Monday 15 December 2014

Cawarden Reclamation Yard, Rugeley, Staffs.

If you are after bricks this is the place to come, whether you are after bricks for that extension or a collector like me, there are possibly millions of bricks to search through here. Bricks of all kinds were stacked in all directions & I did not know which way to go next, in the end I photographed 63 bricks that day.

The bricks in this post covers the west of the country from Stoke in the north, to Bristol in the south. I have already posted the bricks found from the East Midlands on my other site & you can see those by clicking on this link.

So onto the bricks found that day. This first one Northcot, I photographed by chance as it was not one that was in the yard, but had been brought in by some builders to Cawarden to find more bricks to match to it, so this one was a Brucie bonus !


Northcot Brick Company (North Cotswold) was started in 1925 by Spencer Churchill & was taken over in 1962 by the Brown family. Michael Brown who is the second generation of the Brown family to run the company is the current Managing Director. The brickworks on Station Road, Blockley, Gloucestershire still uses the adjacent Wellacre quarry to produce their traditional hand made & wire cut bricks. Battersea Power Station was built using Northcot bricks & bricks from the company will be used again when a Malaysian company refurbishes the Power Station.
Two excellent videos of the works can be seen at this link below, one of the tour of the works & one by CNN.
http://www.northcotbrick.co.uk/index.php



Rufford & Co. Hungary Hill, Stourbridge, started in 1802 producing fire bricks & fire clay products, which was later followed by the opening of a second larger works to produce glazed bricks & porcelain baths. The company owned four coal & clay pits to meet the demand to produce it's wares & employed 300 workers at it's peak of production. Francis junior Rufford is recorded at Stepping Stones,Stourbridge as the owner of the works in Pigot's 1829 Directory, which is followed by many entries in Kelly's Trade Directory. The company is recorded as F. T. Rufford in Kelly's 1860 & 1872 editions, then in 1876 as Rufford & Co. with Limited being added in the 1900 edition.  Stamper Mill replaces Hungary Hill as the address in the 1908 edition. After 134 years of producing it's wares the company went into voluntary liquidation in 1936, due to the lack of good quality clay reserves.




This Pressard brick & the Utopia red brick below were both made by the Aldridge Brick & Tile Company, Brickyard Road, Aldridge, Walsall. I have also found blue bricks stamped Utopia which were known for their extreme hardness & were used in the construction of air raid shelters. The company is recorded as starting in 1874 & they produced three types of brick, blue, engineering & hand mades. The company is first recorded in Kelly's 1892 edition as the Aldridge Colliery Co. Ltd. & in the 1896 edition William Fredrick Clark is listed as Secretary. William is then recorded as General Manager in the 1900 edition, followed by the 1912 edition to 1928 edition listing him as Managing Director. The 1932 edition now records the company as the Aldridge Brick, Tile & Coal Co. Ltd with William Fredrick Clark as Managing Director. The last available directory in 1940 just records the works new name. The Company closed in 1965 when the brickworks was taken over by Ibstock.






This is a wall copping of which many examples can be found in the Hanley area of Stoke on Trent. It was made by Woolliscroft Tiles, which was founded by George Woolliscroft (1825 -1906) & he is listed in a 1865 Trade Directory as beer seller / brick & tile manufacturer at the Eagle & Child Inn, Chesterton, Newcastle under Lyme. The next directory entry in 1868, records George as builder, manufacturer of blue bricks, chimney tops, drain pipes, roofing ridges & pressed floor tiles at Chesterton. Kelly's 1876 edition now records the company as George Woolliscroft & Son at Chesterton same as this brick. The 1880 edition of Kelly's records that the company has opened another works, Canal Tileries at Etruria in Stoke, with further expansion in 1884 & 1889 adding the Patent Tile Works, Hanley & the Joiners Square Works. This is followed by the works on Melville Street, Hanley in 1904. From 1910 the company concentrated on producing floor tiles only at it's Canal Tileries & Melville Street works, this being recorded in several editions of Kelly's Directory up to the last available directory in 1940. The Melville Street Works continued to produced tiles up to the year 2000 when Pilkington Tiles took over the Company & this works was closed. 
Link to photos & maps of the Melville Street Works.



The Haunchwood Brick Co. was established in 1875 in Nuneaton by the partnership of George Fowler, William Mattby & John W. Fowler. 1878 sees the Company become a Limited Company. There were three brickworks, No.1 Yard was on Haunchwood Road, Stockingford, No.2 Yard was on Hall End Road & No.3 Yard was on Bermuda Road. In 1896 James Knox was employed as Works Manager & later on with the help of some partners he became the owner of the Company.
Haunchwood Brick Co. is recorded in Kelly's 1876 edition at Stockingford, Nuneaton, followed by the 1880 edition recording the Company as Haunchwood Brick & Tile. The 1888 edition records James Knox as Managing Director. The 1900 edition now lists new works at Heath End & Griff, Chilvers Coton as well as Stockingford. The Company carries on to listed in Kelly's until the last available directory in 1940. 
In 1968 Haunchwood merged with G.W. Lewis Tileries forming Haunchwood Lewis Brick & Tile Company, however this new company did not last long with it going into voluntary liquidation in 1973. Haunchwood's No.1 Works closed in 1970 with the works being demolished the following year & is now Whittleford Country Park, the site being transformed by the local & county councils. No.2 works was demolished in 1970/72 is now an housing estate & the No.3 Works closed in 1969.

You can read more detail about the company at this link on page 11. 

This excellent link contains many photos of the works & is about a third way down this very long post.

This link contains an ariel photograph & a map of the No. 1 Works before it was transformed into a Country Park. If you click on the images, they are enlarged.




The Lilleshall Company which was mainly an engineering company, was founded in 1802 by the Marquess of Stafford with four local capitalists, John Bishton the elder, James Birch, John Onions & William Phillips  at Oakgates, Shropshire. The company were also coal & iron merchants, iron founders & steel producers. The company opened it's mechanised Donnington Wood Brickworks on Pain's Lane, Lilleshall in 1876. By 1908 the company was producing 3 to 4 million high quality bricks per year, but the company declined during the 1960's & the works closed in 1972. Glazed bricks, like the example above were in production in 1961.
A photo of the works can be seen at this link.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2024941

                                                                       

The Cattybrook Brickworks came about when Charles Richardson an engineer working for the Bristol & South Wales Railway, realised the potential of the local clay when he was visiting the excavations for the Patchway Tunnel. So in 1865 Charles leased a few acres of land at Cattybrook to produce engineering bricks. In 1871 he went into partnership with Ernest Street & Edward Grover, creating the Cattybrook Brick Company Ltd. in 1877. It is reported that Charles's company made 30 million engineering bricks to line the Severn Tunnel in 1872. Portishead Power Station, Fry's factory at Keynsham & Imperial Tobacco at Bristol all used Charles's bricks in the construction of their buildings. 
The Cattybrook Brick Works at Almondsbury, Bristol is recorded in Kelly's 1897 edition with E.E. Street as Manager & in 1900 the company is now run by Frank Richardson, employing 300 workers. In Kelly's 1906 Directory there is the addition of another brick works at Shortwood, Bristol. Then in Kelly's 1914 entry, Mr E. Gwynne Vevers is recorded as Managing Director, with Mr. Thomas Walker recorded as Manager of the two brickworks. The company was taken over by Ibstock in 1969 & by 1973 the company was fully absorbed into Ibstock Building Products Ltd. & the Cattybrook name was lost. Ibstock is still making bricks there today, at it's Over Lane Works.



The Stonehouse Brick & Tile Co. Ltd was formed in 1890 with small scale production starting in 1891. The company had been formed by M.P. Hayward, E. Jenner-Davies & J.F. Hayward, who after inviting Arthur W. Anderson, manager of the Bracknell Brick & Tile Co. to survey land in Stonehouse with the possibility of starting a brickworks, was then given the job as Manager of the works. The works was situated next to the railway line owned by the Great Western Railway in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. Recorded in Kelly's as the Stonehouse B. & T. Co. Ltd. with Arthur W. Anderson as manager in it's 1897 edition, I then have another three entries for the company up to 1910 edition. The company produced bricks until the late 1960's & due to several problems, the works closed in 1968 with the company then concentrating on it's other brickworks.
More can be read about the Company on these two excellent pages. 
http://www.gsia.org.uk/reprints/1997/gi199714.pdf
http://www.coaley.net/indglos_1904/ig190443.pdf



This brick was made at Dumbleton Hall in Gloucestershire, at it's own brickworks on the estate, which was on the western edge of Dumbleton village next to Brickyard Cottages.
Update 26.4.15. William Taylor was employed as brickmaker by Edward Holland owner of Dumbleton Hall in 1851. By 1860 William was manager of the yard & then in the 1880's he was followed by his son, James. The works had closed by 1901.
More can be read at this link.
http://www.hawkerntaylors.moonfruit.com/#/the-brickyard/4569296696



This very ornate brick (one of my favourites) was made by Francis Harry Gordon who was an entrepreneur with business interests in North Staffordshire. He opened his brickworks in the 1870's & it was located adjacent to the Daw End Canal just south-west of Clayhanger Bridge, Brownhills. The works covered seven acres & the clay measures were recorded as being 30ft. thick. There were 3 drying sheds, 3 seven holed kilns, 2 dwelling houses, an engine house & a mill house on the site. Francis Harry Gordon is recorded in Kelly's 1896 edition at Clayhanger, Walsall Wood, Walsall. The works closed in 1896 due to stiff competition & undercutting by the neighbouring Walsall Wood Colliery Brickworks. The parapets on Anchor Bridge at Catshill had been repaired using Francis's bricks, but they were replaced when the bridge was restored in 1988. A large modern housing estate now occupies the site of the brickworks.
The majority of this information was gathered from this website. 
© Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service, http://blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/WAHER_MBL2219/



W.H. Parton & Son is recorded at High Street & works at Kings Heath, Birmingham in Kelly’s 1899 & 1900 editions & then there is a gap in directory entries until Kelly's 1913 & 15 editions at the same address.



Henry Lakin is recorded as brickmaker in Kelly’s 1857 Trade Directory at Stapenhill near Burton on Trent.



Found two bits of Information relating to Hall Green, which may be connected. The first is from a 1908 list of mines in the South Stafford area & it records F.W. Boone as the owner of the Hall Green Brickworks at Wednesbury operating the Moorland Colliery with 3 men below & 2 men above. 
The second is a planning application dated 20th February 1905 for Brick Burning Kilns, Drying Shed, Machine House & Offices at The Aqueduct Brickworks, Crankhall Lane by the Hall Green Brick & Ironstone Co. with the applicants residence recorded as Stafford Street, Wednesbury. 



The Castle Brick Works, Birchills, Walsall is first listed in Kelly's 1900 edition & this entry is repeated in the 1904 & 1908 editions. Kelly's 1912 edition now reads J. Griffin Jones & Company, Castle Brick Works, Upper Green Road, Birchills, Walsall. This entry continues until the 1921 edition, but I have found on the web that this company was still in operation in 1924. Kelly's 1928 edition now reads The Castle Brick Co. Upper Green Road, Birchills, Walsall & this entry is repeated in Kelly's 1932, 36 & 40 editions together with a second brickworks at Bloxwich, Walsall. The Company closed in the 1950’s.




P. G. & R. - Partridge, Guest & Raybould (Blue & Red) Old Hill, Rowley Regis are listed in Kelly's 1860 to 1872 editions. After Raybould had left this partnership, the company continued as Partridge & Guest Ltd. until 1936 & this is the last entry in Kelly's directory recording the works at Powke Lane, Old Hill making blue bricks, stable bricks & garden tiles.

Update 28.4.18.
I can now reveal what happened next to Marshall Raybould & some earlier info for P. G. & R. 
In White's 1873 edition Marshall Frederick Raybould is listed brickmaking at Mill Lane, Harborne & at Powke Lane, Oldhill near Rowley Regis. At this Powke Lane works Raybould was in partnership with Samuel Partridge & Joseph Guest with whom he had worked with since 1856, but Raybould was to shortly leave this partnership to concentrate on brickmaking at his new works at Harborne. The break up of this partnership must have taken place by 1875 as Raybould is only listed at Harborne in Kelly's 1875 Birmingham edition & Partridge & Guest are only listed together in Kelly's 1876 Staffs. edition.

So with Raybould from 1873 at his Mill Lane, Harborne brickworks we find he continues to make bricks at this works until Kelly's 1897 edition. We then find in Kelly's 1899 to 1905 editions the listing is Walter Raybould at Harborne Park Road (previously named Mill Lane), Harborne. So I am taking it that Walter was Marshall's son.

I have also found in a London Gazette Notice that in 1856 Partridge, Guest & Raybould were also in partnership with John Tranter, brickmaking at Powke Lane, Oldhill operating under the company name of S. Partridge & Co. This notice records that Tranter then left the company on the 23rd September 1856. I have also found S. Partridge is listed at Oldhill in White's 1851 edition, so Raybould may have joined Partridge as early as say 1854/5. I estimate that Marshall Frederick Raybould was brickmaking for around 44 years & he would have been in his 60's when he retired. I have now added bricks below made by Marshall & Walter Raybould which where found at Cawarden.







Swindell & Collis are listed in Jones Mercantile Directory 1865 edition as Coalmasters / Brick & Tile Manufacturers at Granville & Gorsty Hill Collieries, Old Hill, Cradley Heath. The company is then recorded in Kelly's 1868 edition at Granville Colliery, Rowley Regis, Dudley. This is followed by many entries until 1908, listing the company with variations of the name & address as Old Hill, Dudley - Granville Brick Works & in the last entry as S & C, (blue) Granville Brick Works, Station Road, Old Hill.



Jacob Sames is listed in Kelly’s Birmingham 1878 & 1879 editions at Garrison Lane. The 1893 edition now records his works as the Atlas Brickworks, Garrison Lane. 



The Atlas & Crown Brick Co. Birmingham is listed in Kelly’s 1890 edition at Garrison Lane, Small Heath & Bordesley Green Road, Saltley with Evan Thomas as Managing Partner. Then in the 1892 to 1900 editions the works are now recorded as Bordesley Green, Small Heath & Bordesley Green Road, Saltley. 



John Bond is recorded as making bricks at his Watery Lane brickworks, Birmingham in Kelly's Directory from 1867 to 1905 editions.



This brick from Berry Hill Brickworks Ltd. was made after 1947, but the brickworks had it's origins in 1870 when it was owned by William Bowers. I cannot find any trade directory entries for William, either under his own name or company name. After William's death the company was owned by Henry Warrington & Son & the first entry for the new owners in Kelly's is 1896 with the works listed as the Berry Hill Works, Fenton, Stoke. This entry is repeated until the 1908 edition. There is then a gap in directory entries for the works, but I have found on the web that the brickworks which was adjacent to Berry Hill Colliery was purchased by John Slater in 1914. John then formed John Slater Ltd. in 1918 owning New Haden Colliery at Cheadle as well. We next find that Berry Hill Collieries Ltd. are the next owners & this company is recorded in Kelly's 1928 & 1932 editions at the Berry Hill Brickworks, Stoke. In the 1920's it is recorded that the brickworks was the largest in North Staffordshire. 1947 sees the Nationalisation of the collieries & the company changed it's name to Berry Hill Brickworks Ltd. In the 1960's the Company added two more brickworks to the group, Clanway in Tunstall & Kingsley in Cheadle. Berry Hill Brickworks Ltd. is recorded as closing in the 1970's.


David Carthy is recorded at Brereton Road, Rugeley in Kelly’s 1892 to 1900 editions. The Brereton Road works is then listed as being owned by Carthy Brothers in the 1904 & 1908 editions.


So if you wish to visit Cawarden Reclamation I have pasted their link below. It's well worth a visit. 
http://www.cawardenreclaim.co.uk

Many Thanks to Cawarden Reclamation for allowing me to go round the yard & photograph your bricks. Many new names have now been recorded on Penmorfa brick web site.





Saturday 25 October 2014

Barlborough Heritage Centre

was recently told about this small local brick collection at Barlborough Heritage Centre by a fellow collector. With me finding a Barlboro & Cottam brick at nearby Renishaw a year previous, I when to the Centre to see what was in their collection. The first brick I spotted was the same one as I had found at Renishaw. I got talking to Tony the Centre's Manager, who explained that the bricks had all come from two buildings which had stood in the village, So examples of each brick were saved at the Centre. There is so much local information packed into the Heritage Centre that it is well worth a visit, covering nobility at Barlborough Hall, famous locals, daily life in Barlborough & there is a good display about the 1st World War, remembering the fallen.

So onto the bricks which I photographed with a little bit of information to each.


This brick was made at Hazel Colliery & Brickworks formally known as Cottam No.2 pit in Barlborough. Hazel Colliery had been reopened together with a brickworks in 1909 by a local consortium. The colliery closed in 1914, but the brickworks continued until 1917 as the Barlborough Brick Co. Ltd. The brickworks is recorded in the 1912 edition of Kelly's Trade Directory as Barlborough & Cottam Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. Barlborough, Chesterfield. I then found from the London Gazette that the company went into liquidation on the 14th March 1912, hence the renaming of the brickworks to Barlborough Brick Co.
Please note the wrong spelling of Cottam, this was very common to find misspellings or letters reversed on bricks at this period of time.

  © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1923.
Map dated 1923 showing location of Hazel Colliery & Brickworks where bricks marked Barlboro & Cottam Co. Ltd & Barlboro Brick Co. were made. 



Spinkhill is a small village, a few miles north west from Barlborough & the only information I can find is an article from the London Gazette dated 8th February 1949, registering The Spinkhill Brickyard Limited with the Companies Registration Office (Board of Trade) Bush House, Strand, London, WC2 on that date.

  © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1923.
1923 map showing location of Spinkhill brickworks next to the Railway Station. This works is also recorded on a 1893 map.



This brickworks is recorded in a 1925 trade directory as Webster & Co, (Sheffield) Limited, manufacturers of silica bricks, fire bricks, magnesite, bricks, gangster, compo & building bricks at Archer Road. TA "Webco, Sheffield."



Killamarsh Brick Co. Ltd. at Killamarsh near Sheffield is recorded in 1899 to 1912 editions of Kelly's Trade Directory with Fredrick E. Welsh as manager.



John Lee, farmer, brickmaker & blacksmith at Waterthorpe, Mosborough, Sheffield is recorded in Kelly's in 1887 to 1912 editions.



Although recorded in White's Sheffield 1905 Directory at Wisewood, Loxley, Sheffield, this works was reported in the London Gazette as being voluntarily wound up at a extraordinary General Meeting of the Company on the 16th February 1904. This company had been owned by Henry Crapper who is recorded in Kelly's 1893 edition.





Charles Keyworth is first recorded at Halifax Road, Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield as the proprietor of the New Patent Plastic Brick Company from 1898 to 1913. Mrs Elizabeth Brindley is next recorded as proprietress at the works in 1916, this being the only entry in the trade directory. The works on Halifax Road is then recorded as being operated by the Sheffield Brick Co. in 1925.



Made by the Rothervale Collieries Ltd at their Thurcroft Colliery, Rotherham. The brickworks was in operation from 1918, closing in 1992 after being taken over by Butterley Brick.



John Hall Gosling is recorded as owning collieries in the Chesterfield & Barlborough areas in the mid 19th century. 
He is listed as brickmaker in Kelly's 1864 to 1881 editions & then there is an entry for him in the Barlborough P.O. Directory for 1885. 
Kelly's 1887 & 1891 editions records Fredrick Gosling as brickmaker at Barlborough. Fredrick is John's son. 



This brick was possibly made at Dinnington Main Colliery near Rotherham which closed in 1992.


If you wish to visit the Heritage Centre I have pasted their link below.
http://www.barlboroughrc.btck.co.uk



Saturday 20 September 2014

Avoncroft Museum near Bromsgrove


I first came across the Avoncroft Museum from the many bricks photographed at the museum which are posted on David Sallery's Penmorfa brick site. So after checking the web for opening times & what else there was to see at the museum, a visit was planned. 

The museum near Bromsgrove is a mini village containing buildings which have been rescued & faithfully rebuilt in a setting to match their original location. Most of the buildings contain items & tools for which they were originally used for, like the blacksmith's shop & chain shop. All of these buildings were either rescued from the bulldozer or ones which had fell into neglect. 

Now on to some of the bricks I photographed that day.



These are small bricks which had been made on site by the machinery they have installed to demonstrate how bricks are made. You can buy one of the Avoncroft bricks from the souvenir shop as a keepsake of your day at the museum.


10.12.14 - Bromsgrove - Avoncroft Museum have just updated me on the maker of this brick as Samuel Frisby at Tardebigge. So for information about Samuel, please see the entry further down the post.



The J on this brick is reversed & was made by Joseph Lee Stinson, Brockmoor, Brierley Hill & he is recorded in Kelly's from 1864 to 1872.



Founded in 1885, The Hartlebury Brick & Tile Co. is recorded in Kelly's 1900 Trade Directory with W.H. Bill as manager. In the 1912 edition J.B. Hill is now the manager, to be followed by H.G. Hill in 1921. In the 1924 edition H.G. Hill is now recorded as Proprietor. The Company continues to be listed in trade directories until the last available one in 1940. Whether directories were produced after this date I do not know, but the Hartlebury brickworks is still in production today. 
The site of the original works was purchased in 1950 by Baggeridge Brick. A second works was built by Baggeridge on the Hartlebury Trading Estate in 1986. In 2006 Baggeridge was taken over by Wienerberger & the original Hartlebury site was mothballed. The Waresley Brickworks on the Hartlebury Trading Estate continued under its new owners & is still in production today as Wienerberger's largest UK factory. It was announced in July 2014 that the original Hartlebury works was to be reopened, creating 36 new jobs to meet the ever increasing demand for bricks.



In 1881, Thomas Hawley who lived at Park Hall was successful in his application to build brick kilns on his land, on which he ran a market garden business called The Cherry Orchard. These kilns were not built until seven years later & the works operated under the name of Mason & Dall. A railway siding was soon added & this was followed by the renaming of the works to the Cherry Orchard Brick Company around 1889. This works was Kenilworth's last brickworks to close in 1977 & is recorded in Kelly's Trade Directory from 1900 to 1940.
I have pasted a link below with a little bit more information about the works & how the site looked in 2003.  http://www.warwickshireias.org/cherryorchard.html



Joseph King & Co. are recorded in Kelly's 1860 Directory at Netherend, Cradley through to the 1908 edition. They produced red bricks & terracotta at their Chapel Terra Cotta Works on Park Lane in Cradley, Halesowen. 



I first have a reference to the office building of the Batesford Estate brickworks at Aston Magna near Morton in Marsh, Gloucestershire, which was in production in the late 19th century, as being converted into a Pentecostal Church. By 1977 this building ceased to be used & is now derelict.
From the Gloucestershire Archives on the web, there is a reference to the cost of laying railway sidings to the Aston Magna Brick & Tile Company in 1902/3 by the Great Western Railway. The Aston Magna B.&T. Co. is recorded in Kelly's Worcestershire 1908 edition at Aston Magna, Moreton in the Marsh, Gloucestershire with Robert Allen Rossborough as Manager. 


Postcard of the Aston Magna Brick Works, showing the railway sidings into the works.



The Leamington & Lillington Brickyard Co. Ltd. Lillington Road, Leamington is recorded in Kellys 1884 edition with Thomas Mills as Managing Director. The works was just off today's Villiers Street in the town & was in operation until the 1950's. The former works is now a green open space & houses were built around the site in the 1960's & 1970's.



Samuel Warr was born in 1832 at The Delph, Brierley Hill, Staffs. In the 1851 census, aged 19 he is recorded as brickmaker & then in the 1871 census now aged 39, he is recorded as brickmaker & employing 7 men, 9 women & 4 boys at Lyde Green. Samuel is also recorded in trade directories as brickmaker from 1865 to 1878. 
In the 1891 census, he is now recorded as Coal Dealer in Stratford in Avon & then same again in the 1901 census.




The Ketley Brick Company had it's origins in Kingswinford, Dudley & is recorded in Kelly's 1880 edition with William Wood as Manager. In the 1892 edition the company is now listed as the Ketley Blue Brick Co. at Kingswinford with W.T. Skelding as Manager. In the 1908 edition W.T. Skelding is now Managing Director & the company has been renamed the Ketley Brick Co. Ltd. It's in Kelly's 1932 edition that the Company is first recorded at Nagersfield, Brierley Hill as well as at Kingswinford. Both of these works continue to be listed in the last two available editions in 1936 & 1940. The Nagersfields works closed in the late 1940's. The Ketley Brick Company produced red & Staffordshire blue bricks & was purchased in 1964 by local firm Hinton, Perry & Davenhill Ltd. who operated the Dreadnought Brick & Tile Works at Pensnett. In the takeover all of Ketley's production was moved to the Dreadnought Works. It was after this take over that Hinton, Perry & Davenhill operated under the name of The Ketley Brick Company & this company is still in production today at Pensnett. So with this brick saying Brierley Hill it was probably made at the Nagersfield works between 1932 & the late 1940's. 

Updated 15.7.20. It is now thought that B.B. Brand stamped in this red brick stands for Blue Brick Brand & blue bricks with three BBB's stamped in them have been found, example below. So I am assuming these blue BBB bricks (Blue Brick Brand) were made by Ketley between 1892 & 1964.




John Taylor is recorded in Kelly's 1860 edition to it's 1872 edition at Linthurst, Lickley, Bromsgrove. John is also listed in the Bromsgrove Trade Directory from 1865 to 1878 as brick & tile manufacturer & coal merchant at Newton Linthurst, Blackwell. From the two entries John made bricks for 18 years.
Information provided by Bromsgrove Library.



Henry Wheelock who originated from Leicestershire in 1879,  is recorded as brick & tile maker & coal merchant at Newton Linthurst, Blackwell in the Bromsgrove Almanack & Trade Directory between 1879 & 1886.
Information provided by Bromsgrove Library.



We next find Henry Wheelock recorded as Managing Director at the Linthurst & Barnt Green Brick, Quarry & Tile Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in the 1888 edition of the Bromsgrove Trade Directory with P. Levens as Secretary. 
I then have a second reference for L.& B.G. Brick Co. from Kelly's Worcester 1912 trade directory, with W.J. Tilt, Managing Director & Francis T. Levens, secretary, office at 110 High Street, Bromsgrove & works at Linthurst, Blackwell. 
Recorded at the dates below in several editions of the Bromsgrove Trade Directory, the Company is then managed by Richard Wheelock in 1890, John Wheelock 1899 to 1912 & John junior 1914 to 1939.
Information provided by Bromsgrove Library. Many Thanks.



Studley is a village near Redditch & the works is now an industrial estate, possibly with some of the original buildings still standing.



Made by J.T. Price at his Kingswinford brick & tile works which was situated across the road from Planet Colliery & St. Mary's Church in Kingswinford. All of which can be seen on this 1881 map with the brickworks marked as the Kingswinford Works (brick & tile). http://maps.nls.uk/view/101597531



Samuel Frisby operated his Tardebigge works from 1896 to 1910. He had been employed by land owner the Earl of Plymouth to work on the Earl's land at Perry Fields Lane, which was next to the canal to make bricks under an agreement of so many free bricks to the Earl in every batch made. 
Information supplied by the Reverend Alan White who has written a book entitled 100 years of Tardebigge. Many Thanks.

Information from Kelly's Trade Directories, Samuel is recorded in the 1892 & 1896 editions at Perryfield, Bromsgrove then in the 1900 & 1904 editions at Tardebigge, Bromsgrove. The next two entries are for Mrs. A. Frisby at Tardebigge in 1908 & 1912, so his wife carried on the business, possibly after his death. Perryfield & Tardebigge are the same location.



The Alvechurch Brickworks was situated close to the canal in the village & produced bricks under several owners from 1860 to 1939. This example dates from the 1930's. 

This next brick was also made at the Alvchurch brickworks & is stamped William H. Wynn, a Ironfounder from Birmingham who is listed in Kelly's Trade Directories from 1876 to 1912 making bricks at Scarfields, Alvechurch, Birmingham. An 1877 advert for the company selling their bricks records R.G. Long as Manager. A descendant of Rowland Granville Long has contacted me saying his 2x Great Grandfather in 1871 was a Wharfinger at Worcester Wharf, Birmingham, after which he then built & ran WH Wynn's Patent Brickworks for 3 or 4 years. An 1880 advert now records Mr Harry Thompson as manager, so we now know WH Wynn moved to the Alvchurch brickworks in 1876. 

Messrs. G.H. & C. Boden father & son, are then recorded as the new owners of the works in 1924. They when on to produce tiles as well as bricks with Mr. G.H. Gittens taken on as manager in 1925. The works next manager was Mr A.G.F. Pitts in 1931 who introduced an extended range of tiles & briquettes for fireplaces to the companies catalogue. With a drop in demand & it's workers enlisting to fight in WW2 plus the constant need to pump the clay pit to stop it from flooding, the decision was made to close the works in 1939. 

Information from Dan Beven, Kelly's Trade Directories & an article in a book called Alvechurch 1200 years of History, supplied to me by the Alvechurch Village Society. Many Thanks.
http://www.alvechurch-village-society.org.uk/index.htm




Although these bricks look like they are behind bars. They are in fact stacked on top of one another against the cage which surrounds the brick making machine & are safely held into place at the back. 



William Henry Ward an architect by trade is recorded as being one of the founders of the Birmingham Patent Brick Company in 1874 who's works was on Stonehouse Lane, California, Birmingham situated near to the No.2 Dudley Canal. The other founders of this Patent Brick Co, who also owned their own brickworks were Edward & Henry Loader Ensor of Woodville, Burton and B.W. Blades, West Bromwich. B.P.B.Co. was wound up in 1877 & we later find in 1888 that William Ward is now the owner of this brickworks with Ward being listed in Kelly's 1888 edition at California, Northfield. William Ward continues to be listed in Kelly's directories at this works until the 1908 edition & this brick will have been made between 1888 & 1908.



The origins of the Whitemoor Brickworks in Kenilworth started in 1872 when a lease was taken out by Walter Lockhart to make bricks on land owned by the Hawkes family. Walter made the first bricks to carry the town's name. The works was briefly owned by the Leamington & Lillington Brickyard Co. before it was purchased in 1891 by Henry Hawkes. Henry operated it under his own name until 1930, after which it continued until it's closure in 1957 under ownership which is unknown.



Moorwood, this works may have been in Nuneaton ? 
Updated 11.9.17 - Nigel Furniss has now sent an image of one of these Moorwood bricks with this info to Penmorfa. "Owned by Jee's Hartshill Granite & Brick Co. Ltd. near Nuneaton, Had it's own siding, worked by horses on the Midland Railway, Stockingford branch line. This connection was put in place in the 1890's. The brickworks closed in 1912, so had a relatively short life." 
Now armed with this new info, I found only one trade directory entry for this brickworks in Kelly's 1904 edition which reads - Jees Hartshill Granite & Brick Co. (Charles Kingsley Maxwell, managing director), Hartshill, Atherstone, Warks. A little bit more info about this brickworks can be read on the web page which I have pasted the link to below. Please note that this is a very long post, the Jee's info is three quarters way down the article & concentrates mainly on the quarry side of Jee's business.


  © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1901.

1901 OS map showing Jee's brickworks at Moor Wood. Also to note on this map is the tramway to the Stockingford branch line & the tramway into Moor Wood where Jee's had their granite quarries. The 1913 map shows the brickworks as disused.

Updated 22.12.19. Scott Smith has just sent me these two photos of bricks stamped Jees, Atherstone. One has it's letters stamped into the brick, the other has raised letters. Many Thanks Scott.





The maker of this brick could be The Blockley Brick & Tile Works, Blockley & the company is recorded in Kelly's Worcestershire 1928 edition. Blockley at that time was an exclave of Worcestershire until 1931, but the village just north of Morton-in-Marsh is now in Gloucestershire. Just to note, this works is a different works to the one known as Northcot Brick.

Further research has revealed that Benjamin Pollard Blockley owned a part share & then took over a brickworks at Bloxwich & he is listed as Benjamin Pollard Blockley, High Street, Bloxwich, Walsall in Kelly's 1896  edition, then as Benjamin Pollard Blockley, Victoria Brickworks, Bloxwich in Kelly's 1904 edition. I also have an article which states that after his initial venture into brickmaking he then purchased Guest, Keen & Nettlefold's engineering works at Hadley, Shropshire possibly around 1898 & after the sale of the works machinery he established a brickworks on the 200 acre site & this brickworks is shown on a 1901 map. So I am now favouring Benjamin Blockley as the maker of this brick as this article also states that he produced pressed bricks before moving over to the more productive wirecut method at Hadley. I expect he also produced pressed bricks at Bloxwich. A brick stamped with the initials BPB (Benjamin Pollard Blockley) has been found from the demolished outbuildings of Ditherington flaxmill, Shrewsbury by a fellow collector, hence backing up my theory that Benjamin made this Blockley stamped brick. 
Benjamin died in 1922 & was followed by his sons Colonel Blockley & Arthur in running the works. Then the works was run by Arthur's son-in-law, Jimmy Wright in the 1960's. Today Benjamin's Hadley works (Trench Lock) which is now accessed from Sommerfield Road is known as Blockleys & is part of the Michelmersh Group. 



Alfred Espley Brickworks Ltd. is recorded in the London Gazette as being voluntary wound up on the 29th of April 1942 and the company disposed of by the liquidator. Information from a family web site states that Benjamin Bomford b.1864 d.1915 was the manager of the Espley Brickworks in Stratford on Avon, but it does not state any dates. Entries in Kelly's Trade Directory records Alfred Espley as brickmaker from 1876 edition to the 1892 edition, then from 1900 to the 1940 edition as Alfred Espley Brickworks Ltd. operating on Birmingham Road, Stratford on Avon.


Information from an article in an American newspaper states that these Commemorative blue bricks, inscribed Charles & Diana 29th July 1981 were selling for $3 each & were made by Barnett & Beddows, brickmakers in Walsall. In it's first week of production the company sold 1000 bricks.


For more information about the Museum, please click on the link.  http://www.avoncroft.org.uk

For photos of the buildings & collections at Avoncroft on my Days Out blog, please click on my link below.