While I was researching brick companies in the West Midlands, I found on a railway blog site for Broadway Station, many pictures of piles of bricks & bricks being laid in the rebuilding of the station & signal box by the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Steam Railway Society. Seeing that you could read the names on some of these old bricks, I duly contacted the Society asking if they could photograph any of their named bricks which they had. So many thanks to Bill Britton, chairman & to Jo Roesen for taking & sending me the photos in this post.
All photos by Jo Roesen.
I first start with this GWR brick - Great Western Railway. The Trust also uses the initials of GWR standing for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway in it's logo & the Honeybourne Line which they are restoring was originally part of the Great Western Railway.
Finding information on the web where GWR made their bricks has been very sketchy, but from several sources I have established that the company had it's own brickworks located within it's rail works at Swindon & it was located on Kiln Lane. Also found that the brickworks used the local Kimmeridge clay which is found in abundance around Swindon, producing their distinct red coloured bricks. The brickworks is also recorded on an Ordnance Survey map dated 1900 & then there is a Britain From Above photograph dated 1946 showing the rail works complex with the brickworks on Kiln Lane marked in the distance on the photo, which can be seen at this link.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw003329
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw003329
Winchcombe Brick & Tile Co. Jo tells me that this fancy shaped brick came from the original Broadway Station building & formed a ropework design around a window.
This brickworks & pottery at Greet near Winchcombe was first started by William Beckett & he is recorded as brickmaker aged 45 in the 1841 Census. William was then followed by his son Richard until 1913 & then by Richard's widowed mother until 1914, when the Winchcombe Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. purchased the works. The company was still in production in 1939 & is listed in Kelly's Trade Directory, with the closure of the works being not long after that.
The run down pottery had been sold in 1926 to Michael Cardew. a young potter who had been an apprentice to Bernard Leach. Joining the company in 1936 Ray Finch was then to go on to purchase the pottery from Cardew in 1946. The pottery is still their today operating as Winchcombe Pottery. As a footnote, Cardew went on to run the famous teapot pottery at Bovey Tracey, Devon.
The Redbank Brick Company is recorded in Kelly’s 1895 edition and was on Atherstone Road, Measham along with two other brickworks - Measham Terra Cotta & Coronet. The company may have taken its name from nearby Red Bank Farm. In 1955 the company produced bricks and pipes & 1983 saw the company expand to produce tiles, chimney pots and terracotta. Now owned by Hanson the original works closed in 2009 to be replaced by a ultra modern automated brickworks on adjoining land which can produce 100 million bricks per year with just 28 staff.
Link to 1933 ariel photo, with Redbank in the foreground & the Coronet works on other side of railway line.
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.
The Milton Hall Brick Co. on Star Lane, Great Wakering near Southend was formed in 1932 & was in production until 1984 when the works was taken over by the London Brick Co. LBC continued to produce bricks at this works until 2005.
Mobberley & Perry Fire Brick Manufacturers of Stourbridge was formed by brother-in-laws John Mobberley & Henry Perry with this partnership operating the Hurst Fire Brick Works at Woodside, Holly Hall, Stourbridge. John Mobberley had married Henry Perry's sister Maria in 1856. The first reference found for Mobberley & Perry is a newspaper advert dated 15th November 1873 - Wanted a quality old flat chain or roping, state lowest price - Address, Mobberley & Perry, Hurst Fireclay & Brick Works, Stourbridge. There's another fire-brick family connection with Henry Perry marrying George Pearson's daughter, Phoebe in 1869 (Harris & Pearson). The Hurst Works was also known as the Woodside Works as per newspaper articles. Red & blue bricks were also manufactured at this works.
The 1871 census records John Mobberley aged 45 as a Brickyard Manager living in Lye. Then a February 1873 newspaper article reveals he was running Perrin & Harrison's Brettell Lane fire-brick works at Brierley Hill, however we know by November 1873 John was in the partnership of Mobberley & Perry. Meanwhile Henry Perry in the 1871 census is recorded as a Nail Manufacturer in his father's business.
Kelly's 1880 edition records Mobberley & Perry were now operating the Himley fire-clay & brick works situated on Oak Lane, Kingswinford as well. The 1881 census records John Mobberley aged 55 as a Fire Brick Manufacturer living on Hagley Street, Stourbridge, then Henry Perry is a recorded as a Fire Brick Manufacturer aged 43 also living on Hagley Street, Stourbridge & employing 40 men, 50 Women & 20 Apprentice Boys.
The County Express in it's 13th of December 1890 edition reports Mobberley & Perry had taken over J.B. Fisher & Co's Hayes Brickworks at Lye & this consisted of two works. The Hayes Lane works produced fireclay bricks & the Stourbridge Road works, situated nearly opposite produced red & blue bricks.
John Mobberley died in October 1907 only leaving five daughters. So it appears the running of Mobberley & Perry was now in the sole hands of Henry Perry. John did have a brother, Richard who in the 1871 census is recorded as a Brickyard Manger, but Richard died in 1875. I have also found several other Mobberley's who were related to John & were fire brick makers/manufacturers, but from my findings there were not involved in the running of Mobberley & Perry & were running their own companies or working for other fire brick manufacturers.
Henry Perry died in May 1911 with his two sons George Harry Pearson Perry & James Edgar Perry taking over the running of Mobberley & Perry. Both sons are listed in the 1901 census as Brick Manufacturers, 30 & 28 respectively, both single & living with their parents on Hagley Street, Stourbridge. In 1915 the directors of Mobberley & Perry consisted of G.H.P. Perry, J.E. Perry, W.H. Hill & J.M. Darby. I also note James Edgar Perry was a founder member of Hinton, Perry & Davenhill Ltd., Roof Tile Manufacturers at Pensnett which was established in 1904, so was involved in the running of two companies.
A September 1933 newspaper notice advertises the Hurst fire brick works was being put up for sale with the present owners transferring production to their works at Stourbridge (The Hayes). The Hurst works was subsequently purchased by John Stevens who ran the works into the 1960's.
By the end of March 1956 fire-brick manufacturers J.T. Price had completed the purchase of the private limited company of Mobberley & Perry which then became a wholly-owned subsidiary of J.T. Price Ltd. which continued to trade as Mobberley & Perry Ltd. It was all change the following year in 1957 when J.T. Price & E.J. & J. Pearson merged forming Price-Pearson Refractories Ltd. This new group also acquired fire brick manufacturers Timmis & Co. in 1958. Again Mobberley & Perry continued to trade under their own name.
A March 1962 newspaper advert for Mobberley & Perry Ltd reveals they were advertising for an Electrician to work in their newly built Albion firebrick works on Moor Street, Brierley Hill. Applications were to be made to J.C. Price Esq. We then find J. & J. Dyson of Sheffield had taken over Price-Pearson in 1968 & it was this company who was still running the Albion Works in Brierley Hill in November 1971.
Still operating as Mobberley & Perry Ltd., the Hayes brickworks was closed in the late 1960's & their Himley fire-brick works on Oak Lane, Kingswinford was closed in 1990.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw035954
Photo taken by Jo Roesen at GWR Broadway Station, Worcs.
John Hamblet is first listed as a brickmaker, aged 18 in the 1851 census living with his brother Joseph Hamblet aged 31 in Rounds Green, Oldbury. So I am assuming John was working at Joseph's brickworks at this date. In the 1861 census John is listed as a Railway Contractor & Publican in Ledbury, after which John was brickmaking again in Southall, Middx. John declares himself bankrupt from this Southall venture, as recorded in two London Gazette Notices 14th December 1866 & 18th October 1867. By the time of the second hearing John was living in West Bromwich & was soon to be running the Paddock Brickworks in Oldbury, coloured yellow on the 1886 OS map below. In these Notices John is also recorded as brickmaking in Ampthill, Bedford, but I do not have the dates when this was.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1886.
Photographed in Sutton Coldfield by Terry Callaghan.
Kelly’s 1876 edition records the partnership of Crowther & Hamblet at the Paddock Brickworks, Oldbury & Charles William Crowther was John’s son-in-law. Charles had married John’s daughter, Annie in 1873. Terry Callaghan tells me that the bridge this C & H coping can be seen on, on the Sutton Park Line, Sutton Coldfield was built in 1879. This Crowther Hamblet partnership may have only lasted between 1873 & 1876 as we find Charles Crowther is listed as a baker in the 1881 census. John Hamblet then at a date unknown was next in partnership with Samuel Tittley at the Paddock Brickworks, but this partnership was dissolved on the 31st of August 1880 as recorded in the London Gazette. We then find in May 1883 John Hamblet an out of work brickmaker formerly at the Paddock Brickworks was declaring himself bankrupt. I next found that his former business partner Samuel Tittley in December 1883 who had also run the Phoenix Brickworks in Oldbury (coloured green on the 1886 OS map above) on his own was declaring himself bankrupt as well. This December Notice also records the conclusion of John Hamblet's liquidation.
However that was not the end of John Hamblet's brickmaking career as the 1891 census records John Hamblet aged 58, as a Brick Manufacturer/Employer in Oldbury. So I am assuming this was at the Paddock Brickworks again. The Paddock Brickworks is no longer shown on the 1900 OS map, so must have closed in the 1890’s.
A dedicated post about Joseph Hamblet & his family can be now read at this link.
https://uknamedbricks.blogspot.com/2020/02/joseph-hamblet-brickmaker-west-bromwich.html
These next two bricks were made by the Star Brick Co. who had several works in the Newport, Cwmbran & Swansea areas of South Wales, with it's head office & works at Ponthir, near Cwmbran. Kelly's Trade Directory for 1881 lists the Star Brick & Tile Co. on Llantarnam Road, Cwmbran & the 1937 edition lists Llantarnam Road, Cwmbran, Caerleon & Risca both near Newport. The company amalgamated with the National Brick Co. in Heather, Leicestershire at a date unknown forming the National Star Brick Co. This new company was then purchased by Butterley Brick / Hanson in 1971, with bricks still being made stamped National Star Ltd, Newport in 1978.
The Wilderness Brickworks at Gresford near Wrexham was established by Edward Stanley Lea in 1885 and soon afterwards he was joined in partnership by Russell and James Rea and Charles William Massey, all from Liverpool. In 1888 together with Stuart Clarke they formed Clark & Rea Ltd. and became well known for producing quality pinky red and buff bricks. In 1903 Stuart Clark became the sole proprietor of the company which was then operating 8 round kilns for red bricks and 7 square kilns for blues. It appears that the works was never profitable and the Clark family lost money for a number of years. It had closed by 1924 and was dismantled in 1926. Info by David Kitching.
I believe this No.3 brick to be also made by Clark of Wrexham as the colour, texture & the shape of the frog is the same as the Clark brick above.
This one is a bit of mystery, I expect without the other half of this brick, I will not be able to trace it's maker.
If you would like read more about the rebuilding of Broadway Station & visiting the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Steam Railway, which at the moment runs from Laverton to Cheltenham Race Course, please find the links below.
Once again a big Thank You to Jo Roesen & Bill Britton for helping bring these brick photos to the web.