A long way from home

In 1875, the council of Oamaru decided to bring fresh water to town using a falling mains - a move that helped the town’s development as a commercial and shipping centre. The pipes to build it were manufactured by Alley and Maclellan, a Glasgow Iron Foundry. 2,600 pipes were shipped from Glasgow to Oamaru.

After many mergers and reorganisations the Glasgow company went out of business in 1975.

some have a vision of that kind of entrepreneurial commerce in world trade being revived post-Brexit.