 September 2019 , title=Official website British companies established in 1899 Manufacturing companies established in 1899 1899 establishments in Scotland British companies disestablished in 2001 2001 disestablishments in Scotland