| AdminHistory | Started in 1641 when Michael Grazebrook went into business at Stourbridge.In 1730 they controlled a glass-works at Stourbridge, a mill and forge at Halesowen and a colliery at Coseley. The third Michael Grazebrook (1723-1766) started iron production instead of glass. His son Michael (1758-1826) moved to Netherton in 1800 and the firm was re-named after his two sons, Michael (died 1838) and William. 1848. A new brick blast furnace was built and the forge sold. In 1860 the Glassworks was disposed of and the Netherton ironworks connected to the railway. John Grazebrook went to study in Paris in 1848. He invented many machine and hand tools. Francis Grazebrook (1856-1945) took over the firm and streamlined and modernised it. In 1914 a new Company M. & W. Grazebrook Limited was formed. Cold blast pig iron and heavy fabrications have been the company's main products, but during the Second World War (1939-1945) they manufactured 8,000lb and 12,000lb 'Blockbuster' bombs. By 1968 the Grazebrook family no longer owned the company which had become part of the Hingley Group. |
| The original wooden viaduct, sometimes called the "Seven Bridges", was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The viaduct spanned across the canals at Parkhead and was built for the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway. They were absorbed by the Great Western Railway in 1863. In 1877 the Great Western Railway authorised the spending of £7000 for the reconstruction of Parkhead viaduct in brick. A tender of £9400 by a Mr. C. J. Smith of Westminster Chambers was accepted on 2 May 1877. The brick viaduct was built around the wooden one. A contract was awarded to Phillips & McEwan of Dudley for 1,000,000 bricks for the construction. It was to be finished by December, 1877. The Great Western Railway board agreed on 9 November, 1878 to purchase the mines under the new brick viaduct for £250.00, and approved payment of £50 to the Birmingham Canal Company on 24 th November, 1878 for land in connection with the viaduct. |