Sedlec

1578                   A trip hammer is built on the Úslava River in Sedlec (Starý Plzenec); the blast furnace is added some years later

1710                   The estate is purchased by the House of Czernin; written mention of an iron foundry with a blast furnace

1716                   Addition of a workshop for polishing cast-iron cannonballs

1816                   The ironworks is owned by the House of Waldstein

1825                   Under Antonín Mayer, one of the oldest steam engines is produced in the Czech lands to pump water from the mine in Starý Plzenec

1850                   Second blast furnace is built

1856                   Engineering works is established in Sedlec

1859                   Another engineering works is established in Pilsen as a separate branch of the Sedlec iron works

1869                   Ernst Fürst von Waldstein sells the Pilsen works to Emil Škoda

1878                   Due to the economic crisis, operations at the blast furnaces and hammers are halted; the furnaces are later demolished

1890s                 Production of decorative cast-iron verandas for hotels in Franzensbad (Františkovy Lázně) and Marienbad      

1885                            Construction of the upper foundry

1896                            Construction of the lower foundry

1913                   The foundry is inherited by Countess Josephine von Lamberg (née Waldstein)

1917                   Construction of a narrow-gauge railway between the foundry and Pilsen

1920                   Pilsner Bank acquires the foundry and establishes Železárny Sedlec, a.s.

1925                   Production of cast-iron radiators

1928                   A stove and boiler assembly workshop and nickel plating shop are established

1930                   Enamel works closes

1949                   Nationalisation; the factories are placed under the management of Škoda Works Pilsen

1953                            Production in the lower foundry is halted

1957                   Sedlec workshops are integrated into Keramos Prague

1963                            Integrated into the Kdyně engineering works

1969                   Operations are absorbed into the regional enterprise KOVO Starý Plzenec

1975                   Cast-iron production is terminated; the company is placed under Škoda Pilsen’s electrical engineering factory and manufacturing is focused on electrical instruments

1993                   Establishment of SERW, spol. s r.o. (JMl)

Page from the Sedlec foundry catalogue from the early twentieth century (Ethnographic Museum of Pilsen, MWB Pilsen)