Historic engineering firm celebrates milestone birthday with heritage open days

A historic Lancashire company are opening their doors for Heritage Open Days tours as part of the celebrations surrounding their 130th birthday.

Leading engineering firm Ritherdon are inviting members of the public to a number of fun and family friendly events to help celebrate their landmark birthday.

Heritage Open Days is a nationwide festival that allows visitors free access to usually restricted heritage sites, such as Ritherdon’s factory in the historic Old Tram Shed in Darwen, as well as community events, including Ritherdon’s Family Fun Day which is being held on Saturday, September 20.

Ben Ritherdon, managing director, said: “We are incredibly proud of the long history of our company, as well as the ties that Ritherdon has with the town of Darwen, that goes back to 1947, when we moved into the Old Tram Shed.

“Ritherdon are thrilled to be part of Heritage Open Days 2025, and would like to invite everybody that is interested to come for a tour of our factory.

“The tour will include talks about the history of our company, the historic Darwen Trams and the shed that used to house them, as well as how Ritherdon and Darwen have forged such strong bonds over the decades.

“Ritherdon is a family business, and community is at the heart of what we do, so we hope to see you all at our Family Fun Day as well.”

Ritherdon are now best known for making innovative electrical cabinets, such as the world’s first PVC Cabinet, and the new Passively Safe Cabinet, that are already wowing construction companies all over the world.

But in their early days, founder Percy Ritherdon teamed up with famed 19th Century magician Chung Ling Soo to create a number of ingenious magic tricks and cabinets with secret compartments that wowed crowds all over the country in the late Victorian and early Edwardian Eras.

Ben added: “We are all really excited about the Heritage Open Days.

“The tour promises to be hugely interesting to anyone who likes the history of Darwen, trams and trains, magic or manufacturing.

“And the Family Fun Day and Dog Show promises to be the perfect end to our week-long birthday celebrations.

“After 130 years, we feel like we’ve earned the right to celebrate our birthday over a week, and we hope as many people as possible can join us.”

Members of the public are being invited on a number of tours of Ritherdon’s facility on September 17, and the week-long birthday celebration will culminate in a huge Family Fun Day and Dog Show at the Top Field near Bold Venture Park in Darwen, from 2pm on Saturday.

To register interest in a tour, or for further details about the Family Fun Day, please visit https://buff.ly/5AcypVe