C. A. Parsons and Company was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 engineering firm which was once one of the largest employers on Tyneside

Tyneside

Tyneside is a conurbation in North East England, defined by the Office of National Statistics, which is home to over 80% of the population of Tyne and Wear. It includes the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside — all settlements on...

.
The Company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons

Charles Algernon Parsons

Sir Charles Algernon Parsons OM KCB FRS was an Anglo-Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the steam turbine. He worked as an engineer on dynamo and turbine design, and power generation, with great influence on the naval and electrical engineering fields...

 in 1889 to produce turbo-generators

Electrical generator

In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow...

, his own invention. At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the company was producing up to 50 turbines a year at its factory in Heaton

Heaton, Newcastle

Heaton is a residential suburb and is split into two electoral wards located in the east end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, about from the City Centre. It is bordered by the neighbouring areas of Benton and Cochrane Park to the north, Walker and Walkergate to the east, Byker to the south and...

 in Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

. The company's heyday was in the 1960s, when the factory employed more than 7,000 people at its 100 acre split site.

Nuclear power stations using Parsons turbo-generators include Bradwell, Calder Hall

Sellafield

Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...

, Dungeness

Dungeness Power Station

Dungeness nuclear power station comprises a pair of nuclear power stations located on the Dungeness headland in the south east of Kent, England.-Dungeness A:...

, Heysham 2 and Oldbury

Oldbury nuclear power station

Oldbury nuclear power station is a nuclear power station located on the south bank of the River Severn close to the village of Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, England. It is operated by Magnox North Limited, on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Chapelcross

Chapelcross nuclear power station

Chapelcross was a Magnox nuclear power plant located near the town of Annan in Dumfries and Galloway in south west Scotland. It was the sister plant to Calder Hall in Cumbria, England, both commissioned and originally operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.The primary purpose of...

 and Hunterston

Hunterston B nuclear power station

Hunterston B Power Station is a nuclear power station in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located about 9 km south of Largs and about 4 km north-west of West Kilbride. It is operated by EDF Energy...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

The company merged with A. Reyrolle & Company

A. Reyrolle & Company

A. Reyrolle & Company was a British engineering firm, which for many years was one of the largest employers on Tyneside.-History:The company was founded by Alphonse Constant Reyrolle, a Frenchman, in 1886 at Fitzroy Square in London to produce scientific instruments. He moved the business to...

 to form Reyrolle Parsons in 1968.