THE FIRST ALL METAL AEROPLANE TO BE MADE IN BRITAIN In 1797 William Moore, aged 33, of Warham, came to Norwich, and opened an Ironmonger's shop in Cockey Lane. A few years later he took into partnership John Hilling Barnard, naming the firm Moore & Barnard, ironmongers and stove grate manufacturers. Their shop lay on the corner of Little London Street, facing London Street, later the site of Garlands' store.
When Moore died in 1839 John Hilling Barnard took his brother Dennis into partnership, but he soon retired and William Staples Boulton then joined him as a partner and the firm became known as Barnard & Boulton. By 1850 they had moved to the other side of London Street and in 1853 took as an apprentice a 12 year old boy by the name of J. J. Dawson Paul. John Hilling Barnard died in 1862 at his house on All Saints Green and on 1st January 1863; Boulton advertised that the firm would, in future, be carried on in his name only.
n 1865 a small factory was opened in Rose Lane and Dawson Paul was made Manager at a salary of £100 per year, with a house provided within the factory grounds - rent and rates free. The property had been leased by George Jay from the Girls' Hospital Trustees, in 1853, and transferred to Boulton in 1864. Three years later Bouton sold the ironmongery business to Messrs. Piper & Theobald (later Johnson, Burton & Theobald), and devoted all his energies to the manufacturing part of the concern in Rose Lane.
In his Comprehensive History of Norwich published in 1869 Bayne gives a description of the works: 'Mr. W S. Boulton, who occupies extensive premises in Rose Lane, is a manufacturer of agricultural and horticultural implements; also of strained wire fencing, iron hurdles, park gates, garden chairs, iron bedsteads, kitchen ranges, hot-water apparatus, etc. He produces every kind of railing, and palisading round Chapel Field, which is a great ornament as well as protection to the ground. He also supplies a great variety of useful machines, such as mincing and sausage machines, and almost all articles made of iron. '
Boulton continued buying up property - one site included Watt's foundry where the old prison treadmill had been built. He had married a local girl, Elizabeth Duffield in 1868, and they lived near the Rose Lane factory, where, it is said he rang a loud bell every morning at 6 a.m. to call the men to work. The year 1868 saw an important technological innovation with the installation of wire netting machines. They started with three machines producing 2ft, 3ft and 4ft wide netting respectively. The looms were constructed almost entirely of wood and were extremely difficult to use. They had to work day and night in order to keep up with the demand. A year later Dawson Paul was taken into partnership and the firm renamed Boulton & Paul.
By 1906 the firm had expanded its range of products and was well-known for the production of a wide variety of goods, including glasshouses, orangeries, vineries and palm-houses, which were exported all over the world. This was the age of the 'conservatory' and many of them cost thousands of pounds. They supplied 1,500ft. of piping for the Plantation Garden in Norwich, and provided both boiler and conservatory. Aviaries were made for Somerleyton Hall, and 'convenient' suburban residences were made in galvanised iron, together with fishing 'temples', boat-houses, portable iron studios and ornamental bridges.
In 1915, when they were asked to make aeroplanes. William ffiske took charge of the woodworking and commercial side of the project, whilst Stanley Howes (of Howes & Sons, Engineers - who had also wanted to help the war effort) agreed to undertake the erection and assembly of the aircraft. Eventually some 2,000 people were employed on this work at the Rose Lane Works.
J.D.North, a young man already well-known as a designer in the aircraft industry, had joined the firm in 1917. He now felt the day of the wooden aircraft was over, and wanted to build in steel. The first metal aircraft was a light two-seater with a top speed of104 m.p.h. It was the first all metal aeroplane to be made in Britain and was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in November 1919. By 1926 North had designed the first example of a twin-engined, all metal biplane bomber named the Sidestrand, and this was taken into service by 101 Squadron of the Royal Air Force.
A local newspaper reported on 6th November 1986:'Boulton & Paul yesterday axed its last 240 manufacturing jobs in Norwich, ending a 150 year era in the city. Plans to close the joinery in March come only three months after the steel works on the Riverside site was closed, with the loss of 139 jobs. Joinery work is to be switched to Maldon or Melton Mowbray.'