Curran Steels was a manufacturing company in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales, founded as the ''Edward Curran Engineering Co'' and known locally as ''Curran's''. The factory was located on the east bank of the

River Taff The River Taff ( cy, Afon Taf) is a river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons; the Taf Fechan (''little Taff'') and the Taf Fawr (''great Taff'') before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. Its confluence with th ...

, near to

Cardiff Docks Cardiff Docks ( cy, Dociau Caerdydd) is a port in southern Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost . Once the main port for the export of South Wales coal, the Port ...

. It was served by the Riverside branch railway.

History

The Edward Curran Engineering Co. was founded in Cardiff in 1903 by Edward Curran, whose father Charles was an Irish stonemason who had settled in Cardiff, then a thriving coal port. Edward Curran was also a stonemason. The company opened a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

in Hurman Street,

Butetown Butetown (or ''The Docks'', cy, Tre-biwt) is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early 19th century by the 2nd Marquess of Bute, for whose t ...

, in or adjacent to the site of the former Bute Shipbuilding and Engineering Works . The firm initially specialised in producing furnaces for annealing metals, one of which was built for Mountstuart Dry Docks in Cardiff in 1909. Immediately before the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914, Curran's supplied several annealing furnaces to the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London, and had built a major munitions factory in

Ward End Ward End is an area of Birmingham, England. It covers the area between Saltley, Hodge Hill and Stechford and includes Ward End Park, a public park that has been open for over 100 years. Ward End territory Pelham in Ward End joins with Alum ...

, Birmingham. In 1915 Curran's converted a building next to their iron foundry into a plant for manufacturing shell casings. Production of brass howitzer shell casings started in 1916, continuing until the end of the war with over seven million shell casings produced. After the First World War the business diversified and it products included enamelled metalware, including cups and plates. These were manufactured using the staff and equipment previously used for shell casing production, and Curran's maintained their capability to manufacture munitions. By the 1930s Curran's was virtually the only British company with significant munitions manufacturing capability, and it took a leading role in the

British re-armament British re-armament was a period in British history, between 1934 and 1939, when a substantial programme of re-arming the United Kingdom was undertaken. Re-armament was necessary, because defence spending had gone down from £766 million in 1919 ...

before the Second World War. During the war Curran's continued to produce munitions. The factory was damaged several times in German Bombing raids. After the Second World War the factory resumed the production of enamelware. In 1961 they started production of pressed steel baths, and acrylic baths in 1972. In 1973 the company was acquired by the Building Products division of

Reed International RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...

, adding Curran's steel and acrylic bath products to the toilets and washbasins of Twyford, which Reed had acquired in 1971. In 1985 Caradon Ltd acquired Reed International's Building Products division, including Curran. Curran's factory in Cardiff closed in 2005. The buildings were demolished and the site used for housing. Dame Shirley Bassey worked packing

chamber pot A chamber pot is a portable toilet, meant for nocturnal use in the bedroom. It was common in many cultures before the advent of indoor plumbing and flushing toilets. Names and etymology "Chamber" is an older term for bedroom. The chamber pot ...

s in Curran's packing department in 1951, before her career as a singer.

References

{{Economy and Industry of Cardiff History of Cardiff Economy of Cardiff Butetown 1903 establishments in Wales Industrial history of Wales Defunct manufacturing companies of Wales British companies established in 1903 Manufacturing companies established in 1903 Engineering companies of Wales