Saracen Foundry

[1] But the business kept growing, and MacFarlane needed a vast area of land on which to build both a foundry and a village-styled infrastructure on which to house his workforce.

On succeeding to the position of owner at the death of his uncle, the young MacFarlane set about making design and standardisation the key to the company's development.

Subsequently, the Saracen Foundry made to a set of standard designs, a series of decorative iron works, from railings, drinking fountains, bandstands, street lamps, pre-fabricated buildings and architectural features.

James Boucher was commissioned to design the show rooms of the Possilpark foundry as a gigantic showcase for the products, complete with a glass and iron dome and elaborate decorative castings on its Gothic gateway.

However, after production at the Saracen Foundry, it was shipped up the River Clyde by barge to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens, and fully erected at its current location in 1873 by Boyd of Paisley.

Benjamin Disraeli and William Ewart Gladstone were both installed as rectors of the University of Glasgow in the palace, in 1873 and 1879 respectively - its last use as a public events venue, before becoming wholly used for the cultivation of temperate plants.

In 2004 a £7 million restoration programme was initiated, which involved the complete dismantling of the Palace, and the removal of the parts to Shafton, South Yorkshire for specialised repair and conservation.

MacFarlane's was taken over by Allied Founders in 1965, which was itself absorbed by Glynwed Ltd. Possilpark was by this time underinvested and rather decrepit, and so the works closed and the infrastructure demolished in 1967.

[citation needed] Owing to the long duration of the factory's life, and the wide distribution of their works, Saracen Foundry pieces can be seen in most parts of the world.