Elson & Burke
This Upper Saltley brickworks which was later owned by Robert Elson & George Burke as per brick above had been run by George's father, John Burke in the late 1850's & 1860's on land just north of the railway station on Bordesley Green Road, Upper Saltley. For the location of this works please see the map below & it's the yellow coloured brickworks marked as the Adderley Park Brick Works on this 1887 dated map. Bordesley Green Road is coloured light green. We then find this Elson & Burke partnership was the forerunner to the Adderley Park Brick Co. & I write about APB a little later.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.
So I start with John Burke & in January 2022 Ryan Hill who is the 4 x grandson of John Burke contacted me with some family history which I had not got & this has now been added to this entry. Ryan is descended from John's fourth son Robert who was also a brickmaker.
In the 1840's John Burke owned a brickworks at Whitehouse Common, Sutton Coldfield. The 1851 census records brickmaker John, his wife Eliza (nee Nicholls) & their 6 children had moved to Wattville Street, Handsworth. So I am assuming John was working at brickworks locally in the Handsworth area. However I next found by 1855 John was in partnership with Mary Allsop as Allsop & Burke at Upper Saltley & this partnership is recorded in Kelly's 1855 edition. As previously wrote this is the yellow works on the 1887 map above.
An article in the Birmingham Journal dated 18th of August 1860 reports with the death of Mary Allsop the partnership of Allsop & Burke as brickmakers at Upper Saltley had now ceased & John Burke had taken to run the business on his own account & he most respectfully solicits a continuance of the patronage bestowed on the said late Firm. Dated 15th August 1860.
The 7th of April 1861 census records that John, a widower together with 5 children were now living on Garrison Lane, Birmingham. I am assuming John had moved to this Garrison Lane address by 1855 with him now working in Upper Saltley. Ryan tells me Eliza died sometime between 1852 & 1861 & the couple had produced 11 children, but three died as infants. Ryan has not been able to find any record to when Eliza actually died. Ryan goes on to say that in 1861 John married Anne Maria Lees (nee Swinbourne), a Coal Dealer, who's husband Thomas Lees had passed away. It appears from a later account of Anne Maria Burke that she used & was known by her middle name, Maria. John Burke is listed in Kelly's 1867 edition then Kelly's 1868 edition as brickmaking in Saltley,
John Burke died on the 26th of April 1868 & with Kelly's 1872 edition now recording Mrs. Maria Burke at Saltley, I am taking it that Maria had taken over the running of the works. John's sons William 1835-1864, George b.1842 & Robert b.1846 are all recorded as brickmakers, so I am assuming they all worked for their father & then their Stepmother. Ryan then tells me Maria died in November 1872 & it appears from later finds that it was George who took over the running of the works. I next found in White's 1873 edition that it records John Burke with the address of Arden Road, Saltley, but I think this should read George Burke because John Burke had died 1868 & there wasn't a son called John. My thoughts are substantiated with the 1871 census recording George Burke together with his wife Lucy & their three children were living on Arden Road, Saltley. This road is adjacent to the northern edge of the Burke's brickworks & I have coloured Arden Road orange on the 1889 map above. George & Lucy had married in 1864.
Also in White's 1873 edition is the listing of Elson & Burke, Bordesley Green Road & this partnership was Robert Elson & George Burke. Robert Elson in the 1841 census aged 20 is recorded as a bricklayer & then the 1851 census records him as beer seller. The 1871 census records him aged 50 as a retired victualler with the 1881 census now recording him as a Brickworks Manager. So this all ties in with Elson joining George Burke in their joint venture as brickworks owners in White's 1873 trade directory. I am assuming Robert Elson had injected money into George's brickworks with them going into partnership.
Photo by MF courtesy of the John Baylis Collection.
The Burke family up to Robert Elson joining the concern had operated their yard in the "Summer Style", that is to say digging the clay & letting the frost break it down over winter months before processing & making bricks from the smooth clay during the summer months, but this was to change under the guidance of Robert Elson & Walter Dauncey to all year brickmaking with the addition of new machinery & plant which included a steam grinding mill & coal-fired drying sheds. This machinery vastly improved the quality & quantity of their facing bricks. Walter Dauncey had joined the company shortly after Elson, but his stay at this works was only a short one because in 1875 Dauncey took up the position of secretary & manager of the newly formed Globe Brick Co. on Garrison Lane.
Elson & Burke & Co. are listed in White's 1875 edition with the address of Adderley Park Road (coloured olive green on the map above or below), today it's called Ash Road & Adderley Park Road joins Bordesley Green Road near to the entrance to the works. Kelly's 1876 edition then records Elson & Burke & Co. with the works address of Adderley Park Brick Works, Saltley & it was shortly after this 1876 entry that the Adderley Park Brick Co. was formed & took over the running of the yellow coloured works & I write about this company next.
By the way the Adderley Park Works coloured green on these 1887 maps was a second works opened by the Adderley Brick Company in 1882.
The Adderley Park Brick Co. Bordesley Green Road, Saltley is first listed in Kelly's 1878 edition with Joseph James Edwards recorded as secretary. I have coloured this brickworks yellow on the map above. We then find Robert Elson was joined by James Moffatt in running the company & this may have been around 1880. Moffatt in the 1861 census is recorded as a retail brewer living with his wife at the Acorn Inn on Cheapside. Then by the 1871 census Moffatt had moved into the building trade as a builder & was living on South Road, Sparkbrook. It appears Moffatt may have continued as a builder during his time at APB.
On the 24th January 1882 Elson & Moffatt signed a 16 year lease with land owner the Right Honourable Charles Bowyer, Baron Norton of Norton in the Moors, Staffs for four pieces of land in Saltley amounting to 24 acres, the largest of which was just south west of Adderley Park railway station on Bordesley Green Road. This is where APB built their new brickworks (coloured green on the map above) & the company paid £79. 11 shillings per year for the use of this land plus royalties on the amount of bricks & tiles produced at the rate of 2 shillings per 1000. This lease must have been extended possibly several times as this works was still operational in the 1940's. Another parcel of land which I have also coloured yellow on the map above on the other side of Church Road (coloured grey) stipulates in this agreement that access to this land had to be via a tunnel under Church Road & no brick making was to take place on this land only the extraction of it's upper clay & sands. The 1889 map above shows that APB followed these instructions to the letter & a tramway had been built to transport the clay under Church Road to the works. Robert Elson died five years after signing this 16 year lease at his home on Church Road, Saltley on the 26th November 1887.
We then find that the 1902 OS map no longer shows the company's original brickworks (coloured yellow) north of Adderley Park railway station & the Wolseley Car Company with works situated opposite on the other side of Bordesley Green Road had taken over this site to test their vehicles on the rough terrain. By 1920 this land had been filled in & levelled & the Wolseley Car Company had built their East Works on this site. Below is a photograph taken from the air in 1920. The Adderley Park Brickworks (green site) is shown sandwiched between the railway & Wolseley's aeroplane works, centre right in this photo & then on the north side of the railway line you can see Wolseley's new East Works (large rectangular building).
If you register & sign in for free at the above link you can zoom in on this photo & view the brickworks in a higher resolution.
James Moffatt died on the 12th September 1914 with the brickworks continuing under the ownership of the Moffatt family. Albert Stephenson in his book records Albert Cotton, Henry France, J.J. Edwards & George Petford as being the owners or working at APB up to 1933.
With APB continuing to be recorded in Kelly's trade directories up to the last one available in 1940 we find in Stuart Mugridge's account of the company that it was William Moffatt (son of James) who was chairman at the time the company went into liquidation in October 1946. We then find Thomas Ward, scrap metal merchants took over the site & today the site is filled with a variety of car breakers yards & industrial units.
Apparently CLA-WOOD was a trade mark used by Adderley for their fixing & partition bricks made in the late 1930's/1940's.
If you would like to read more about the Adderley Park Brick Co. & it's founders please click on Stuart Mugridge's link. https://2yearsatmargaretstreet.wordpress.com/tag/adderley-park-brickworks/
While I was gathering information together for this post I found that this was the only yard in the Garrison Lane area that had not been given a name & as it was started by John Denston around 1849. I have therefore titled this entry "Denston's Brickworks."
The first trade directory that I have listing John Denston as brickmaker on Garrison Lane is in Kelly's 1849 edition & I have established from later records of this brickworks that it was the works which I have coloured green on the map above. John is then listed in Kelly's, Slater's, White's & Corporation of Birmingham directories until 1867. John is not listed in Kelly's 1868 edition, but we then find in Kelly's 1872 & White's 1873 the entry is James Denston & I am taking it that James was John's son. It is unknown if this brick was made by John or James. With no more trade directories listing James Denston we then find in White's 1875 edition that this Garrison Lane works is now listed as being owned by Josiah Derrington. I wish to thank Mike Joyce for spotting this brick in a farmers field (May 2020) & sending this image to me because as far as I know this is the first brick found by this maker.
But before I write about Josiah Derrington taking over James Denston's Garrison Lane Works, I write about Josiah Derrington's earlier brickmaking career.
Josiah Derrington (b.12.3.1835) was first in partnership with Edward Hales & web article records that from 1858 Derrington & Hales were making hand moulded bricks at a yard on Primrose Hill, Duddeston which closed in 1864. We then find in Kelly's 1868 edition, D & H are listed as brickmaking at Leopold Street, Highgate & Great Lister Street. This is the only entry for the Great Lister Street yard, so could this Great Lister Street yard be the same yard as the Primrose Hill yard ? I then found in Stephenson's 1933 book that Josiah Derrington's son E.G. Derrington writes ;- "that his father's works was on "Primrose Hill" (what is now Rupert Street) & I believe this yard closed in 1864." The 1887 map below shows that Rupert Street connects to Great Lister Street adjacent to the Windsor Street railway siding, so from this info I think they were the same yard & this yard was situated opposite the railway siding on the corner of Rupert Street & Great Lister Street where houses are shown built on the 1887 map below (coloured green). If my theory is correct, the date to when this Primrose Hill/ Great Lister Street yard closed can now be extended to after 1868. There is the option that the yard may have stood on the opposite side of Rupert Street on the land which later became the railway siding ?
Now on to Derrington & Hale's Leopold Street brickyard in Highgate as recorded in this Kelly's 1868 entry & from a web article this yard had been established by the duo on land leased from the trustees of the Vaughton Estate in 1864. This yard used the onsite clay to make the bricks needed for the houses & factories that where being built in the Highgate area at the time. Kelly's 1872 & 1873 editions now only list Josiah Derrington at the Leopold Street yard, so the partnership of Derrington & Hales must have been dissolved. A search of the London Gazette has revealed that the partnership had been dissolved on the 12th of March 1869 & the entry is as follows.
NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership hitherto subsisting between us the undersigned, Josiah Derrington and Edward Hales, of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, as Brick Makers, under the firm of Derrington and Hales, is this day dissolved by mutual"consent. All debts due and owing to and by the said partnership firm will be received and paid by the said Josiah. Derrington, by whom the trade will in future be carried on.—As witness our hands this 12th day of March, 1869.
Kelly's 1872 edition also lists Josiah Derrington in the Brick & Tile Merchants section as owning a building merchants yard to supply blue & red bricks, fire-bricks, chimney pots, sand, cement, lime, coal, etc to the trade at 182 Dartmouth Street. This builders merchants enterprise was to run alongside his brickmaking business for many years.
Towards the completion of these houses & factories in the Highgate area, Derrington's Leopold Street brickyard closed sometime between 1873 & 1875 & more houses where built on the former brickworks site afterwards. Derrington in the meantime was on the move to a yard on Garrison Lane which he took over from the Denston family.
As a footnote, I have also found in Kelly's directories from 1868 to 1878 that several more brickmakers had established small yards to provide bricks for this Highgate project & they were Upton & Raybould, Highgate Brickworks, Leopold Street; Thomas Mills, Leopold Street; Joseph Upton, Highgate Brickworks, Leopold Street; H.W. Hulse, Leopold Street; William Henry Harrison, Highgate Street; John Powell, Upper Highgate Street & Henry Franz, Upper Highgate Street.
There is the option that this Derrington & Hales brick was made at either of the duo's works at Primrose Hill or Leopold Street, but I am favouring the latter with it being an ornamental brick. I am assuming the Derrington brick below will have been made at Leopold Street shortly after Hales had left the partnership.
Now back to the Denston Brickworks on Garrison Lane & White's 1875 & Kelly's 1876 editions now records Josiah Derrington as brickmaking at this Garrison Lane works previously owned by John then James Denston. The location of this works (green) is shown on the 1889 map below.
The brick shown above & the next one below stamped J. Derrington, Birmingham will have been made by Josiah Derrington at his Garrison Lane works. Originally there where two yards on this site, the main works which faced St. Andrews Street worked on steam power & consisted of three kilns & the works is shown on the 1889 map above. A smaller yard with two kilns which existed in 1875 was at the southern end of this site near to Coventry Road. The 1889 map above no longer shows this smaller yard, but it will have been situated next to the ponds/lakes at the end of the lane, shown as a dotted line on the map above from Emmeline Street.
In Kelly's 1878 edition, Josiah Derrington is again listed at Garrison Lane then on the next line there is the listing of Josiah Pearce Derrington (b.12.3.1856) as brickmaker, & lime & coal merchant. From a family website I established that Josiah Pearce was the son of Josiah & he was born on the same day in March as his father. This family website also records Josiah's other son as Edwin George Derrington (b.1859 d.1943) & he is recorded as a Builders Merchant, so he will have worked at the family's Builders Merchants yard on Dartmouth Street. We next find in Kelly's 1880 edition that the entry is now J.Derrington & Sons, Garrison Lane together with the listing of the builders merchant yard on Dartmouth Street. As to when Josiah Pearce Derrington took over the running of the business from his father is unknown as future trade directory entries always list the company as Josiah Derrington & Sons.
Kelly's 1888 edition next records Derrington & Sons with a second brickworks situated at Hay Mills & the Derrington's had taken over this works from Reuben Shipway & I write about the Derrington's Hay Mills works in part 3 of Birmingham Brickworks.
Back to the Garrison Lane works & this works continues to be listed as being owned by Derrington & Sons in Kelly's up to it's 1892 edition, after which this works closed & full production was transferred to Hay Mills which had been operational since 1888. The land on which this former Garrison Lane brickworks had stood was derelict for many years until the St. Andrews football ground was built there by Birmingham Football Club in 1906, with the first match against Middlesborough taking place there on Boxing Day 1906. The score by the way was a 0-0 draw.
Another snippet of information from this family website reveals that Josiah Derrington (b.1835) in the 1911 census on the 2nd of April was living at the Manor House, Lyndon Green, making him 76 in 1911. Another site records Josiah died at the age of 85 in 1920. In 1926 a water fountain was erected in Yardley Old Park in his memory & in 2012 this garden was restored. Please see link for photos of this fountain & the garden being restored.
http://www.robertcjones.co.uk
Thomas Williams is listed in Kelly's 1868 to 1875 editions at Newbridge, Yardley, but in White's 1873 edition there is the one entry for Thomas Williams owning a second brickworks on Garrison Lane.
With studying maps, later info for this works & another brick found I have established that Thomas Williams yard was not actually on Garrison Lane, but situated on land between a road called Bordesley Green & Green Lane, hence Green Lanes being stamped on the brick above. Garrison Lane is only a short distance from this brickworks, so that is why I think Garrison Lane was used for the trade directory entry. As I only have the 1887 map (below) this works is shown as the Albert Works - coloured yellow. The road called Bordesley Green - purple, Green Lane - green & Garrison Lane - orange.
We next find that Thomas Williams was in partnership with George Savage at the Albert Brick Works. Savage had previously owned the Atlas Brickworks on Garrison Lane between 1872 & 1875.
Although I do not have any trade directory entries for Savage & Williams, I think the duo were in partnership possibly between 1876 & 1878 at the Albert Brickworks & again same as Williams's trade directory entry, this brick is also stamped Garrison Lane, but as you can see on the map in the Williams entry the Albert Brickworks was actually situated off the road called Bordesley Green.
I have to say at this point I have no written evidence of this Savage & Williams partnership only the brick above, because a web article states that the Albert Brickworks was started by George Savage in 1878, the date of which corresponds with Savage's first trade directory entry recording him at the Albert Brickworks. Despite this web article, I still think the partnership of Savage & Williams took place before George Savage ran the Albert Brickworks on his own & with me owning one of these S & W bricks, I think this is my proof of this partnership plus me identifying that Williams was brickmaking at this works in 1873. If written evidence is found to back up my findings, I will update the post.
George Savage is first listed at the Albert Brickworks, Bordesley Green in Kelly's 1878 edition. A.H. Stephenson writes in his 1933 book that "Savage made enough money from the sale of his Atlas Brickworks to Albert Humpage to comfortably retire on, but with Humpage making large profits at his former works Savage decided to give brick making another go." As you have already read I think this was in 1876 & it was through Savage's partnership with Thomas Williams that he acquired William's, Albert Brick Works.
David Kitching has informed me that George Savage died in 1880 (July, August or September), so this info & other info sent by David has shed new light on what happened next.
I then found this Notice in the London Gazette dated 2nd of November 1883 recording the first meeting of creditors.
Peter Payton continues to be listed at the College Works until Kelly's 1876 edition. Kelly's 1872 & White's 1873 editions also records Peter with the address of Chester Street & this road runs adjacent to the canal, so I expect Peter had a stockyard on this road from where he load his bricks on to canal boats for distribution via the canal network. The London Gazette dated 30th October 1877 records Peter Payton of Payton's Road, Upper Saltley, Brick & Tile Manufacturer died on the 26th of May 1877 & his will was proven by Frederick Payton & James Inkerman Payton as Executors, who I am assuming were his sons. Another notice in the London Gazette dated 29th of May 1877 also brings me to the conclusion Frederick & James were Peter's sons with this Notice recording that James Inkerman Payton, a Works Manager living in Aston was giving notice of "improvements in burning bricks, quarries, tiles & other articles, and in kilns for that purpose."
The entry in Kelly's 1878 edition for the College Works, Saltley is now for Frederick Payton & as said this Frederick appears to be Peter's son. The College Works in 1878 consisted of three kilns & two drying sheds.
Adderley Park Brick Co.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.
The Adderley Park Brick Company was set up by Robert Elson & George Burke with Elson becoming managing director & Burke taking on the roll of works manager. So basically APB was just a company name change orchestrated by Elson & Burke & they were now running the yellow coloured brickworks under their APB flag. George Burke had the technical skill & ability to run a brickworks, but he knew his vocation in life & was happy to remain as works manager until his death in 1906. This account of George Burke was written by Albert Stephenson in his book about Birmingham's Brick Masters which he wrote when retired from the Globe Brick Co.
On the 24th January 1882 Elson & Moffatt signed a 16 year lease with land owner the Right Honourable Charles Bowyer, Baron Norton of Norton in the Moors, Staffs for four pieces of land in Saltley amounting to 24 acres, the largest of which was just south west of Adderley Park railway station on Bordesley Green Road. This is where APB built their new brickworks (coloured green on the map above) & the company paid £79. 11 shillings per year for the use of this land plus royalties on the amount of bricks & tiles produced at the rate of 2 shillings per 1000. This lease must have been extended possibly several times as this works was still operational in the 1940's. Another parcel of land which I have also coloured yellow on the map above on the other side of Church Road (coloured grey) stipulates in this agreement that access to this land had to be via a tunnel under Church Road & no brick making was to take place on this land only the extraction of it's upper clay & sands. The 1889 map above shows that APB followed these instructions to the letter & a tramway had been built to transport the clay under Church Road to the works. Robert Elson died five years after signing this 16 year lease at his home on Church Road, Saltley on the 26th November 1887.
If you register & sign in for free at the above link you can zoom in on this photo & view the brickworks in a higher resolution.
James Moffatt died on the 12th September 1914 with the brickworks continuing under the ownership of the Moffatt family. Albert Stephenson in his book records Albert Cotton, Henry France, J.J. Edwards & George Petford as being the owners or working at APB up to 1933.
An APB advert which appears in Kelly's 1938, 39 & 40 editions.
With APB continuing to be recorded in Kelly's trade directories up to the last one available in 1940 we find in Stuart Mugridge's account of the company that it was William Moffatt (son of James) who was chairman at the time the company went into liquidation in October 1946. We then find Thomas Ward, scrap metal merchants took over the site & today the site is filled with a variety of car breakers yards & industrial units.
Photo by Andy Tunstall.
Apparently CLA-WOOD was a trade mark used by Adderley for their fixing & partition bricks made in the late 1930's/1940's.
If you would like to read more about the Adderley Park Brick Co. & it's founders please click on Stuart Mugridge's link. https://2yearsatmargaretstreet.wordpress.com/tag/adderley-park-brickworks/
Denston's Brickworks
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1889.
While I was gathering information together for this post I found that this was the only yard in the Garrison Lane area that had not been given a name & as it was started by John Denston around 1849. I have therefore titled this entry "Denston's Brickworks."
Photo by Mike Joyce.
Josiah Derrington
But before I write about Josiah Derrington taking over James Denston's Garrison Lane Works, I write about Josiah Derrington's earlier brickmaking career.
Josiah Derrington (b.12.3.1835) was first in partnership with Edward Hales & web article records that from 1858 Derrington & Hales were making hand moulded bricks at a yard on Primrose Hill, Duddeston which closed in 1864. We then find in Kelly's 1868 edition, D & H are listed as brickmaking at Leopold Street, Highgate & Great Lister Street. This is the only entry for the Great Lister Street yard, so could this Great Lister Street yard be the same yard as the Primrose Hill yard ? I then found in Stephenson's 1933 book that Josiah Derrington's son E.G. Derrington writes ;- "that his father's works was on "Primrose Hill" (what is now Rupert Street) & I believe this yard closed in 1864." The 1887 map below shows that Rupert Street connects to Great Lister Street adjacent to the Windsor Street railway siding, so from this info I think they were the same yard & this yard was situated opposite the railway siding on the corner of Rupert Street & Great Lister Street where houses are shown built on the 1887 map below (coloured green). If my theory is correct, the date to when this Primrose Hill/ Great Lister Street yard closed can now be extended to after 1868. There is the option that the yard may have stood on the opposite side of Rupert Street on the land which later became the railway siding ?
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.
Now on to Derrington & Hale's Leopold Street brickyard in Highgate as recorded in this Kelly's 1868 entry & from a web article this yard had been established by the duo on land leased from the trustees of the Vaughton Estate in 1864. This yard used the onsite clay to make the bricks needed for the houses & factories that where being built in the Highgate area at the time. Kelly's 1872 & 1873 editions now only list Josiah Derrington at the Leopold Street yard, so the partnership of Derrington & Hales must have been dissolved. A search of the London Gazette has revealed that the partnership had been dissolved on the 12th of March 1869 & the entry is as follows.
NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership hitherto subsisting between us the undersigned, Josiah Derrington and Edward Hales, of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, as Brick Makers, under the firm of Derrington and Hales, is this day dissolved by mutual"consent. All debts due and owing to and by the said partnership firm will be received and paid by the said Josiah. Derrington, by whom the trade will in future be carried on.—As witness our hands this 12th day of March, 1869.
Josiah Derrington.
Edward Hales.
Towards the completion of these houses & factories in the Highgate area, Derrington's Leopold Street brickyard closed sometime between 1873 & 1875 & more houses where built on the former brickworks site afterwards. Derrington in the meantime was on the move to a yard on Garrison Lane which he took over from the Denston family.
As a footnote, I have also found in Kelly's directories from 1868 to 1878 that several more brickmakers had established small yards to provide bricks for this Highgate project & they were Upton & Raybould, Highgate Brickworks, Leopold Street; Thomas Mills, Leopold Street; Joseph Upton, Highgate Brickworks, Leopold Street; H.W. Hulse, Leopold Street; William Henry Harrison, Highgate Street; John Powell, Upper Highgate Street & Henry Franz, Upper Highgate Street.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1889.
In Kelly's 1878 edition, Josiah Derrington is again listed at Garrison Lane then on the next line there is the listing of Josiah Pearce Derrington (b.12.3.1856) as brickmaker, & lime & coal merchant. From a family website I established that Josiah Pearce was the son of Josiah & he was born on the same day in March as his father. This family website also records Josiah's other son as Edwin George Derrington (b.1859 d.1943) & he is recorded as a Builders Merchant, so he will have worked at the family's Builders Merchants yard on Dartmouth Street. We next find in Kelly's 1880 edition that the entry is now J.Derrington & Sons, Garrison Lane together with the listing of the builders merchant yard on Dartmouth Street. As to when Josiah Pearce Derrington took over the running of the business from his father is unknown as future trade directory entries always list the company as Josiah Derrington & Sons.
Kelly's 1888 edition next records Derrington & Sons with a second brickworks situated at Hay Mills & the Derrington's had taken over this works from Reuben Shipway & I write about the Derrington's Hay Mills works in part 3 of Birmingham Brickworks.
Photo by MF courtesy of the John Baylis Collection.
Back to the Garrison Lane works & this works continues to be listed as being owned by Derrington & Sons in Kelly's up to it's 1892 edition, after which this works closed & full production was transferred to Hay Mills which had been operational since 1888. The land on which this former Garrison Lane brickworks had stood was derelict for many years until the St. Andrews football ground was built there by Birmingham Football Club in 1906, with the first match against Middlesborough taking place there on Boxing Day 1906. The score by the way was a 0-0 draw.
A quarry tile made by Josiah.
Another snippet of information from this family website reveals that Josiah Derrington (b.1835) in the 1911 census on the 2nd of April was living at the Manor House, Lyndon Green, making him 76 in 1911. Another site records Josiah died at the age of 85 in 1920. In 1926 a water fountain was erected in Yardley Old Park in his memory & in 2012 this garden was restored. Please see link for photos of this fountain & the garden being restored.
http://www.robertcjones.co.uk
In September 2021 this Derrington, Park Field brick turned up at Cawarden's & was the best imprint of the batch & it has created more questions than answers. I have not found any references or trade directory listings for Josiah Derrington brickmaking at a Park Field works, unless it was the name he called his Leopold Street works ? Another option is that when Derrington first took over the Garrison Lane brickworks there were two yards on this site, so the smaller works situated at the southern end of the site near to Coventry Road may have been called the Park Field works. This option looks more promising than the Leopold Street option, so if get to the bottom of this one I will update the post.
Thomas Williams
Thomas Williams is listed in Kelly's 1868 to 1875 editions at Newbridge, Yardley, but in White's 1873 edition there is the one entry for Thomas Williams owning a second brickworks on Garrison Lane.
With studying maps, later info for this works & another brick found I have established that Thomas Williams yard was not actually on Garrison Lane, but situated on land between a road called Bordesley Green & Green Lane, hence Green Lanes being stamped on the brick above. Garrison Lane is only a short distance from this brickworks, so that is why I think Garrison Lane was used for the trade directory entry. As I only have the 1887 map (below) this works is shown as the Albert Works - coloured yellow. The road called Bordesley Green - purple, Green Lane - green & Garrison Lane - orange.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.
We next find that Thomas Williams was in partnership with George Savage at the Albert Brick Works. Savage had previously owned the Atlas Brickworks on Garrison Lane between 1872 & 1875.
Savage & Williams
Although I do not have any trade directory entries for Savage & Williams, I think the duo were in partnership possibly between 1876 & 1878 at the Albert Brickworks & again same as Williams's trade directory entry, this brick is also stamped Garrison Lane, but as you can see on the map in the Williams entry the Albert Brickworks was actually situated off the road called Bordesley Green.
I have to say at this point I have no written evidence of this Savage & Williams partnership only the brick above, because a web article states that the Albert Brickworks was started by George Savage in 1878, the date of which corresponds with Savage's first trade directory entry recording him at the Albert Brickworks. Despite this web article, I still think the partnership of Savage & Williams took place before George Savage ran the Albert Brickworks on his own & with me owning one of these S & W bricks, I think this is my proof of this partnership plus me identifying that Williams was brickmaking at this works in 1873. If written evidence is found to back up my findings, I will update the post.
George Savage
Photo by Angel Rose.
David Kitching has informed me that George Savage died in 1880 (July, August or September), so this info & other info sent by David has shed new light on what happened next.
An advert in the Birmingham Daily Post dated 12th of September 1879 was placed by the Proprietors of George Savage & Co. Albert Brickworks, Bordesley Green & is shown below. So it appears before his death George formed George Savage & Company & then passed it over to someone else to run & this appears to be Joseph Chirm, a Birmingham Solicitor. Although I do not have any written evidence of the connection between Savage & Chirm & their business arrangement, there is the option that Chirm may have been looking after George Savage's affairs in 1879 especially if he had taken ill & was unable to run his brickworks or it may have been just the case of Chirm being in the right place at the right time to make a speculative investment into a brickworks & joining Savage & Co. How the brickworks & it's assets were transferred or sold to Joseph Chirm is unknown.
With Albert Humpage demanding more & more bricks for his many building projects in Birmingham from all of the brickmakers in the Garrison Lane area, we find George Savage & Co. invested heavily in updating their Albert Brickworks with new plant to produce their quota in the hope of making a profit. The Company installed a Hoffman type kiln with the capacity to hold 500,000 bricks, three new drying sheds & three clay mills. A steam engine was installed to raise the clay via a tramway from the clay pit. Steam was also used in the drying of the bricks before firing. The new company of George Savage & Co. Bordesley Green is listed in Kelly's 1882 & 83 editions.
With Joseph Chirm in the guise of Savage & Co. spending all his money on modernising the Albert Brickworks to hopefully achieve a profit from Humpage's demand for bricks, we find Chirm puts himself into liquidation & the Birmingham Daily Post dated 25th of October 1883 records this event.
Then the article below from the Birmingham Daily Post dated 17th of November 1883 records the conclusion of the winding up of George Savage & Co. & the Albert Brickworks was put up for Sale in February 1884.
A.H. Stephenson writes in his 1933 book. "The story of George Savage's attempt to come back is the saddest of the lot. He was a capable, hard-working man & had made quite a success of his Atlas Works before selling to Mr. Humpage. His venture at his new works proved to be a different story, he laboured himself like a Trojan, but all to no avail as his bricks were not first rate. He had lost his goodwill & eventually lost too, the whole of his capital & savings."
From this excerpt & the next I have come to the conclusion that Stephenson was unaware of the death of George Savage in 1879 & as you have read it was with Joseph Chirm declaring himself bankrupt that George Savage & Co. went into liquidation in 1883.
However Stephenson continues in his book, "This was not the end of this ill-fated yard. After the failure of George Savage to do any good there, the works was taken over by a London company who introduced the semi-dry method of press to kiln at the works. Gossip & a report of the time said that over £30,000 pounds was spent by this firm in a vain attempt to make a success of this method."
We then find that due to this failed attempt to successfully produce bricks by this semi-dry method this London company closed the works & this may have been by 1888 as there is no entry for the Albert Brickworks, Bordesley Green in Kelly's 1888 edition. I have not been able to establish who this London company was.
From this excerpt & the next I have come to the conclusion that Stephenson was unaware of the death of George Savage in 1879 & as you have read it was with Joseph Chirm declaring himself bankrupt that George Savage & Co. went into liquidation in 1883.
However Stephenson continues in his book, "This was not the end of this ill-fated yard. After the failure of George Savage to do any good there, the works was taken over by a London company who introduced the semi-dry method of press to kiln at the works. Gossip & a report of the time said that over £30,000 pounds was spent by this firm in a vain attempt to make a success of this method."
We then find that due to this failed attempt to successfully produce bricks by this semi-dry method this London company closed the works & this may have been by 1888 as there is no entry for the Albert Brickworks, Bordesley Green in Kelly's 1888 edition. I have not been able to establish who this London company was.
The Albert Brickworks then was re-opened in 1895 by the Bordesley Green Brick Works Co. & I write about them next.
The Bordesley Green Brick Works Co. is first listed in Kelly's 1895 edition with Henry C. Davis as Managing Partner at Bordesley Green & as previously wrote this is the Albert Brickworks (coloured yellow on the map below). This listing is repeated in Kelly's 1897, 99 & 1900 editions.
A.H. Stephenson writes in his book " The Albert Brickworks was later re-opened by a large firm of house builders - Messrs. Davis & Simmonds, who after producing bricks at the works for many years mainly for their own use, closed down the yard as they found they could buy bricks from the adjoining new firm of the Little Bromwich Brick Co. owned by Mr. Winterton at a lower price than they could produce them themselves ! "
The Bordesley Green Brick Works Co. is not listed in Kelly's 1903 edition & I have found that the works had more than likely closed by 1902 as there are only four small buildings shown next to the claypit on the 1902 map & these buildings are not marked as a Brick Works. This map also shows that houses had been built along part of Charles Road together with the houses which fronted onto Bordesley Green on the northern edge of the brickworks site & this is where the brickworks had originally been accessed from. Please see the 1902 map in the next entry showing these changes.
Now back to Bordesley Green & I have added this 1913 map to show how much the works had expanded in the short period of time from 1899. This may well have been when the brickworks was at it's most productive because the 1938 map shows that the works had virtually not changed since the 1913 map, with only one building shown larger in size. The Little Bromwich Brick Co. Ltd. continues to be listed in Kelly's directories until the last one available in 1940. We then find that LBBC under the chairmanship of G.H. Major was voluntary wound up at a special meeting on the 15th day of October 1951 with Mr. Cecil Edgar Fletcher of Leicester appointed as the Liquidator. I have found that G.H. Major was the son-in-law of Mr. Winterton.
As a footnote the 1887 OS map shows an old kiln & a pond where Mr Winterton was to later build his Little Bromwich Brickworks & checking trade directories has revealed in Kelly's 1884 edition, John Richard Chirm is listed as brickmaker at Bordesley Green, so there is a good chance that Chirm worked this small yard.
As previously wrote in the LBBC entry there is the option that this Black Pit Lane works was actually situated at the end of Black Pit Lane in the area which I have coloured purple, because A. H. Stephenson writes in his book that Mr. Winterton leased land from Viscount Newport at Castle Bromwich in 1912, erecting a works similar to his works at Bordesley Green. I then found that Ray Shill writes in his Birmingham Brickmakers book that a large manufactory consisting of drying sheds & a continuous fired kiln (Hoffman) was later built on the site. So to me these descriptions indicate that LBBC & CBBC occupied the same land & it was the purple coloured area. We know from an aerial photograph of the CBBC works that it did occupy the purple area & this photograph is shown in Ray Shill's book with the accompanying text which states that the photograph is in Birmingham Archives.
The next Kelly's directory that I have available is the 1932 edition & it records the Castle Bromwich Brick Co. on Bromford Lane (red), Ward End, so this is definitely the purple coloured area. CBBC continues to be listed on Bromford Lane in Kelly's directories to the last one available in 1940. Ray Shill records that the works closed in 1967. As previously wrote the Little Bromwich Brick Co. went into voluntary liquidation in 1951 under the control of G.H. Major, but the liquidation of LBBC does not appear to have effected CBBC with this works remaining open until 1967 & still being run by the Winterton/Major family. A Birmingham Daily Post Liquidation Notice dated 20th October 1964 regarding debts or claims against the Castle Bromwich Brick Co. were to be filled before the 7th of November 1964. So with the brickworks closing in 1967 it appears it took at least 2 years to wind the company down.
The first reference I have for Peter Payton comes from the London Gazette dated 19th of July 1864 when Peter Payton & Anthony Payton were dissolving their partnership as brickmakers in the firm of Peter Payton & Company at Upper Saltley & the said company would then be operated by Peter Payton on his own account from the 30th of June 1864. I am therefore assuming Peter & Anthony had been running their works for at least two years or thereabouts before this notice.
Bordesley Green Brick Works Co.
A.H. Stephenson writes in his book " The Albert Brickworks was later re-opened by a large firm of house builders - Messrs. Davis & Simmonds, who after producing bricks at the works for many years mainly for their own use, closed down the yard as they found they could buy bricks from the adjoining new firm of the Little Bromwich Brick Co. owned by Mr. Winterton at a lower price than they could produce them themselves ! "
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.
The brick below shows the works address as Charles Road & this road was built along the same route as the marked footpath which I have coloured red & this may have been around 1900. The brickworks was then accessed off this new road.
Little Bromwich Brick Co.
Photo by Ray Martin.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1902.
Mr. W.H. Winterton established this brickworks on land just off Bordesley Green in 1898 & his Little Bromwich Brick Co. is first listed in Kelly's 1899 edition at Bordesley Green with John Henry Weston recorded as Managing Partner. I have coloured this works yellow on the 1902 map above. John H. Weston continues to be listed as Managing Partner up to the 1908 edition. I next found a newspaper article dated 13th June 1914 reporting the Little Bromwich Brick Co. had been re-registered with a capital of £8,500 in £1 shares & W.H. Winterton of Cadby, Leicestershire & his family were now the sole owners of the Company.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1912.
Kelly's 1915 edition now records Limited in the company title & it also lists a second works at Black Pit Lane, Ward End (now St. Margret's Avenue). Although not marked I think the area which I have coloured yellow may have been this yard. A newspaper article records that this small yard owned by the Little Bromwich Brick Co. consisted of a single kiln & was built to use the onsite clay to make the bricks required for the terraced houses that were being built along Washwood Heath Road. These good quality terraced houses continued to be built right up to the start of the First World War. With more & more men signing up to go to war I expect this small yard closed soon after 1915. As I cannot be 100% certain that this small yard occupied the yellow area it is possible that it was actually situated at the end of Black Pit Lane which I have coloured purple. We then find that Mr. Winterton re-opened this works after the war & renamed it as the Castle Bromwich Brick Co. & I write about this company shortly, but before I do I return to Little Bromwich's Bordesley Green works.
Photo by Ray Martin.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1913.
Now back to Bordesley Green & I have added this 1913 map to show how much the works had expanded in the short period of time from 1899. This may well have been when the brickworks was at it's most productive because the 1938 map shows that the works had virtually not changed since the 1913 map, with only one building shown larger in size. The Little Bromwich Brick Co. Ltd. continues to be listed in Kelly's directories until the last one available in 1940. We then find that LBBC under the chairmanship of G.H. Major was voluntary wound up at a special meeting on the 15th day of October 1951 with Mr. Cecil Edgar Fletcher of Leicester appointed as the Liquidator. I have found that G.H. Major was the son-in-law of Mr. Winterton.
As a footnote the 1887 OS map shows an old kiln & a pond where Mr Winterton was to later build his Little Bromwich Brickworks & checking trade directories has revealed in Kelly's 1884 edition, John Richard Chirm is listed as brickmaker at Bordesley Green, so there is a good chance that Chirm worked this small yard.
Castle Bromwich Brick Co.
Photo by Ray Martin.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1938.
The Castle Bromwich Brick Co. was owned by Mr. W.H. Winterton & is first listed in Kelly's 1921 edition with the address of Black Pit Lane, Ward End. Mr. Winterton re-opened his Little Bromwich Brick Co's Black Pit Lane yard (possibly the yellow area) after WW1, re-naming the works as the Castle Bromwich Brick Co. A.H. Stephenson writes in his 1933 book that after WW1 both plants (Bordesley Green & Ward End) were managed first by Mr. Squires then later by Winterton's son-in-law, G.H. Major.
As previously wrote in the LBBC entry there is the option that this Black Pit Lane works was actually situated at the end of Black Pit Lane in the area which I have coloured purple, because A. H. Stephenson writes in his book that Mr. Winterton leased land from Viscount Newport at Castle Bromwich in 1912, erecting a works similar to his works at Bordesley Green. I then found that Ray Shill writes in his Birmingham Brickmakers book that a large manufactory consisting of drying sheds & a continuous fired kiln (Hoffman) was later built on the site. So to me these descriptions indicate that LBBC & CBBC occupied the same land & it was the purple coloured area. We know from an aerial photograph of the CBBC works that it did occupy the purple area & this photograph is shown in Ray Shill's book with the accompanying text which states that the photograph is in Birmingham Archives.
The next Kelly's directory that I have available is the 1932 edition & it records the Castle Bromwich Brick Co. on Bromford Lane (red), Ward End, so this is definitely the purple coloured area. CBBC continues to be listed on Bromford Lane in Kelly's directories to the last one available in 1940. Ray Shill records that the works closed in 1967. As previously wrote the Little Bromwich Brick Co. went into voluntary liquidation in 1951 under the control of G.H. Major, but the liquidation of LBBC does not appear to have effected CBBC with this works remaining open until 1967 & still being run by the Winterton/Major family. A Birmingham Daily Post Liquidation Notice dated 20th October 1964 regarding debts or claims against the Castle Bromwich Brick Co. were to be filled before the 7th of November 1964. So with the brickworks closing in 1967 it appears it took at least 2 years to wind the company down.
Peter Payton
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.
The first reference I have for Peter Payton comes from the London Gazette dated 19th of July 1864 when Peter Payton & Anthony Payton were dissolving their partnership as brickmakers in the firm of Peter Payton & Company at Upper Saltley & the said company would then be operated by Peter Payton on his own account from the 30th of June 1864. I am therefore assuming Peter & Anthony had been running their works for at least two years or thereabouts before this notice.
Peter Payton & Co. is first listed in Kelly's 1867 edition at the College Works, Saltley (coloured lilac on the 1887 map above) & this brickworks was situated on Couchman Road (mid blue).
A web article records Peter Payton was related to George Payton, brickmaker on Garrison Lane, but I have been unable to find this connection. I have already wrote about George Payton in Birmingham Brickworks - part 1. I have also found a Joseph Payton brickmaking at Billesley Common, Yardley Wood & Joseph is listed in Kelly's 1872 to 1880 editions. So could this Joseph also be related to Peter & George as well ?
Peter Payton continues to be listed at the College Works until Kelly's 1876 edition. Kelly's 1872 & White's 1873 editions also records Peter with the address of Chester Street & this road runs adjacent to the canal, so I expect Peter had a stockyard on this road from where he load his bricks on to canal boats for distribution via the canal network. The London Gazette dated 30th October 1877 records Peter Payton of Payton's Road, Upper Saltley, Brick & Tile Manufacturer died on the 26th of May 1877 & his will was proven by Frederick Payton & James Inkerman Payton as Executors, who I am assuming were his sons. Another notice in the London Gazette dated 29th of May 1877 also brings me to the conclusion Frederick & James were Peter's sons with this Notice recording that James Inkerman Payton, a Works Manager living in Aston was giving notice of "improvements in burning bricks, quarries, tiles & other articles, and in kilns for that purpose."
The entry in Kelly's 1878 edition for the College Works, Saltley is now for Frederick Payton & as said this Frederick appears to be Peter's son. The College Works in 1878 consisted of three kilns & two drying sheds.
We next find in Kelly's 1879, 80 & 82 editions the listing is now for Thomas Lewis & Co, College Works, Upper Saltley. There are no more listings for the College Works after the 1882 entry, so what year the works closed is unknown, but the 1902 map shows that houses had been built on this former brickworks site. I can now add that after Thomas Lewis had taken over this yard, Frederick Payton remained as a co-partner at this brickworks. This info has come from the London Gazette dated 15th of February 1881 in which it records that Frederick Payton of Lawn House, Saltley, an out of work Brickmaker had entered into proceedings for liquidation & that until recently had been a co-partner with Thomas Lewis at the College Brick Works operating under the style of "Thomas Lewis & Co." I also found James Inkerman Payton in the 1881 census listed as a brickmaker living on Allesley Street, Aston, so a short distance for him to travel to the College Works & working for Thomas Lewis.
I then found this information in an article written by A.H. Stephenson which appeared in a 1933 edition of the British Clayworker journal. Stephenson writes ;- John Garlick made nothing but loss of the "City" works. After trying for some time to make a go as a hand-made yard, he boldly introduced machinery, but only with the most disastrous results. He put in machine after machine of various kinds, but none of them could be made to work satisfactorily. He was a very impulsive & quick tempered man & becoming very enraged at the constant failure to get good results from his efforts, he proceeded to the works one Sunday morning & "set about" a recently installed machine with a sledge hammer & broke it to pieces ! Again he tried to work it as a hand-made yard, but was never really successful.
Stephenson continues ;- After John Garlick had gone bankrupt in 1884 & his City Brickworks on Anthony Road, Saltley had been derelict for many years, it was then rented by "Johnny" Bond who installed a wire-cutting machine. Now this City Works is not listed in any trade directories under John Bond's name, but there is the entry of the City Tileries & Brick Works, Anthony Road, Saltley with John Lewis as manager in Kelly's 1892 to 1905 editions & I am taking it that this company was owned by John Bond as per Stephenson s reference to "Johnny" Bond. A document in Birmingham Archives now backs up Stephenson s account of Johnny Bond taking over the lease at the City Tileries & Brick Works, Saltley. This document records that John Bond, builders merchant & brickmaker of Watery Lane on the 9th of March 1885 took out a 21 year lease on land in Saltley owned by Charles Bowyer, Barton Norton of Norton-in-the-Moors, Stafford. Bond then built a continuous kiln at the works in the early 1900's.
The City Tileries & Brick Works final 1905 trade directory entry also coincides with John Bond's last 1905 Kelly's entry at his Watery Lane Brickworks, as it was not long after this date that John Bond emigrated to America.
Kelly's 1908 edition now records John Lewis & Sons, City Works, Anthony Road, Saltley, so it appears that Lewis moved up from works manager to lease owner of this works. This is the only entry for John Lewis & Sons as we next find the City Brick Co. is next record at the City Works. There is the option that John Lewis or his sons owned the City Brick Co., but I do not have any evidence confirming this statement. Many thanks to Angel Rose for passing this John Lewis brick on to Ray Martin which she found during recent renovations (August 2020) to her garden in Birmingham.
John Garlick
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.
John Garlick is recorded as a builder & railway contractor, but for around five years he owned/ran two brickworks & he is listed in these Kelly's directories.
1879 - John Garlick & Co. Upper Saltley with John Gibson listed as manager, then on the next line, John Garlick, Lappal Tunnel Works, California, Northfield.
1880 - John Garlick & Co.Upper Saltley, but not listing John Gibson; John Garlick, Lappal Tunnel works, plus on the next line, John Garlick, Commercial Street, this could have been his office address or his distribution warehouse/yard as Commercial Street is next to the canal.
1882 - same as the 1880 entries plus Worcester Wharf is added to the Commercial Street listing, so with Worcester Wharf being just off Commercial Street, Garlick may have owned two warehouses next to the canal unless as said, Commercial Street was his office address & Worcester Wharf was his distribution warehouse ?
1883 - Lappal Tunnel Brick Co. (J. Garlick, secretary), Worcester Wharf; works, California, Northfield; John Garlick, Commercial Road. There is no listing for the Upper Saltley brickworks in this entry & the answer why is revealed later.
John Garlick was living at Shaw Hill House, Upper Saltley in 1881 & his Saltley brickworks was situated close by on Anthony Road & I have coloured this works red on the 1887 map above & Anthony Road dark red. The three story house on Naseby Road where Garlick lived is today a warehouse & William Dargue has written a very interesting article all about this house & the Shaw Hill area, if you care to read it.
https://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-s/shaw-hill/
1879 - John Garlick & Co. Upper Saltley with John Gibson listed as manager, then on the next line, John Garlick, Lappal Tunnel Works, California, Northfield.
1880 - John Garlick & Co.Upper Saltley, but not listing John Gibson; John Garlick, Lappal Tunnel works, plus on the next line, John Garlick, Commercial Street, this could have been his office address or his distribution warehouse/yard as Commercial Street is next to the canal.
1882 - same as the 1880 entries plus Worcester Wharf is added to the Commercial Street listing, so with Worcester Wharf being just off Commercial Street, Garlick may have owned two warehouses next to the canal unless as said, Commercial Street was his office address & Worcester Wharf was his distribution warehouse ?
1883 - Lappal Tunnel Brick Co. (J. Garlick, secretary), Worcester Wharf; works, California, Northfield; John Garlick, Commercial Road. There is no listing for the Upper Saltley brickworks in this entry & the answer why is revealed later.
John Garlick was living at Shaw Hill House, Upper Saltley in 1881 & his Saltley brickworks was situated close by on Anthony Road & I have coloured this works red on the 1887 map above & Anthony Road dark red. The three story house on Naseby Road where Garlick lived is today a warehouse & William Dargue has written a very interesting article all about this house & the Shaw Hill area, if you care to read it.
https://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-s/shaw-hill/
As listed in the 1882 directory Garlick also had a depot at Worcester Wharf on the Birmingham & Worcester Canal to transport his bricks via the canal network. He also used the Dudley No. 2 Canal for transporting his bricks from his Lappal Tunnel Works. I write more about the Lappal Tunnel Works later.
I then found this information in an article written by A.H. Stephenson which appeared in a 1933 edition of the British Clayworker journal. Stephenson writes ;- John Garlick made nothing but loss of the "City" works. After trying for some time to make a go as a hand-made yard, he boldly introduced machinery, but only with the most disastrous results. He put in machine after machine of various kinds, but none of them could be made to work satisfactorily. He was a very impulsive & quick tempered man & becoming very enraged at the constant failure to get good results from his efforts, he proceeded to the works one Sunday morning & "set about" a recently installed machine with a sledge hammer & broke it to pieces ! Again he tried to work it as a hand-made yard, but was never really successful.
Stephenson continues ;- After John Garlick had gone bankrupt in 1884 & his City Brickworks on Anthony Road, Saltley had been derelict for many years, it was then rented by "Johnny" Bond who installed a wire-cutting machine. Now this City Works is not listed in any trade directories under John Bond's name, but there is the entry of the City Tileries & Brick Works, Anthony Road, Saltley with John Lewis as manager in Kelly's 1892 to 1905 editions & I am taking it that this company was owned by John Bond as per Stephenson s reference to "Johnny" Bond. A document in Birmingham Archives now backs up Stephenson s account of Johnny Bond taking over the lease at the City Tileries & Brick Works, Saltley. This document records that John Bond, builders merchant & brickmaker of Watery Lane on the 9th of March 1885 took out a 21 year lease on land in Saltley owned by Charles Bowyer, Barton Norton of Norton-in-the-Moors, Stafford. Bond then built a continuous kiln at the works in the early 1900's.
The City Tileries & Brick Works final 1905 trade directory entry also coincides with John Bond's last 1905 Kelly's entry at his Watery Lane Brickworks, as it was not long after this date that John Bond emigrated to America.
Photo by Ray Martin.
Photo by David Donaldson.
As I have digressed with the Bond/Lewis info, I now return to writing about John Garlick's Lappal Tunnel works & him going bankrupt. I then write about the City Brick Co.
The Lappal Tunnel brickworks was established in 1876/7 by John Garlick & I have coloured this works yellow on the 1900 map below. I have used the online continuous sheet 1900 map which shows Garlick's works (disused at this date) because the 1882 map only shows half of the brickworks & the rest is shown on another map sheet. I then have coloured the Lappal Canal Tunnel orange on this map to indicate where it ran underground under the roads & brickworks. To get his bricks to the canal wharf for distribution via the canal network, Garlick built a tramway from his works to the wharf via a short tunnel which ran under Barnes Hill road & this tramway is shown on the map below, part of which is in the purple coloured brickworks area. The works consisted of up to-date plant which included grinding machines & brick presses & bricks were fired in a patented continuous "German" kiln, so I am taking this to be a Hoffman kiln.
In 1883 John Garlick declared himself bankrupt & a notice in the London Gazette dated 10th of January 1883 gives the details of him going into liquidation as John Garlick, builder, contractor, manufacturer of joinery at the Saltley Works, Saltley & Brick & Tile Maker at Upper Saltley, residing at The Laurels, Gravelly Hill, Aston. As a result of Garlick's bankruptcy & the closure of his businesses 700 men who worked for him lost their jobs & as previously wrote the Upper Saltley brickworks was then leased to John Bond.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/25187/page/239
It's not stated in a web article who actually purchased the Lappal Tunnel Brickworks in 1884, but it does goes on to say that James Smart & Co. re-started this works sometime after 1900, so I am reading this as James Smart & Co. had purchased the Lappal Works at this 1884 auction. James Smart died in 1892 & his company was then run by his executors with his son William overseeing the day to day running of the works until a new company called Smart's Brickworks Ltd. was formed in 1897. Apparently William Smart did not play a part in this new Company & Kelly's 1899 edition now records Smart's Brickworks Limited at the California red brickworks & quarry; &, the Lappal Tunnel brickworks. So I expect with this Smart's consortium purchasing the Lappal Tunnel works as part of the California Works deal, the Taunton Brothers got all or part of their investment back. One final bit of info to tell you on the Lappal Tunnel Brick Co. is that Arthur Henry Gibson as Liquidator of the said Company after presenting the Companies accounts & his own accounts at a meeting on the 9.2.1888, declared the Company was now dissolved. This info came from a Notice in the Birmingham Gazette dated 14.2.1888.
I write more about James Smart in Birmingham Brickworks - part 3.
With John Lewis & Sons being last recorded at the City Works, Anthony Road, Saltley in Kelly's 1908 edition we find that a new company is then recorded at this works in 1912.
The City Brick Co. is first listed in Kelly's 1912 edition at the City Works, Anthony Road, Saltley (red coloured works on the 1902 map above) & this entry continues until the last available Kelly's directory in 1940. The year this works closed is unknown, but the 1938 map shows that houses were either built or in the process of being built on the land which surround this brickworks, therefore I am thinking that this works was not far off in closing & if I get the date when this works closed, I will update the entry. As of yet no bricks stamped City Brick Co., Saltley have been found.
George Goodall is first listed as brickmaker at Upper Saltley in Kelly's 1878 edition & this entry is repeated in Kelly's 1880 & 82 editions. It's in Kelly's 1883 edition that George Goodall is listed with the address of Anthony Road, Saltley & I have established that Goodall's yard was either the orange coloured works or the olive green coloured works situated on Anthony Road (red) on the map above, but I favour the olive green works. This 1883 entry is the last listing for Goodall.
We are then left with establishing who owned the orange coloured works on Anthony Road as shown on the 1887 map above. As wrote George Goodall could have been at this works between 1878 & 1883, but I favour him being at the olive coloured works. I have found these two brickmakers recorded at Upper Saltley, William Stevenson is listed in Kelly's 1876 & 78 editions & then Thomas Hunt is only listed in Kelly's 1879 edition, so they may have been at this orange coloured works, but who else followed them at this works at the time of the 1887 map is unknown. We do find that this orange coloured works no longer appears on 1902 map & houses are shown occupying this former brickworks site (see map in City Brick Co. entry).
I wish to thank the following :-
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
The Lappal brickworks as said was started & owned by John Garlick in 1876/7, but we find in Kelly's 1883 edition that the entry is now the Lappal Tunnel Brick Co. with John Garlick listed as secretary. A web article has revealed that John Garlick formed this Company in September 1882 to run the brickworks & he was the principal shareholder. The article then says Garlick mortgaged the "Works" to bedstead makers, John & Joseph Taunton to raise £5000 pounds & I expect the Taunton's then became shareholders in the company.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/25187/page/239
I have to note that this 1883 Bankruptcy Notice does not include the Lappal Tunnel Brick Company & with Kelly's 1883 edition recording John Garlick as secretary of the Lappel Tunnel Brick Co. it appears John was still running the brickworks in 1883 until John & Joseph Taunton as "Mortgagees" of the Lappal Tunnel Brick Company decided to put the Lappal Tunnel Brick Company into Liquidation. An article in the Birmingham Gazette newspaper dated 2.5.1884 reports that the Members of the Lappal Tunnel Brick Co. Ltd. (share holders) had passed a motion to Liquidate the Company as they could no longer continue to meet the financial demands of the Company. In a nutshell they were not prepared to put any more money into a failing company. The sale of the brickworks is recorded in the Birmingham Gazette dated 13.10.1884 in a Notice of the sale of the freehold estate & brickworks belonging to the Lappal Tunnel Brick Co. authorised by it's mortgagees & it would take place that evening at the sale rooms of Messrs Ludlow, Roberts & Mellor, 18, New Street, Birmingham.
It's not stated in a web article who actually purchased the Lappal Tunnel Brickworks in 1884, but it does goes on to say that James Smart & Co. re-started this works sometime after 1900, so I am reading this as James Smart & Co. had purchased the Lappal Works at this 1884 auction. James Smart died in 1892 & his company was then run by his executors with his son William overseeing the day to day running of the works until a new company called Smart's Brickworks Ltd. was formed in 1897. Apparently William Smart did not play a part in this new Company & Kelly's 1899 edition now records Smart's Brickworks Limited at the California red brickworks & quarry; &, the Lappal Tunnel brickworks. So I expect with this Smart's consortium purchasing the Lappal Tunnel works as part of the California Works deal, the Taunton Brothers got all or part of their investment back. One final bit of info to tell you on the Lappal Tunnel Brick Co. is that Arthur Henry Gibson as Liquidator of the said Company after presenting the Companies accounts & his own accounts at a meeting on the 9.2.1888, declared the Company was now dissolved. This info came from a Notice in the Birmingham Gazette dated 14.2.1888.
I write more about James Smart in Birmingham Brickworks - part 3.
City Brick Co.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1902.
With John Lewis & Sons being last recorded at the City Works, Anthony Road, Saltley in Kelly's 1908 edition we find that a new company is then recorded at this works in 1912.
The City Brick Co. is first listed in Kelly's 1912 edition at the City Works, Anthony Road, Saltley (red coloured works on the 1902 map above) & this entry continues until the last available Kelly's directory in 1940. The year this works closed is unknown, but the 1938 map shows that houses were either built or in the process of being built on the land which surround this brickworks, therefore I am thinking that this works was not far off in closing & if I get the date when this works closed, I will update the entry. As of yet no bricks stamped City Brick Co., Saltley have been found.
George Goodall
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.
George Goodall is first listed as brickmaker at Upper Saltley in Kelly's 1878 edition & this entry is repeated in Kelly's 1880 & 82 editions. It's in Kelly's 1883 edition that George Goodall is listed with the address of Anthony Road, Saltley & I have established that Goodall's yard was either the orange coloured works or the olive green coloured works situated on Anthony Road (red) on the map above, but I favour the olive green works. This 1883 entry is the last listing for Goodall.
Although I have not photographed any bricks made by the following brickmakers I did a search of trade directories to see who else operated in Saltley. Kelly's 1888 to 1905 editions lists Mathew Frost on Anthony Road, Saltley & I have established that Frost owned the olive green coloured works as this works is still shown operational on the 1902 map (map shown in City Brick Co. entry above) & Frost may have taken over this works from George Goodall who is last listed in Kelly's 1883 edition.
Then William Brittain is listed as brickmaking on Couchman Road, Saltley in Kelly's 1879 to 84 editions. This is the blue coloured works on the 1887 map above. As there are no listings for anymore brickmakers on Couchman Road after this Brittain 1884 entry I think this when this works closed because the 1902 map shows the brickworks as disused (see map in City Brick Co. entry).
Then William Brittain is listed as brickmaking on Couchman Road, Saltley in Kelly's 1879 to 84 editions. This is the blue coloured works on the 1887 map above. As there are no listings for anymore brickmakers on Couchman Road after this Brittain 1884 entry I think this when this works closed because the 1902 map shows the brickworks as disused (see map in City Brick Co. entry).
We are then left with establishing who owned the orange coloured works on Anthony Road as shown on the 1887 map above. As wrote George Goodall could have been at this works between 1878 & 1883, but I favour him being at the olive coloured works. I have found these two brickmakers recorded at Upper Saltley, William Stevenson is listed in Kelly's 1876 & 78 editions & then Thomas Hunt is only listed in Kelly's 1879 edition, so they may have been at this orange coloured works, but who else followed them at this works at the time of the 1887 map is unknown. We do find that this orange coloured works no longer appears on 1902 map & houses are shown occupying this former brickworks site (see map in City Brick Co. entry).
I wish to thank the following :-
Stuart Mugridge - Info on Adderley Park Brick Co.
National Library/Ordnance Survey - maps
Chris Thornburn & John Baylis - for allowing me to photograph their brick collections.
I have gathered some information in this post from a book called Workshop of the World - Birmingham's Industrial Heritage by Ray Shill to whom I am indebted. Also some information about John Garlick has come from Ray's article on the Dudley No.2 Canal & it's Lappal Tunnel.
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