Kirk and Parry
Kirk and Parry were an architectural and civil engineering practice in Sleaford that specialised in the design of public buildings, housing and the construction of Railways. The practice was initially founded by Charles Kirk (senior) (1791–1847). Thomas Parry, (1818-1879) was an articled clerk to Charles Kirk. Parry married Henrietta, daughter of Charles Kirk in 1841 and formed a partnership with Charles Kirk. Following the death of Charles Kirk in 1847, his son, Charles Kirk (junior) (1825-1902), then became a partner with Thomas Parry. Charles Kirk Junior was the architect in the practice and Parry probably  acted as an administrator. Thomas Parry was a Liberal Party politician from who sat in the House of Commons for three short periods between 1865 and 1874. By 1903 the firm had changed its name to Kirk, Knight and Co. This article surveys the work of Kirk and Parry and its successor firm, from 1847 until it ceased trading in 1906. Commercial and Industrial Buildings. Military Engineering.. ‘’The Martello tower, off the Spit Isle of Grain, erected by Messrs. Kirk and Parry, of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, is completed...(for)... the Ordnance authority at Sheerness. The tower has been nearly two years  in erection... The peculiar construction of this tower gives it the facility of firing the guns (which are to be of the largest calibre) on traversing centre pivots, ...(into the)...Thames and Medway ...this tower forms a crossfire with the Sheerness Battery guns, sufficient to sink any ships attempting to pass. The tower is struck from seven different centres, in order to get stability to the available parts. The average thickness of the solid masonry is 12 feet. The outer dimensions are 63 feet by 71 feet, underneath is a barrack room capable of accommodating 30 gunners, and an officers  private room. The basement story contains the following rooms; viz, ordnance store, provision store, barrack store, regimental store and magazine, the latter being encased with an entire coat of asphalt. ... The estimated cost of this tower is about £14,000...The extreme height of the tower is 41 feet 6 inches. From the exposed situation of the tower, which is subject to the sea and weather, great difficulties were experienced during the winter months in proceeding with the work.’’ Work as Building Contractors. By the 1850s Kirk and Parry had become a major firm of Building Contractors and by the  mid-1860 one of the largest building and contracting firms in England. Sir John Summerson, in his analysis of contracting firms working in London, places them in the top seven largest firms in the 1860s, on the basis of the number of contracts they won. These included a printing works for the Printing and Publishing Company in Smithfield and the Merchant's Seaman's Orphanage, which became Wanstead Hospital. Other projects for which they were responsible were Lincoln Prison (1869-72), Whitehaven Docks (1865) and the Scarborough Aquarium (1878) Railway Engineering.. It is noted that Kirk and Parry were active as  railway contractors in the Derby, Leeds, Liverpool and London areas. Specific stations for which they acted as contractors for were Liverpool Central