The Foundry Arms - Victoria Road, Bletchley, MK, Buckinghamshire, UK
Posted by: 
Dragontree
N 51° 59.809 W 000° 43.215
30U E 656507 N 5763138
This modern pub sign appears at The Foundry Arms in Bletchley.
Waymark Code: WMAZTN
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/17/2011
Views: 2
The sign shows molten metal being poured into a mould. It is fire, heat and black with red imaging.
The Bletchley Archaeological & Historical Society have some interesting details on Victoria Road describing the heritage of the area: visit link
'This Road started life as Back Lane in the 1800s. Following the death of a hunted stag at the bridge over the railway carrying the Watling Street, it was renamed Stag Street. Then for Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897 it was renamed Victoria Road.
The buildings date from the 1880s onwards. There was a lot of demolition in the 1960s when the Post Office Telephone Exchange was built and a number of cottages on the site were demolished. Also in the late 1880s the roads off Victoria Road were started, i.e. Tavistock Street, Western Road and Napier Street.
On the western side between Western Road and Napier Street (now the area of Stuart Close) stood M.A. Cook & Sons Brush Works which started in the latter part of the 1800s. Near them on the corner of Denmark Street/Victoria Road was Randells Ironworks.
Later Randells moved to the corner of Cambridge Street/Bletchley Road. The site was taken over by Charles Stuart who started the Bletchley Iron and Tinplate Works from which he repaired agricultural machines and was an agent for other manufacturers. In 1887 he was advertising railway milkchurns made of the best Bessemer steel at 27 shillings and 6 pence each, also sewing machines - hand or treadle. Around this time Charles Stuart was joined by his son, Herbert Ackroyd Stuart who carried on to patent the first heavy oil engine in 1890. The site is now a convenience store after being rebuilt as a Co-op Store in 1921.
Around the 1880s the Foundry Arms Pub was built, no doubt to slake the thirst of the foundry workers. The western side of the road down to Bletchley Road (now Queensway) from Napier Street, was developed to become private houses and shops. At the bottom a new Council Office for Bletchley and Fenny Stratford were built in 1903.
With the growth of Fenny Stratford in the 1800s the area was laid out between Aylesbury Street and Stag Street. Church Street, George Street, Denmark Street and Vicarage Road linked the two roads together.'