Westwood, Baillie and Co was a Victorian engineering and shipbuilding company based at

London Yard London Yard was a shipyard in Cubitt Town, London, in use between around 1856 and 1908 by various shipbuilding companies, including Westwood, Baillie and Yarrow Shipbuilders. Location The site is on the north bank of the Thames immediately to t ...

Cubitt Town Cubitt Town is a district on the eastern side of the Isle of Dogs in London, England. This part of the former Metropolitan Borough of Poplar was redeveloped as part of the Port of London in the 1840s and 1850s by William Cubitt, Lord Mayor of L ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The company was set up in 1856 by Robert Baillie and Joseph Westwood, previously managers of Ditchburn and Mares shipyard. Partly as a result of a fall in demand due to the financial crisis of 1866, a period of financial stress and reorganisation resulted in Westwood and Baillie acting as managers for the London Engineering & Iron Shipbuilding Company Ltd, until they regained control in 1872. For much of its life the company produced iron and steel work for bridges. In 1887 the company made the girders for the

Lansdowne Bridge The Lansdowne Bridge is a heritage-listed road bridge that carries the northbound carriageway of the Hume Highway (route A22 at this point) across Prospect Creek between Lansvale and Lansdowne. Situated in southwestern Sydney it is located on ...

over the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...

, then the longest rigid girder bridge in the world. Work on a more modest scale included a railway footbridge that can still be seen at

Romford railway station Romford railway station is an interchange station on the Great Eastern Main Line, serving the town of Romford in the London Borough of Havering, east London. It is down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between and . It i ...

, and the 1879 swing bridges over the

Royal Albert Dock Albert Dock may refer to: * Albert Dock, Hull, in Kingston upon Hull, England *Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool The Royal Albert Dock is a complex of dock buildings and warehouses in Liverpool, England. Designed by Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwi ...

. The company also contributed towards the Attock Khurd Bridge, built in 1880, between what's now called Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa province and Pakistani Punjab. It's still in a great ship and is a major attraction for tourists and history lovers.In 1890 company had provided its services in constructing an iron bridge connecting Trippunithura and Poonithura- also known as bridge over Padinjare Puzha( Kingdom of Cochin,Kerala-India) during the reign of HH Keralavarma V.This iron bridge(Irumbu Palam) is still in use. The company was wound up in 1893 and in 1895 Baillie was declared bankrupt. Joseph Westwood continued in business at Napier Yard as Joseph Westwood and Co. There is a large monument to him in Tower Hamlets Cemetery. The Railway footbridge at Wymondham, Norfolk was also built by the company. London Yard was subsequently taken over by Yarrows.

Notable products

* Iron Bridge (irumpupalam, poonithura.Cochin) 1890 * Tug ''Powerful'', 1857 *River Chenab Bridge district Chiniot, Punjab Pakistan * Taptee Bridge (India), 1858 * HMS ''Resistance'', 1861. * HMS ''Valiant'', 1863 (completed under the ownership of Thames Ironworks) * Iron clipper ''Royal Edward'', 1864 * Tugs ''Robert Bruce'', 1865, ''Scotia'', 1874 and ''Granville'', 1876 * Jervois Swing Bridge, Port Adelaide South Australia, 1878 *

Attock Bridge Attock Bridge () is situated between Attock Khurd and Khairabad Kund on Indus River in Pakistan. It is commonly known as "Old Attock Bridge". This bridge is one of the most important strategic and commercial crossing on the Indus River between ...

(now in Pakistan) over the

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans- Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northwest through the dis ...

, 1880 *

Colesberg Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from Cape Town to Johannesburg. In a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds ma ...

Bridge over the

Orange River The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch language, Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibi ...

(Northern Cape, South Africa), 1885 * Barkly Bridge over the

Vaal River The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Oce ...

(Northern Cape, South Africa), 1885 * Colenso Bridge over the

Tugela River The Tugela River (; ) is the largest river in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. With a total length of , and a drop of 1370 metres in the lower 480 km, it is one of the most important rivers of the country. The river originates in M ...

Colony of Natal The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies t ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, 1879 *

(now in Pakistan) over the Indus, 1887-8 * Motueka River (Kohatu) Bridge (Tasman District, New Zealand) 1888 * Puente ferroviario Birris over the Birris River (Paraíso Cartago, Costa Rica), 1889 * Tugs ''Mabel'', 1890 and ''Donovan'', 1890 * Khidderpore Swivel Bridge, Kolkata Port, 1890

External links

Pictures of Old Attock Bridge

Lansdowne Bridge, Sukkur

Name plate on footbridge, Romford

Barkly West Bridge

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westwood Baillie and Co Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United Kingdom History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Shipbuilding in London Ships built in Cubitt Town Shipyards on the River Thames Port of London