Liz
The mouldings are specially designed wooden shapes that were pressed into damp sand, to form a precise shape into which the molten metal was poured. Once cooled, the metal shape was then removed from the sand.
It appears that many years back, members of the Somerset Industrial Archaeology Society salvaged a large collection of these mouldings from the old foundry site, prior to its demise. They are currently being stored at the Westonzoyland Pumping Station museum.
At this time, they are not officially sorted, listed or on view to the public. I am trying to help with sorting out the items, since they have been stored for many years with no listing or ID. Officially, they are the property of SIAS and I have only today written to one of the members to ask exactly what they intend doing with these objects, since the collection has not been added to the museum's accessions list.
Their future has not as yet been decided and I don't have full say in that.....but it is certainly possible to see them (none of them have been photographed yet). You would need to come to Westonzoyland's pumping station museum when it is open, on a Sunday afternoon, and I would have to oragnise something to allow you access to the storage-room in company with a museum member.
As you might appreciate, nothing has been done at all with this stuff and therefore any history would be appreciated. I'm surprised that the salvaging-people havent got the collection sorted out before now, it is quite substantial. If you're in a position to want to visit the museum, contact me via the private mail here at Rootschat, so that I can talk to you more easily.
Chris