In Patterned Brick Pavers part 2, I pictorially record the many different designs of the deeper block type pavers found so far & these pavers can measure anything from 3 to 5 inches deep. I am assuming these thicker block pavers could withstand more weight than the 2 inch versions, hence there use in stables & farmyards etc. The thinner 2 inch pavers are covered in Patterned Brick Pavers - part 1.
In most cases I show three images of the same paver, face, side view & reverse & any photos not credited to are by me. The majority of these pavers by me were photographed at Cawarden Reclamation in Rugeley, who always have plenty of stock to chose from.
If you have images of any block pavers not shown in this post, please get in touch via email please, my details are on the Contacts Tab at the top of this page & I will gladly add them to the post. Thanks, Martyn.
So I start with this deep block paver made by Hamblet of West Bromwich & to me this design resembles a tree leaf.
Photos by Frank Lawson.
B B Staffordshire Knot = Barnett & Beddow, Atlas Works, Aldridge.
With this block paver having the same pattern as the previous Hamblet paver, I am taking it that Barnett & Beddows made this paver after they had acquired the Hamblet company name sometime after 1921, although the first recorded evidence of B & B owning the Hamblet name is 1961. 1920 was the year the Hamblet Blue Brick Co. Ltd is recorded as going into liquidation with their Piercy Brickworks being closed by 1915. The works was then dismantled & the site was sold by 1919. To confuse things we find a new company were operating as the Hamblet Blue Brick Co. West Bromwich in 1921 & the location of it's works is not recorded in trade directories, hence my thoughts that Barnett & Beddows were now making the Hamblet Brand of bricks at their Aldridge works & running this new Hamblet company.
With this block paver example having the same pattern & similar dumb bell shaped frog as the previous B & B paver, I am thinking it could have been made by Barnett & Beddows also, however I have found during my research that many brickworks used dumb bell shaped frogs to imitate the one used by Hamblet & Barnett & Beddows.
Hamblet, West Bromwich. This paver is thought to represent the Maltese Cross.
Charles Goodman Tebbutt patented the design of these stable paving bricks in 1884 in the UK & 1887 in America. Although Tebbutt owned a brickworks in Huntingdon, Cambs. these pavers will have been made under licence at a works in the West Midlands because the required Etruria marl clay needed to make these pavers is not found in Cambridgeshire & I cannot see Tebbutt transporting clay across country to his works. The old cattle market at St. Ives, Cambridgeshire is laid with these pavers.
Photos by Chris Tilney.
Chris found this un-named 10 square block paver at North Bitchburn, County Durham.
Photographed by Alex Wilson this sea worn paver was found on the shoreline at Devil's Point, Plymouth. Bricks with this design in the frog have turned up in many areas of the country & I have photographed three house bricks with this stamp mark, one at Valley Reclamation, Chesterfield, one at the Black Country Living Museum & the example below at Cawarden Reclamation Yard. Again with this paver being made of Etruria Marl it will have been made at a brickworks in the West Midlands, which I have not be able to trace. I have suggested this motif could be a butterfly, then again it could a stylised fleur-de-lis. So if you recognise this stamp mark & know who made these bricks, please get in touch. Thanks.
This block paver has a series of random dots forming a diamond which could be recording which press machine it was made on, but there are 12 dots, so it must have been made by a large volume producer to have 12 production lines & with the dumb bell frog this could only be Hamblet's before they stamped their name or the letter H in the frog. The next red example below by Hamblet has a very similar finish to this blue 8 square paver, hence me thinking it is a Hamblet product.
Another 8 square block paver with a blank 2 square recessed frog.
Photos by Ian Suddaby.
This J. Brodie, Sanquhar 8 square deep block paver was found in Galston, East Ayrshire by Ian Suddaby.
Photos by Mark Cranston.
A J. Brodie variation with this 8 square deep paver having the addition of Limited in the name.
Photos by Mark Cranston.
Another Scottish 8 square deep paver this time from Robert Mackie, Barr Coal Co. Beith, North Ayrshire & was found by Anthony Shaw.
Six square block paver with a blank frog.
Photos by Mark Cranston.
6 square deep paver from W.J. Gillespie, Monreith, Wigtownshire, Scotland.
Four block paver with blank frog.
A two square block paver made by Henry Doulton at his vast Rowley Regis works.
Photos by Jonathan Dooley.
J.C. Edwards, Ruabon, Denbighshire, operational between 1903 & 1956.
2 square block paver made by Edward Parry in Buckley, North Wales.
Photos by Mark Cranston.
This glazed 2 square deep fireclay paver was made by the Dalquharran Brick & Tile Works in Wallacetown Ayrshire & was found by Tucker Kennedy.
Appin Brickworks, Townhill, Dunfirmline, Fife. This deep block paver is the first one to turn up with the makers name stamped in it's face & was photographed in Nottingham by Mike Chapman, so a long way from home.
Photos by Ian Suddaby.
Just like buses another two square block paver has turned up with the name in the face & again it was made in Scotland, this time by the Preston Grange Brick & Tile Works in Prestonpans, East Lothian.
Photo by Andrew Wood, courtesy of the Mark Cranston Collection.
With checking through Mark's website I have found this Hill of Beath Fireclay Works, Hill of Beath, Fife paver, so this now make three pavers with the name in the face.
Photos by Ian Suddaby.
Another two block deep paver from the Preston Grange brickworks, but this time with the name in it's reverse.
This unusual paver is made of slag waste & is known as a Scoria brick & was made by James Woodward at his Tees Scoria Brick Co., Eston, Middlesborough around 1873. Don Boldison who took these photos says that they are a common site around the back alleyways of York & they are slightly larger than a house brick & being 5 inches deep.
This two block paver was also made of slag waste.
All three Scoria brick photos are by Don Boldison & have been reproduced with the permission of the Old Bricks website.
Photos by Ian Suddaby.
This salt-glazed fireclay paver was made around 1851 by Dickinson & Co. at the Straid Brickworks near New Cumnock, Ayrshire. Up to Ian sending me these photos I was totally unaware that pavers had been made of fireclay.
Photos by Ian Suddaby.
Another salt-glazed fireclay paver this time made at the Bourtreehill Fireclay Works near Irvine, Ayrshire with Ian finding this one in Ayr.
The Queen Victoria Jubilee Bridge at Queensferry, Flintshire was opened in 1897 & it was quickly found that it's timber roadway soon wore away, so Gibson's Brickworks at Brookhill, Buckley were contracted to supply a suitable hard wearing brick to resurface the bridge's roadway. The result was these unique hard wearing vitrified Gibsonite pavers with hardwood wooden pegs inserted into them to provided grip for horse-drawn transport. The underside has holes either for water to drain through or maybe so that there was an escape for air when they hammered the timber pegs tightly into the recesses. When this wooden bridge needed replacing in 1926 they literally set it on fire & these bricks fell in to the river & many are still there today. A new bridge known as the "Blue Bridge" was then built. Info by Paul Davies.
Photos by Chris Tilney.
It appears the raised dots on this unusual paver create interlocking circles. Not one to be staring at after you have had a pint or two !!!
Many Thanks for the use of their photos & info :-
Ian Suddaby
Mike Chapman
Chris Tilney
Don Boldison
Alex Wilson
Paul Davies
Frank Lawson, who is sadly no longer with us.
