EPW022308 ENGLAND (1928). The Crittall Steel Works, Witham, 1928

Maurice. Yes this was one of Crittall’s steel window factories which, after surviving a number of Luftwaffe raids, closed and was completely demolished in the late 1980s. The site is now a Morrisons supermarket and petrol station.

Crittall Windows continued manufacturing windows in Braintree, Essex before in 2007 moving to a modern factory located just half a mile east of this image in Freebournes Road, Witham. The new building was named Francis House after the company’s founder Francis Berrington Crittall and his son Francis Henry Crittall (1860-1935) who first began to manufacture windows with steel frames.

It is often thought that steel framess are no longer available, but Crittall Windows is still around as a successful company that solely produces steel windows. All are now galvanized before before painted (for longevity) and are being installed in old and new buildings across the world.

(Check out the Episode of Channel 4’s ‘The Restoration Man’ on HMS Owl for more on Crittall.)