- Parnall & Sons
Parnall & Sons Ltd was a shop and ship fitting and aircraft component manufacturer in
Bristol ,England . The original company was set up in 1820 by William Parnall in Narrow Wine Street, initially making weights and measures, before expanding into shop keeping equipment and shop fittings.By the 1880s Parnall & Sons was the largest shop fitting company in England with showrooms in Narrow Wine Street and Fairfax Street, a scale works at
Fishponds and branches inLondon andSwansea . The scales and weighing machines produced at the Fishponds foundry on Parnall Road included the hardyPatent Agate Hand Scales and the Patent National Balances invented by Mr Parnall, which sold 20,000 in 10 years [ [http://www.bristolinformation.co.uk/srch/srchit.asp?list=list&gdoc=bs&howmany=200 Bristol Information: List All Businesses] Retrieved on 2007-11-26.] . In 1889 the company expanded into shopfronts, including glasswork and iron architecture and had over 400 employees. By the 1890s "there is hardly a city or town in Great Britain where their productions are not known and appreciated" [ [http://weldgen.tripod.com/id39.html Histories of Bristol Companies: Parnalls of Fishponds] Retrieved on 2007-11-26.] . Weighing machine production was phased out afterW & T Avery Ltd. was associated and the company concentrated on its well known shop-front business. The foundry was later sold toGeorge Adlam & Sons the iron founders and brewers engineers.During the
First World War the company started manufacture of aeroplanes and seaplanes, producing over 600 by 1918.George Geach Parnall left the company soon afterwards, who eventually went on to form Parnall Aircraft Ltd and successfully continued aircraft design and manufacture elsewhere in Bristol.Between the Wars
In 1923, Parnall & Sons Ltd moved to
Lodge Causeway , Fishponds, in Bristol into a former factory of theCosmos Engineering aeroengines company [ [http://www.transportarchive.org.uk/getobjectTL.php?rnum=G2341&l=a&c=&d=&y=1977&rpy=224&n=1 The Transport Archives: Brazil Straker Building - Fishponds] Retrieved on 2007-11-27.] . The company resumed manufacture of shopfronts, including the bronze shopfronts and display cases inPiccadilly Circus tube station and steel canopies at theSavoy Hotel and theShakespeare Memorial Theatre inStratford-on-Avon .High profile work included the internal fittings for passenger liners, including the outfit of the Tourist class dining room on the RMS Britannic built at
Harland & Wolff for theWhite Star Line in the late 1920s. In addition they also branched out into refrigerated and cold storage units, executive office furniture, and gained expertise in the fabrication of plastics leading to the formation of a plastics division.The Second World War
Once again the
Air Ministry turned to the company for aircraft manufacturing, and the factory in Fishponds produced airframe components and fuselage sections in metal and wood for a range ofRAF andFAA aircraft.Manufacture throughout the war years included wings for
De Havilland Tiger Moth andAirspeed Oxford trainers, wing flaps forFairey Barracuda torpedo-bombers andHandley Page Halifax heavy bombers, fuselages forShorts Stirling heavy bombers andAirspeed Horsa gliders, and tail planes forBristol Beaufighter heavy fighter.Post War
Similar aircraft component work also continued after the war with contracts for the manufacture of fuselages in the late 1940s and 50s for the
de Havilland Venom , a jet single-seat fighter-bomber. Work continued with interior finishings forBristol Britannia airliners up until 1960, which then exploited the new materials available, such asplastic . In the late 1940s, the company turned its hand to supplying the new supermarket industry, producing metal shelving and display units.Fittings contracts continued in the luxury market including contracts for
10 Downing Street ,Buckingham Palace , theHouses of Parliament . Most famous of all was the production and installation of the internal fittings for public rooms onboard theCunard Ocean Liner QE II in 1960s.In 1979, Parnall & Sons was bought by
GEC , who subsequently sold the company to CH Holdings. The factory suffered a couple of unfortunate fires and went into receivership in May 1991 after over 170 years of trading in Bristol.The factory was demolished in 1992 and the site is now occupied by ALD Automotive car retailers.
References
:*Bartlett, John "Images of England, Fishponds" Tempus 2004 ISBN 0-7524-3315-6
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