Strachan & Henshaw was a major defence and nuclear engineering company based in Ashton Gate

Ashton Gate

Ashton Gate Stadium is a stadium in Ashton Gate, Bristol, England, and is the home of Bristol City F.C. Located in the south-west of the city, just south of the River Avon, it has an all-seated capacity of 21,497, with an effective capacity for football matches of around 19,500, with an average...

 in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

.

History

The Company was founded by Robert Price Strachan & George Henshaw in 1879 as a partnership specialising in the manufacture of paper-bag making machinery operating from Lewin's Mead

Lewin's Mead

Lewin's Mead is an area of Bristol, England, part of the city ward of Cabot, in the historic centre of the city, lying just outside of the former medieval town walls. Several old buildings survive, including the Unitarian Chapel constructed in the late 18th century, an old sugar house, now a hotel...

 in Bristol. In 1920 the business was bought by E.S. & A. Robinson Ltd.

In the 1950s, as part of a consortium involving Clarke Chapman

Clarke Chapman

Clarke Chapman is a British engineering firm based in Gateshead, which was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The company was founded in 1864 in Gateshead by William Clarke...

, Head Wrightson, C. A. Parsons & Co.

C. A. Parsons and Company

C. A. Parsons and Company was a British engineering firm which was once one of the largest employers on Tyneside.-History:The Company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1889 to produce turbo-generators, his own invention. At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the company was producing...

, A. Reyrolle & Co.

A. Reyrolle & Company

A. Reyrolle & Company was a British engineering firm, which for many years was one of the largest employers on Tyneside.-History:The company was founded by Alphonse Constant Reyrolle, a Frenchman, in 1886 at Fitzroy Square in London to produce scientific instruments. He moved the business to...

 and Whessoe

Whessoe

Whessoe was once one of the largest employers at Darlington and on Teesside in the North East England. It was a leading supplier of chemical, oil and nuclear plant and an international instrumentation business and remains a leading low temperature storage specialist.-History:The Whessoe Company...

 and known as the Nuclear Power Plant Company ('NPPC'), it was awarded a contract for reactor mechanical plant at Oldbury nuclear power station

Oldbury nuclear power station

Oldbury nuclear power station is a nuclear power station located on the south bank of the River Severn close to the village of Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, England. It is operated by Magnox North Limited, on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority...

. It was subsequently awarded similar contracts at Heysham 2, Hinkley Point B

Hinkley Point B nuclear power station

Hinkley Point B is a nuclear power station near Bridgwater, Somerset, on the Bristol Channel coast of south west England.-History:The construction of Hinkley Point B, which was undertaken by a consortium known as The Nuclear Power Group , started in 1967. The reactors were supplied by TNPG and the...

, Hunterston B

Hunterston B nuclear power station

Hunterston B Power Station is a nuclear power station in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located about 9 km south of Largs and about 4 km north-west of West Kilbride. It is operated by EDF Energy...

 and Torness

Torness nuclear power station

Torness nuclear power station was the last of the United Kingdom's second generation nuclear power plants to be commissioned. Construction of this facility began in 1980 for the then South of Scotland Electricity Board and it was commissioned in 1988...

 nuclear power stations.

In 1966 the Company's owners, E.S. & A. Robinson Ltd, merged with John Dickinson Ltd to form Dickinson Robinson Group

John Dickinson Stationery

John Dickinson Stationery Limited was a leading British stationery company founded in west Hertfordshire, that was later merged to form Dickinson Robinson Group. In the 19th century, the company pioneered a number of innovations in paper-making.-History:...

.

In 1972 the Company became the prime contractor for launch systems for the Trafalgar class submarine

Trafalgar class submarine

The Trafalgar class is a class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines in service with the Royal Navy. They are a direct follow on from the Swiftsure class and were, until the introduction of the Astute class, the Royal Navy's most advanced nuclear fleet submarines.Seven boats were built and...

 fleet. Then in 1989 Roland Franklin of Pembridge Associates acquired Dickinson Robinson Group and went on to sell Strachan & Henshaw to Weir Group

Weir Group

The Weir Group plc is an engineering company headquartered in East Kilbride, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...

 in July 1990.

In April 1998 it bought acquired Bridgetest Holdings Ltd, a Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 based engineering company whose subsidiaries included Cunnington & Cooper Ltd, Nuclear and General Engineering Ltd and Wingrove & Rogers, all well-established businesses in the UK nuclear industry. Then in May 2000 the Company sold its materials handling equipment division to Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

's Svedala.

The business was acquired Babcock International Group

Babcock International Group

Babcock International Group plc is a British-based support services company specialising in managing complex assets and infrastructure in safety-critical and mission-critical environments. Although the company has civil contracts, its main business is with public bodies, particularly the UK...

for £65m in April 2008; it was subsequently fully integrated into Babcock and the Strachan & Henshaw name is no longer used.