Our History

SG Castings Foundry is situated in the small Lancashire town of Nelson, a place with a history not insignificant in Britain's industrial and manufacturing past.

From diminutive roots of the twinned villages of Little and Great Marsden, the town of Nelson slowly emerged. Little and Great Marsden were home to twinned coal mines, one in each village, making them a centre of early industrial growth. Subsequently there were significant infrastructure developments, firstly the Leeds Liverpool Canal (1796) and then the East Lancs Railway (1849). The twin villages disappeared and the town of Nelson, named after Admiral Lord Nelson, came into being in 1864.

This rich industrial heritage that started with the coal mining, then moved on to cotton weaving in the industrial revolution at which point Nelson became one of the fastest growing towns in the north. Latterly, Nelson spread its manufacturing wings and became famous for Jelly Babies, Victory V Lozenges and not least, engineering.

SG Castings (Wolveden Foundry) is part of the Walverdene Works, Nelsons first major mill, founded in 1850. It is impossible to know exactly when casting began on this mill site but it was not unusual for foundry works to be attached to the large textile mills of the north.