Clark Engineering - Powerhand

Wm Clark and Son Company History

Wm Clark and Son have provided engineering and forestry services for over 85 years.

Originally founded in 1924 by the late William Clark, Clark Engineering began as a blacksmith and farrier on the same site the company occupies today at Parkgate.

Wm Clark and Son's association with the forestry industry goes back as far as then, with the repair of forest cultivation spades and hand tools, and the shoeing of forestry horses.

Specialist Ploughs

In the 1940's, William Clark's son, Murray began to design and manufacture a wide range of forest cultivation ploughs, working closely with the UK Forestry Commission. Over 2000 ploughs were sold and exported world-wide, cultivating ground for tree planting from Iceland to Africa, Canada to Scandinavia. A large number of the UK established forests were initially cultivated with Clark ploughs. Wm Clark and Son also developed deep working ploughs for various specialist applications such as salt ridging in Iraq, exploring for oil in Australia, irrigation in Africa and sub sea cable trenching around the UK coastline.

In the early 1980's, the decline in bare ground tree planting in the UK, along with the changes in cultivation techniques in general, resulted in the degeneration of plough manufacturing.

A Focus on Forestry

For many years Wm Clark and Son had been involved with the harvesting of timber, with the manufacture of winch hooks, fittings and hand tools, along with the repair of forest harvesting machinery. This was therefore a natural diversification for Douglas Clark, Murray's son, to move the company into the sale and manufacture of specialised timber harvesting equipment.

In 1986 Wm Clark and Son became the distributor for Indexator Ab of Sweden, representing their world leading range of hydraulic rotators for the UK and Ireland. The dealership for Ofa tyre chains of Finland was also secured in the same year. Wm Clark and Son began production of a range of log grapples and later, in 1988, a range of forest machine tracks, the success story which eventually became Clark Tracks Ltd, now owned by Gunnebo Industries Ab of Sweden.

Over the following years Wm Clark and Son secured the dealerships of many of the world's leading forestry equipment manufacturers, and still today represent, among others, ExTe, Cranab, Nokian heavy tyres, Oregon, Windsor and Bahco.

Associated Companies

Nordic Tyres (UK) Ltd, established in 1999 and based in Lockerbie, are the UK importer of Nokian heavy tyres from Finland, and supply tyres to a wide range of industries.

Wm Clark and Son now occupy a leading position in the UK forest industry, as well as designing and manufacturing a range of specialist equipment alongside an advanced service and repair facility.