On the site of the former Grange Distillery / Grange Brewery in Alloa, the Diageo Abercrombie Works supplies the whisky and brewing industries with copper vessels, piping and associated works throughout the UK and beyond. The company are also well known for refurbishing or altering existing copper vessels.
Alloa’s copper working legacy can be traced back as far as 1790, when John Miller opened his Alloa Copperworks and Foundry*.
Robert Willison.
Robert Willison also had a building in Broad Street, originally built as a place of worship by the West Free Church, which he adapted for his business of plumber and brass-founder^. His company expanded to Sunderland, supplying the shipbuilding industry and later into Speyside, just in time for a whisky boom.
The company had entries in the 1851 Great Exhibition (The Crystal Palace Exhibition) in London :
Official Catalogue : Class V.
128. WILLISON, ROBERT, Alloa, Scotland - Manufacturer and Inventor.
Model of double-acting force and vacuum pump, adapted for mines.**
And again in the 1862 London International Exhibition of Industry and Art :
Catalogue: Class IX.
2204. WILLISON, ROBERT, Alloa, N.B. [North Britain].
Ventilator for vineries, lift and force pump.**
However by 1933, with no sons to take over, the business was sold, with the Alloa portion of the business becoming a part of R.G.
Abercrombie.
R.G. Abercrombie.
R.G. Abercrombie emerged from previous concerns based at the Broad Street Engine Works, Alloa. In 1874, the Broad Street Works were in the possession of Pollock, Niven and Jeffrey.
However by 1877 the Broad Street Works were in the possession of Pollock, Manson and Co. That year George Pollock withdrew from the partnership, and the co-partnery was dissolved. The business continued however, now reconstituted as Manson and Abercrombie.
However by the time of publishing of the 1877 Lothian’s Annual Register, the company was already advertising as R.G. Abercrombie.
By 1879 the company was listed as R. G. Abercrombie and Co.
Robert Graham Abercrombie was born on 4th April 1854 in Paisley, Renfrewshire. He died in Alloa on 8th August 1926 and was buried in Paisley. He described himself in the 1901 UK census as a Mechanical Engineer.
One notable apprentice from R.G. Abercrombie was Sir Archibald Page.
In 1918 R.G Abercrombie and Co. were listed as mechanical engineers and valve manufacturers. They were also active in manufacturing brewing, distilling, and creosoting plants. During World War I, the company was ordered into war work, and they were tasked with manufacturing grenades, Stokes’ shells (mortar shells), fuze bases and plugs. During the war the company was listed as having 18 male, and 19 female employees.^^
In 1933, R.G. Abercrombie took over the Alloa operations of rival Alloa company Robert Willison.
The company was later acquired by the Distillers Company Limited (DCL).
On 20th November 1948, DCL subsidiary Scottish Malt Distillers took over operation of R.G. Abercrombie from DCL, renaming it as R.G. Abercrombie & Company Limited.
In 1965, the company moved from the Broad Street Engineering Works to the former Grange Brewery site in Alloa, by then accessible via Caledonian Road*.
In 1997, Diageo took over all United Distillers operations, of which former DCL assets were a major component.
Scotland's oldest copper works continues to be operational.
References :
* Alloa Advertiser
^ "Alloa and its Environs" by James Lothian, 1861.
** Graces Guide
^^1918 Directory of Manufacturers in Engineering and Allied Trades.
Adverts: www.scottishbrickhistory.co.uk