There are around half a dozen articles online about Francis Morton’s fencing, mainly identifying the distinctive winding pillars. What is remarkable is the age of many of these posts; still standing firm in the twenty-first century, some could have been erected as early as 1860. My interest in these pillars comes from their prevalence in late nineteenth-century fortification, and for a time Morton’s Fencing had an exclusive contract with the War Department. In this article, I aim to characterise this type of fencing, commonly known as Morton’s Fencing1The Country Gentleman’s Magazine, Volume VII, 1871, p226 – Google Books, found at fortifications throughout the British Isles. There were also many other manufacturers of similar fencing during this era, so I will try to cover these at the end of this article.
Background
The Liverpool-based foundry established by Francis Morton manufactured all manner of cast iron goods including bedsteads, fireproof iron buildings, stoves and boilers, wire netting, copper rope, wrought iron hurdles and gates, corrugated roofing material, and the focus of this article – fencing. This was right at the end of the Industrial Revolution and the height of the British Empire. The British Isles were now filled with wealth, new money and people with large swathes of land across the country. It was also an era where farming was expanding into the industrial enterprise it is today, and the railways were also weaving their web across the globe. These were all prime markets for a solid and reliable form of fencing. But there was a further, rarely advertised market; the War Department.
MORTON, FRANCIS, & Co., Liverpool. -Patented improvements in permanent railway fences; iron telegraph poles; galvanized corrugated iron roofs, buildings, &c.-Manufacturers of every description of fire -resisting iron roofs and buildings for agricultural and colonial purposes; iron roofs for docks, railways, shipbuilding yards, &c.; cranes, weigh-bridges, wire ropes , electric telegraphs, &c. (company introduction from the official illustrated catalogue accompanying the International Exhibition of 1862)
As the age of invention raged across Britain, so many new products were being brought to market, many with a legal patent protecting their intellectual property, and Francis Morton and Company were no different. The first item of fencing technology that was patented and advertised by the steelworks was their wire strand fencing, first appearing in newspaper advertisements in around 1853.
Wire strand fencing
As the age of invention raged across Britain, so many new products were being brought to market, many with a legal patent protecting their intellectual property, and Francis Morton and Company were no different. The first item of fencing technology that was patented and advertised by the steelworks was their wire strand fencing, first appearing in newspaper advertisements in around 1853.
The table (click to enlarge) shows the variety of steel strand fencing available from the company.
The era of strained wire fences
Francis Morton was awarded two further patents in March 1859, the first (patent no. 587) is described only as being the “construction of strained wire fences” while the second (patent no. 810) was for “improvements in the construction of fences, and the posts or pillars for the same, parts of which improvements are also applicable to the construction of gate posts or poles for telegraph purposes or for signal posts.”2Subject matter index of patents applied for or granted for the year 1859 – Google Books
Interestingly, the inventors subsequently issued an amendment to the above patent, stating they disclaim any right to the winding apparatus when considered separately and apart from the peculiar constructions of posts herein described.”3Patents for inventions, abridgements of specifications 1858-1866, published 1875, Google Books This would explain the breadth of other ratcheting strainer posts available at the time based on the ratcheting straining mechanism.
Further developments were published in the London Gazette on 15 July 1873, when a patent (Patent no. 778) was awarded to E.J.C. Welch, who was at the time General Manager of Francis Morton and Company Limited. This new development was for “improvements in the construction of telegraph posts, the same being applicable also to fencing posts and other purposes.”
Fence, Type A3
The A3 model fence appears to relate to the first patent issued in 1859, likely being patent number 587. The fence was sold as being both permanent and temporary, with the benefit that it could be installed and removed by landowners themselves. The large straining posts have a complex foundation which will add to their strength, and a stay (the angled support bar) anchored into stone or wood to help relieve the strain of the six rows of stranded cable forming the fence. The entire fence post was 7 foot 3 inches (2.2m) tall, with only 3 foot 7 inches (1.1m) above the ground. The cast iron post weighs over 150 kg! These pillars could support gates, whereas the lighter A5 pillars below, couldn’t.
This fine example of a Francis Morton A3 fence pillar is located at Raleigh Battery in Cornwall. The battery was constructed between 1890 and 1894 and it is highly likely that this pillar dates from this time. The pillar, while demonstrating the A3 pillar design, was accompanied by some A5 non-straining posts, making it part of an A10 fence (more information below).
Fence, Type A5
With improvements to the A3 style of fence, the A5 most likely relates to patent no. 810. As an alternative to cast iron, the A5 fencing uses tapered galvanised wrought iron. Each post was considerably lighter at only around 51kg, as much of the strength came from the oval form of the straining pillars themselves.
It was the discovery of this pillar that prompted me to write this article. This is a tapered galvanised wrought iron pillar in the modern-day Crawfordsburn Country Park in County Down. The pillar, part of a complete A5-type fence line, runs along the embankment of the Belfast to Bangor railway line. This line was completed in 1865, which would this example, if original and I have no reason to doubt it isn’t, 160 years old at the time of publishing.
Fence, Type A10
A combination of A3 and A5 pillars, the A10 fence design utilised both of the F. M. & Co. patented technologies. The example, shown below, and illustrated in the 1862 catalogue claims the to be an “ornamental ox fence, made lamb proof.” The fence has seven strands of wire along its height, and the lower four are supported by smaller uprights every 9 feet.
Fence, Type A12
This type of fence, yet another on the theme of strained wire fences, was marketed by the company for export to New Zealand and the Cape (South Africa). Intended to be lightweight (for sheep as opposed to cattle or oxen) and transportable, the strainer posts are the wrought iron A5 type, but the intermediate posts (or standards) are simpler and more cost-effective iron bars.
Fence, Type A13
“The fixing of this fence is so simple that ordinary labourers can manage it.” Similar to the A5 fence in design, the dimensions of this A13 fence are subtly different. Both the winding pillars and standards are 0.5″ larger in both directions width and length. It was marketed as a sheep fence and also that, like the A12 it can be erected and moved without any skilled labour.
Fence, Type A14
Also advertised in the catalogue is the A14 type fence. An intermediate fence not intended for severe usage (without any clarification what this means!) the patent A3 straining post is deployed alongside simpler standard posts incorporating what appears to be a new patent galvanised earth plate.
Contractor to the War Department
In 1869 it appears that Francis Morton and Company had been awarded the sole War Department contract for “these fences” as was communicated through a series of graphic advertisements in the British press. This would explain the relatively high number of Francis Morton & Co. fences that are found on British fortification sites.
Identifcation and terminology
The competition
There were of course other competitors in the market, such as an expired patent from Mr. J. Harper from Aberdeen for an invention of “improvements in pillars and apparatus for straining wire” dated December 2, 18634The London Gazette, December 9, 1870. Accessed 29 December 2024 – London Gazette for a patent from Mssrs. C.Y. Michie and G.M. Murray, of Banffshire who registered “improvements in pillars or standards for straining and supporting wires for fences, and other useful purposes” on 23 July 1869.5The London Gazette, August 6, 1869. Accessed 29 December 2024 – London Gazette Francis Morton and Company were not the only innovators in this space, but they certainly seemed the largest and most influential. This dominance also seems to have been demonstrated by an advertisement they issued back in 1861 warning others not to copy or use unofficial fencing items.
Letters Patent having been granted to FRANCIS MORTON and CO., Iron Manufacturers, &c., of Liverpool, for certain valuable improvements in the construction of Strained Wire and iron Fences, and in the mode of stretching the same, which improvements have been found to remedy all the defects previously existing in Wire Fences, and greatly reducing the cost thereof, imitations of these valuable improvements have been attempted, calculated by their great inferiority to injure the reputation of the said Patented Improvements:
NOTICE is hereby given that all parties buying, selling, using or making imitations of the Wire Fencing or Fencing Posts patented by the said Francis Morton and Company, of Liverpool, the only Manufacturers, will render themselves liable to legal damages, and will be held to account for the same.
Legal notice placed in the Freeman’s Journal on Tuesday 09 April 1861 on behalf of FRS. MORTON by D. and T. Fitzgerald, solicitors for Francis Morton and Co. 20 Saint Andrew street, Dublin. Notices like this were placed in newspapers around the country declaring their sole right to this form of wire fence strainer.
William Bain and Company, Coatbridge
An example of a W. Bain and Co., Coatbridge. straining pillar still in situ at North Sutor Battery, on the perimeter of the War Department land on the Comarty Firth.
Joseph Rowell
Joseph Rowell, Pillars and apparatus for straining wire, Patent No. 2516, dated 12 September 18626English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1862, 2503 – 2570 (1863) United Kingdom, H.M. Stationery Office – Google Books
- 1The Country Gentleman’s Magazine, Volume VII, 1871, p226 – Google Books
- 2Subject matter index of patents applied for or granted for the year 1859 – Google Books
- 3Patents for inventions, abridgements of specifications 1858-1866, published 1875, Google Books
- 4The London Gazette, December 9, 1870. Accessed 29 December 2024 – London Gazette
- 5The London Gazette, August 6, 1869. Accessed 29 December 2024 – London Gazette
- 6English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1862, 2503 – 2570 (1863) United Kingdom, H.M. Stationery Office – Google Books