Hayes and Son - Wagon Wheel Nut

Hayes and Son were a very successful Carriage and Wagon makers whose main works and showroom was on Scotgate and the site is now a car park. Established in 1825, successive generations took the firm from being a wheelwright in Wansford to a business with factories in Stamford, Peterborough and London and from repairing farm wagons to the construction of carriages for the Prince of Wales, the King of Sweden and the Gaekwar of Baroda. The firm also made motor car bodies before the First World War, held Government Military Contracts and built one-offs like a Rhinoceros Wagon for Wombwell’s Menagerie. A disastrous fire in 1921 hastened the end of the company which ceased trading in 1924.