Records of the Public Foundry at Westham,

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Creator:
Public Foundry.

Background

Scope and content:

Public Foundry at Westham records include: Account book of John Reveley, 1779-1781 and account papers, 1776-1789; Journal, 1779-1781; and Ledgers (3), 1776-1781, with an Index, 1779-1781.

Journals and ledgers record cash disbursements for foundry supplies (iron, coal, gunpowder), building materials and work, provisions for workers, wages and the hiring of wagons and enslaved individuals. Ledgers include accounts with individuals as well as separate account headings for Boring Mill, Bricklayer Work, Buckingham Furnace, Cannon, Carpentry, Coal, Fire Bricks, Gunpowder, Negroes (p. 42), Pitt Coal, Provisions, Shoemaking, Wages, and Waggonage.

For additional records see the Governor's Executive Papers for this time period; and Public Foundry at Westham records of the Auditor of Public Accounts, 1771-1792 (APA 662).

Biographical / historical:

On May 22, 1776, the fifth revolutionary convention approved a petition that had been submitted by John Ballendine and John Reveley proposing to construct a cannon foundry and a blast furnace for the manufacture of ordnance. A site at Westham, near Richmond, was purchased and construction began immediately. When it was completed, the foundry complex included eight blast furnaces, a boring mill, and the foundry, besides all the buildings necessary to house workers and store supplies. The buildings were burned by Lt. Col. John G. Simcoe and his troops on January 5, 1781, in association with Benedict Arnold's raid on Richmond. The foundry functioned intermittently until the war ended, when operations ceased altogether.

Acquisition information:
Acquired prior to 1905.
Physical description:
6 volumes and .2 cubic feet.