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Bodley Foundry Collection

The iron foundry of Bodley & Co was located on Commercial Road in Exeter, Devon. Much archival material, relating to mills for which parts were made by Bodley & Co, was rescued by Reading industrial archaeologist Cyril McCombe from the ruins of the demolished Bodley Foundry.

The drawings were passed to the Mills Archive for scanning and cataloguing before the originals were deposited at the Devon Record Office in Exeter.

We have high quality laser copies available for inspection in Reading, featuring small sketches on scraps of paper and much larger detailed drawings. All of these records were digitised by two of our expert volunteers, David Nicholls and David Neaves, and can be viewed online here.

For more information about the work of Bodley & Co., visit this website.


Design for metal 'fender' at Silverton

Design for metal ‘fender’ at Silverton

No. 3438a. Coloured design for a metal sluice gate (or ‘fender’). Undated.


Section through a water turbine at Exwick Barton

Section through a water turbine at Exwick Barton

No. 847. Section through a turbine with written details of how it is to be overhauled. Undated.


Rack and pinion details

Rack and pinion details

No. 2730. Details of a rack and pinion mechanism for a sluice gate. Dated 16th November 1898.


Blueprint for water turbine

Blueprint for water turbine

No. 9058b. Blueprint for part of a water turbine. Undated.


Waterwheel design

Waterwheel design

No. 7134. Design for waterwheel with elegant curved starts and floats, mounted on circular (possibly wooden) wheel shaft. Undated.


Cast-iron ring for waterwheel

Cast-iron ring for waterwheel

No. 6997. Design for waterwheel with slotted cast-iron ring to take wooden starts. Dated 15th October 1894.


Wooden sluice gate

Wooden sluice gate

No. 5641. Section and plan of wooden sluice gate (‘fender’) for waterwheel.


Dimensioned sketch of gear teeth

Dimensioned sketch of gear teeth

Small dimensioned drawing showing pitch measurements for teeth of a cast-iron spur pinion. Date indecipherable – possibly 1901.


Outline for turbine repairs

Outline for turbine repairs

No. 5475. Handwritten description of the method by which a turbine should be repaired.


Bearing brasses for waterwheel shaft

Bearing brasses for waterwheel shaft

No. 9142. Sketch of bearing ‘brasses’ for one of the cast-iron journals of a waterwheel shaft. Dated 22nd June 1889.


Sections through a waterwheel

Sections through a waterwheel

No. 8344 – Shroud and Arm details of a cast-iron waterwheel on a metal shaft. Drawing dated 1895


Nave casting detail

Nave casting detail

No. 2355. Casting detail drawing for split waterwheel centre [nave]. 27.5 inch overall diameter. Drawing dated 1909


Waterwheel details

Waterwheel details

No. 8282. Sketch details of 18′ 0” dia waterwheel, shaft and hub. Also ring gear detail. Drawing dated 1886


Waterwheel sections

Waterwheel sections

Right-hand segment of larger diagram of an overshot waterwheel with bucket details. Drawing dated 1895.