30.1.19. Update. With receiving new information from Maureen Surman, secretary/researcher of Bartley Green District History Group & myself finding new info from old newspapers on Find My past, I have now updated the post.
I kick off this post with the three brickworks as shown on the 1882 map below in the California area of Birmingham. After which I write about a fourth works at California which is not on this map & was situated on the northern side of Stonehouse Lane (red), just off to the left hand side of this map.
I have already wrote about John Garlick's Lappal Tunnel works (coloured yellow) in Birmingham Brickworks - part 2, but I will briefly say that John Garlick established this works in 1876 & it was operational until the Lappal Tunnel Brick Co. was put into Liquidation by the "Mortgagees" of the Company in 1884. The Lappal Tunnel works was then re-started by Smarts Brickworks Ltd. in the early 1900's. The purple coloured works was started by Isaac Flavel & then taken over James Smart & I write about this works shortly. But before I do, I write about John Barnes at the orange coloured works.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1882 x2.
John Barnes
Before do I write about John Barnes & with info received from Maureen Surman I write about two owners (possibly three) of Weoley Castle Farm. It appears to have been the first of these two farm owners in the 1830's who was the first to establish a brickworks in this area which later became known as California.
A Birmingham Gazette newspaper "For Sale by Auction" notice dated 14.7.1834 records the sale of Weoley Castle Farm near Harborne on the 16th July, comprising of the farm, buildings & land. The article then states that there is valuable brick making earth on the estate & a stone quarry. The owner of the farm is not recorded, only the solicitors overseeing the sale are named. It appears there were no offers at this date as the farm was once again put up for auction on the 18th & 19th of May 1835 (ref. Birm. Gazette). This time it states that the farm owner was Mr. Joseph Wetherby Phipson, a dealer in brass, copper & rolled metals, living at Selly Hall, Northfield. The notice states that Phipson had been declared bankrupt & the sale of the farm etc. had been authorised by the Sheriff of Worcester. The sale notice then names Blackmoor Brickyard which consisted of a kiln in a pasture & a stone quarry as part of the sale. Soughing tiles (drainage tiles) & 10,000 red bricks & assorted roof tiles were also listed for sale at the Blackmoor Yard. Please note some other references found refer to Blackmoor Corner as Blackmore or Blakenell Corner & this location is where todays KFC is situated on Alwold Road, but with this Notice saying that the brick kiln to the Blackmoor Yard was situated in pasture land, I am thinking that the location of the brickyard was further down the hill somewhere in the clay pit area coloured orange on the 1882 map above. So in a nutshell it appears Weoley Castle Farm owner J.W. Phipson was the first to make bricks in the California area in the 1830's & with him being a metal dealer by trade he would have employed a brickmaker at the yard. The notice also lists that the stone quarry had three powerful cranes, upwards of 2,500 yards of railway track (going north to the canal), stone carriages (pulled by horse) & a variety of stone working tools.
The Birmingham Gazette dated 29.10.1838 in a For Sale Notice to architects, builders & contractors lists that the excellent quality of stone from Weoley Castle Quarry can be supplied to the centre of Birmingham via the Dudley Canal at a lower cost than any other stone of the same quality. Bricks, quarries, drainage tiles & sand could also be supplied. Apply C. Hemus, Weoley Castle, Northfield. This will have been the farm as the Castle had been in ruins since the 17th Century. I next found that stone required to build St. Marks Church in Birmingham in 1840 came from quarries owned by J.F. Ledsam Esq. of Weoley Castle. So it appears it may have been Ledsam who had purchased Weoley Castle Farm in 1835 rather than Hemus & Hemus may have been his agent in the 1838 advert.
The Birmingham Gazette dated 10.3.1845 records that Ledsam as owner of Weoley Castle Farm had leased the farm & was selling various farm implements & 50,000 well burnt common bricks at an auction on the 19th & 20th of March on his premises. The notice concludes that "The whole of the bricks will be sold in lots to suit the purchasers."
The next find from Maureen's info for J.F. Ledsam is that he is recorded in the 1847 Rate Book (BRL. DRO14/166) as owning a brick-yard, houses & gardens at Weoley Castle.
We next find that the Birmingham Gazette dated 21.1.1850 advertises at the Blakemore & Weoley Castle Brickyards, Northfield, 50,000 burnt bricks, 2610 un-burnt bricks, 1800 best quarries, 200,000 sough tiles & other tiles along with working tools etc would be sold by the Creditors at each of the Premises on the 25th of January. There is no mention of Ledsam in this advert, but we do have our first reference to the orange coloured brickworks at the side of the Dudley Canal as shown on the 1882 map above & I am thinking it was after this Sale in 1850 that the Blakemore Brickyard closed & the canal side works was leased to John Barnes & I write about him next.
My first reference to John Barnes is the 1841 census when he is listed as an Agricultural Labourer, then from his two daughter's baptism records, he is listed as a Labourer in 1841 & then a Huckster in 1843. William Dargue on his website writes that Barnes Hill, the road which I have coloured lime green on the map above was named after John Barnes, a Master Brickmaker who lived at Blakenell (Blackmoor/Blakemore) Corner at the time of the 1851 census. William continues to say the 1851 census records eleven households at Blakenell Corner & as previously wrote from the 1847 Rate Book these cottages were owned by J.F. Ledsam. So I am thinking that after 1843 John Barnes became a brick maker & worked for J.F. Ledsam, then after the 1850 Sale of stock at the Blakemore Corner & Weoley Castle Brickyards, John Barnes leased the Weoley Castle Brickyard from the Creditors who are recorded in the 1850 advert. So had J.F. Ledsam gone bankrupt ? There are no Bankruptcy Notices for him in the London Gazette, but he is listed in a 1854 LG Notice as being on a Committee in the Provinces along with Birmingham's Mayor, City Alderman's, Councillors & other Birmingham notables. If new info turns up on what happen to Ledsam in 1850, I will update the post.
The first trade directory entry listing John Barnes as a brickmaker in Northfield is in White's 1873 edition. There are no more listings in directories for Barnes until Kelly's 1879 edition, when the entry records his brickworks as being at California, Northfield & this entry continues up to Kelly's 1883 edition. The 1881 census records John aged 82 & still a brickmaker. As there are no more brickmakers listed in trade directories at this Weoley Castle Farm Works after Barnes, I am taking it that Barnes closed his brickworks shortly after 1883. The 1900 OS map no longer shows this brickworks.
Isaac Flavell
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1882.
Isaac Flavell was born in Gornal, Staffordshire in 1792 to Job (1748-1797) & Rebecca (nee Jones 1748-?) Flavell. I slightly digress to tell you first about Flavell's earlier life before he became a brickmaker. Isaac Flavell & Ann Chinn (b.1811 - d.1878) were married at St. Phillips Cathedral, Birmingham in 1833 & they went on to have seven children. Several baptism, census & newspaper articles record that Isaac & his family moved home many times & I record these house moves as I chart Issac's life.
Daughter, Rebecca was born on the 10th February 1834 (d.July 1870), but I do not have her baptism record recording the Flavell's home address, however the Birmingham Gazette newspaper dated 19.10.1835 advertises that Isaac Flavell was selling his property on Great Barr Street known as The Swan which consisted of two front parlours, a kitchen, five good bedrooms, a beerhouse & malt room. In todays jargon this is a Public House with lodgings, so Rebecca may have been born at the Swan beerhouse.
We next find that the baptism record for eldest son Job (b.25.8.1835 - d.Jan. 1909) records the family where now living on Gas Street, Birmingham in December 1835 & Pigot's 1835 trade directory gives Isaac's profession as a beer seller on Gas Street. At a later date Isaac's brick distribution warehouse was also to be found on Gas Street next to the canal in the centre of Birmingham.
The Flavell's where still living on Gas Street in June 1838 with the birth of son Henry on the 19th of June 1838 (d.July 1904), but we next find that Isaac moved his family to Patcham, Sussex & daughter Mary Ann was born in Patcham in 1840. The 1841 census records Isaac as a Contractor & living with his family in Patcham village. A newspaper article which appeared in the 24.6.1841 edition of the Brighton Gazette records the opening of the Patcham railway tunnel which Isaac Flavell had built. The article goes on to report that Isaac was on hand to welcome the 200 dignitaries to the first train journey through the tunnel. It was a lavish affair with the buildings around the train station being decked out in buntings & a brass band played as the train pulled out of the station. When the train arrived at the tunnel Mr. Flavell presented Mr. Statham, the Railway Company's Engineer, an ornate silver trowel which Mr. Statham then used to cement the last brick into the tunnel's arch. What a grand affair it must have been.
We then find the Flavell's return to the Midlands & the baptism record for daughter Elizabeth records she was born on the 6th June 1842 in Birmingham & the family where living in Cotteridge, in the Parish of Kings Norton. In December 1842 with I expect a few bob in his pocket he purchases Stonehouse Farm situated on Stonehouse Lane from the Trustees of the late William Blakeway Esq., establishing his brickworks there by 1845 (ref. Kelly's trade directory). From reading several accounts about Flavell I have got the impression that he was a bit of an entrepreneur & he may have been persuaded to purchase Stonehouse Farm in 1842 as a result of a 1835 survey of the farms land which resulted in finding a good bed of brickmaking clay just below the surface. It has to be noted that after this 1835 survey there was no immediate take up of the land for brick making until Flavell purchased the farm & established his brickworks there which I have coloured purple on the 1882 map above. I have to mention that more than likely Flavell's brickworks & claypit in the 1840's would have been a lot smaller than the one shown on 1882 map above coloured purple & it was the next owner of the works James Smart who expanded it to the size that is shown on this 1882 map.
There are two more daughters to tell you about, Sarah Jane was born at Stonehouse Farm in June 1844 & Emma Caroline was born on the 6th December 1847 also at Stonehouse Farm.
In 1842 when Flavell purchased Stonehouse Farm it was classed as being in Weoley Park in the Parish of Northfield, Worcestershire because it was only after Flavell had built himself the California Inn around 1850 next to the Lappal Tunnel portal in the Parish of Northfield that this area was named California after his Inn. Although Flavell & his wife, Ann (nee Chinn) are recorded as living at the California Inn in the 1851 Census, the Inn was run by his brother-in-law, Henry Chinn & Isaac's daughter, Rebecca Flavell is recorded as Housekeeper at the Inn. The 1851 census also states that Isaac Flavell, a farmer of 165 acres was employing 50 labourers, but this may have included men who worked for him at his brickworks & on his railway contracts, as well as on his farm at this date.
The 1861 census records Isaac aged 70 as a brickmaker & contractor living with wife Ann & daughter Sarah at the California Inn. Also on the same page of this 1861 census is the earliest written evidence of this part of Birmingham being called California & it lists William Southall as a labour living at California.
The next recording of the area being called California which I have found appears in the Birmingham Gazette dated 30th October 1866, when it reports that a fire was raging on land at California near Harborne & it was a barn owned by Mr. Flavell which was in flames. The fire is reported as being soon put out by the attending fire engines, but when on their return passing down Harborne Hill the firemen were informed of another fire on Gas Street at the public house owned by Job Flavell, son of Isaac. When they got there they found the reserve fire engine was in attendance & had put the fire out. Both properties were insured by the Birmingham Fire Insurance Office who the firemen worked for, no National Fire Brigade in those days. The newspaper article states that the insurance company was unable to establish the reasons for the two fires. So were these two fires a coincidence or were they a deliberate attack on the Flavell's property ?
Flavell transported his bricks & tiles via the Dudley, Worcester & Birmingham canals to his own wharf depot & office on Gas Street in the centre of Birmingham which he was renting from the Worcester & Birmingham Canal Company. It was from this depot that builders could purchase his bricks to build an ever expanding Birmingham, so I expect his bricks & tiles were in great demand. The first trade directory entry that I have found recording Isaac Flavell as brick & tile maker is in White's 1845 edition & this entry only lists his Gas Street depot & not his brickworks address. Kelly's 1849 & 50 editions then records his brickworks at Northfield & on the next line in these two directories it lists I. Flavell, 5, Gas Street & as we know this was his wharf side depot & office. Slater's 1852 edition only records his Gas Street depot in the Brick & Tile Makers section of this directory. White's 1855 edition again only lists Gas Street in the Brick & Tile Makers section, but there is the addition of Joseph Chinn, agent, so it appears that Isaac was now employing one of his wife's relatives to run the Gas Street depot & office. Billings' 1855 edition lists Isaac Flavell as Brickmaker & Farmer in Northfield & living at Tunnel House, so could this Tunnel House be the California Inn ? Morris's 1862 edition now records Isaac Flavell only in the Brick Merchants section at the Brick Wharf, Gas Street & not as a brickmaker.
A notice in the Birmingham Journal dated 17.9.1864 reveals the reason why Isaac was not listed as a brickmaker in Morris's 1862 edition as he had placed the whole of his brickworks & sand mine up for Let on a lease covering a term of years.
CALIFORNIA BRICK WORKS AND SAND MINE.
Situate about three and a half miles from Birmingham, on the line of the Netherton Canal, at the entrance to the Lapal Tunnel, Weoley Castle, in the parish of Northfield.
THESE BRICK WORKS are supplied from a … excellent bed of Clay, extending over a considerable …. With a slight cover, varying from two to six feet. The …….. pure clay is upwards of 100 yards in length, and nearly … yards in depth, the depth increasing in the direction of the extending area of the Bed. The Bed has a floor of excellent …. So essential in brick-making and the Mine is admirably situated as regards facility in working. There is a Horse Tramway running up an easy gradient along the bottom of the Bed, communicating with the Brick Works, which are placed on a lower level, affording a sufficient depth to tip the clay into the Mills or on to a floor, where the grinding process is facilitated by a previous application of hot water.
The WORKS, which are conveniently situated by the side of the Canal, comprise two Steam Engines, three Pug Mills, Sheds and Flues, varying from 84 to 108 feet in length and (together) about …. Feet in width; three ten-hole, one nine-hole, and two eight-hole Kilns; Reservoirs for the deposit of prepared clay, and acc….. Yard adjoining, wherein is a good Mine of Rough Sand, with …. Of best Loam, for casting purposes. Also, a Canal basin and … Dock, and two boats’ length of Wharf Siding on the Canal.
The best and common Bricks made at these works are in high repute.
The whole to be LET on Lease for a term of years.
For particulars and to …. Apply to Messrs. Gem, Dockar and Sutton, Solicitors, Birmingham, or to Mr. Joseph Cockney Mining Engineer, paradise Street, West Bromwich.
Then from Maureen's info we find that in 1865 James Smart entered into a 14 year Agreement with Isaac Flavell to pay rent for the land the brick works occupied as a tennant, purchase his mills, engines, machinery, tramway etc. etc. & to enter Isaac's land to extract the clay from under his land. This will have been the clay pit on the north side of Stonehouse Lane. Flavell is again only listed as Brick Merchant at Gas Street in Kelly's 1867 edition & he would have been 75 in that year. It is also the last entry for him as he is not listed in Kelly's 1868 edition.
Isaac Flavell died on the 14th of June 1870 at Stonehouse Farm & a November 1871 newspaper notice stated his wife Ann was administrating his Will for any moneys owed or claims against his estate. Maureen's info tells me that Isaac's estate was put up for sale in 1872 (BRL MS1434/7) & Lot 3 was his clay mine & brickyard with Mr. Smart recorded as Tenant. James Smart then paid £4,200 for the brickyard, clay mine & two fields beyond that & I write about James Smart next.
As a footnote, the 1871 census now records Ann Flavell (Head) & her son Henry as farmers at the 150 acre Stonehouse Farm together with three servants. Then after the death of his mother in 1878, Henry is recorded in the 1881 census as a farmer living at Stonehouse Farm, California with two servants. Rate books record that Henry was first leasing the farmland, farmhouse & buildings from his father's Executors in 1873, then from the new owner of the farm etc, William Stableford from 1876. Henry's elder brother Job Flavell in the 1861 census is recorded as a farmer at Hassepool Farm, Lapal, together with his wife, Ann & son William, aged 2. Then the 1871 census records Job as Publican on Gas Street, Birmingham together with his family. We know Job was at this Gas Street pub in 1866 because of the fire at his property. The 1881 census records Job Flavell again as a Publican in the Parish of Northfield together with his family.
Isaac Flavell also owned a blue brickworks at Halesowen & Slaters 1851 directory lists Isaac Flavell at The Hill, Halesowen & this is Mucklow Hill. The works is marked as the Lion Works (yellow) on the 1881 map below. 1851 is also the date of Isaac's Bilston Railway Contract which records Isaac as a Contractor from Halesowen, so a second reference to him owning this Lion Works & making blue bricks for this railway contract.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1881.
Isaac Flavell is next listed at Halesowen in Kelly's 1872 directory, but Isaac had passed away in 1870. I think I may have found the answer to this conundrum. A Birmingham Daily Post newspaper Wanted advert dated 1.7.1865 states that James Smart was requiring a respectable man, competent to undertake the running of a Blue Brick & Quarry Works, references required. Apply to J. Smart & Co. Brick & Tile Wharf, Gas Street, Birmingham. (formerly I. Flavell's). So with James Smart leasing Flavell's California works in 1865, it appears he also took over the running of this Halesowen Works as part of the lease Agreement with Flavell. I have no written evidence to back up this statement, but it does fit together. As to the Flavell 1872 trade directory entry, the trustees of Isaac's Will were running his business from 1870 to 1872 when his estate was sold at auction, hence this trade directory entry. James Smart then purchases this Halesowen Brick & Quarry Works from the Trustees in 1872 as well as the California works with Smart being listed as brickmaker in Halesowen in Kelly's 1872 edition.
Updated 28.6.20.
A recent visit to 4 Oaks Reclamation Yard has yielded this reversed I.F. brick which was on a pallet mixed in with Adderley Park, Birmingham bricks, so there's a very strong case for this brick to have been made by Isaac Flavell especially with the reversed letters & deep frog, thus indicating it was made in the late 1850's or early 1860's. The colour of the clay is also spot on & can be compared against several of J. Smart's bricks in the next entry. Also there are no more brickmakers with the initials of I.F. in trade directories, at this time. I have added a flipped version for you to see this brick the correct way round.
James Smart
Before I write about James Smart brickmaking at his California Brickworks, Northfield, trade directories first record him at a brickworks on Mill Lane, Harborne & I have coloured this works yellow on the 1882 map below. Today Mill Lane (red) is called Harborne Park Road.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1882.
The first trade directory listing for James Smart as brickmaker at Harborne is in Kelly's 1849 edition & this entry is repeated in Kelly's 1850 edition. My next entry is the 1862 edition of the Corporation of Birmingham directory & this entry lists James Smart at Mill Lane, Harborne. There is the possibility that the J. Smart brick below may have been made at Harborne with the frog shape being very ornate, if not it will have been one his first bricks to be made at his California Works. We find that as time moves on, say after the 1880's, deep fancy crisp designed frogs & lettering are replaced by more simpler designs & lettering, & the frog is also not so deep.
We next find the Mill Lane works in Kelly's 1867 edition is now listed as J. Sadler & Sons, Mill Lane, Harborne, so James Smart had sold his Harborne works to Sadler around 1865 with Smart moving to his new California Works at Northfield in 1865.
This paragraph has been updated - 24.3.21.
I now slightly digress to write a little more about J. Sadler at this Mill Lane works & the following brickmaker. J. Sadler & Sons continue to be listed at this Mill Lane works until Kelly's 1872 edition. I originally thought this was Oldbury brickmaker John Sadler b.1820, but with now finding a London Gazette Notice it reveals that it was John's brother James Sadler b.1817 & his son William Henry Sadler b.1845 at the Mill Lane works. This Notice dated 2nd August 1871 records that the partnership between James & his son William had been dissolved by mutual consent & the business would then carry on by James Sadler only. James as said is listed in Kelly's 1872 edition at Mill Lane, but we then find that White's 1873 edition now records Marshall Frederick Raybould at the Mill Lane works & I write about Raybould later in the post as I wish to get back to James Smart at the California Works.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
Now back to James Smart at the California Works, Northfield coloured purple on the 1900 OS map above.
As previously wrote in the Flavell entry James Smart entered into an Agreement with Isaac Flavell in 1865 to lease his land, purchase his mills, engines, machinery, tramway etc. etc. & to enter Isaac's land to extract the clay from under his land. This will have been the clay pit on the north side of Stonehouse Lane. We then find that James Smart advertises in the 28th of October 1865 edition of the Birmingham Gazette, Brickmakers Wanted at the California Works, Northfield - None but good steady workmen need apply.
Smart then set about making improvements to his new California brickworks by building a narrow gauge railway which ran via a tunnel under Stonehouse Lane from his claypit opposite to the brickworks (see map above, both coloured purple). I have to note that this claypit may have been started by Isaac Flavell in the 1850's. With Smart adopting the all-year production method of making bricks, weathered clay was transported in tubs via this railway to be crushed, moulded into bricks & then partially dried in cooling kilns & drying sheds, before their final kiln firing. Smart's claypit is recorded as being 40 foot deep & this rich bed of clay lead to the Birmingham Patent Brick Co. setting up their brickworks in the next field to Smart's claypit & I write about this company shortly.
It's then in Kelly's 1867 edition that we find the first listing of James Smart as brickmaking at Northfield which I am taking to be the California Works. Kelly's 1868 edition again records Smart at Northfield, then Kelly's 1872 edition records Smart in the Brick & Tile Makers section as J. Smart, 6, Gas Street, which was his office & distribution depot in the centre of Birmingham which he was renting from the Worcester & Birmingham Canal Company. With the address of Gas Street changing from number 5 in Flavell's day to number 6 for Smart, I expect Smart had just moved to a large premises on the wharf. From 1880 trade directories record Smart at number 7, Gas Street, so another move.
The 1871 census records James b.1820, a brickmaker employing 24 men & 14 boys at California. This census next lists sons Hubert, b.1853 aged 18 & William b.1855 aged 16 also as brickmakers. White's 1873 edition again records James Smart at Northfield & Gas Street. We next find in White's 1875 edition the entry is now James Smart, The California Red Brick & Quarry Works, Northfield; Halesowen Blue Brick, Tile & Quarry Works; & The Wharf, Gas Street, Birmingham with John Randle as manager.
I now write about James Smart's Halesowen Works & West Bromwich Works before returning to his California Works.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1881.
I have established from Worcestershire trade directories that James Smart's Halesowen works was on Birmingham Road at Heywood & is shown as the Lion Works (yellow) on the 1881 map above. This map shows Birmingham Road as Mucklow Hill & this road is still called this today. With this works having canal access James would have easily transported his blue bricks (example below) to his Gas Street depot. I have to note that trade directory entries spell Heywood as Haywood.
Then there are two questionable entries in Kelly's 1872 edition for this works. The first is the entry for I. Flavell brickmaking at Halesowen, but Isaac from my findings had died in 1870 ? With finding new info in the form of an newspaper adverts dated 1.7.1865 & 4.7.1865 in the Birmingham Daily Post newspaper, a Wanted advert states that James Smart was requiring a respectable man, competent to undertake the running of a Blue Brick & Quarry Works, references required. Apply to J. Smart & Co. Brick & Tile Wharf, Gas Street, Birmingham. (formerly I. Flavell's). So with James Smart leasing Flavell's California works in 1865, it appears he also took over the running of this Halesowen Works as part of the lease Agreement with Flavell. I have no exact written evidence to back up this statement, but it does fit together. James Smart then purchases this Halesowen Brick & Quarry Works from Flavell's Trustees in 1872 as well as the California works with a Smart being listed as brickmaker in Halesowen in Kelly's 1872 edition.
The second questionable entry in this 1872 directory is for Henry Smart brickmaking at Halesowen & I think this should read Hubert Smart, James eldest son, with Hubert being listed as a brickmaker in the 1871 census I think he was running the Halesowen works for his father in 1872.
White's 1873 edition lists James Smart with the works address of Forge Lane, Halesowen & Forge Lane was the access road to the Lion Brickworks. White's 1875 edition then lists James Smart at the Halesowen Blue Brick, Tile & Quarry Works & this entry if followed by Kelly's 1876 to 1892 editions listing James Smart at Haywood, Halesowen. The 1884 entry also lists Birmingham Road in the address. As just wrote I think James son Hubert was running the Halesowen works for him with Hubert next listed in the 1881 census listed as a brickmaker then as a Brick Manufacturer in the 1891 census living in California on Peascroft Lane (today it's Stonehouse Lane).
The second questionable entry in this 1872 directory is for Henry Smart brickmaking at Halesowen & I think this should read Hubert Smart, James eldest son, with Hubert being listed as a brickmaker in the 1871 census I think he was running the Halesowen works for his father in 1872.
White's 1873 edition lists James Smart with the works address of Forge Lane, Halesowen & Forge Lane was the access road to the Lion Brickworks. White's 1875 edition then lists James Smart at the Halesowen Blue Brick, Tile & Quarry Works & this entry if followed by Kelly's 1876 to 1892 editions listing James Smart at Haywood, Halesowen. The 1884 entry also lists Birmingham Road in the address. As just wrote I think James son Hubert was running the Halesowen works for him with Hubert next listed in the 1881 census listed as a brickmaker then as a Brick Manufacturer in the 1891 census living in California on Peascroft Lane (today it's Stonehouse Lane).
With James Smart dying in April 1892 we find that Frederick Jesse Nash is listed in Kelly's 1892 & 96 editions at this Halesowen works. In the 1881 census Frederick Nash is listed as a General Manufacturer, however the 1891 census records Frederick as a Brick Manufacturer & manager of a cement works aged 34 & living at 15, Langley Road, Oldbury. The 1901 census still records Frederick as a Brick Manufacturer & now living at 2, Vicarage Lane, Oldbury. With the 1902 OS map showing Nash's brickworks as disused we can therefore say it closed sometime between 1901 & 1902. A notice in the Smethwick Telephone newspaper dated 12th of March 1904 records Nash Ltd had gone into Liquidation & the Lion Blue & Red Brickworks was to be sold by on behalf of the Liquidators on the Monday the 14th at 10.30 prompt. The 1911 census records Frederick was now an Insurance Agent & living in West Bromwich. A Frederick Nash brick has still to turn up, however a Nash brick made in the 1860's/70's & more than likely made by/for his father John Nash has turned up. John Nash with many interests in manufacturing also owned a cement works in the 1860's & 70's & it is thought John's brick yard was adjacent to his limekilns at Whimsey Bridge, Portway Road, Oldbury, but there are no early maps to show this yard. Alternatively, research has revealed John Nash was a very close friend of brickmaker James Sadler owner of the Portway Brickworks because when James died in 1878 John was an executor of James' Estate. John Nash was also a partner in Sadler Brothers (James' sons) at their Church Bridge Brickworks, Oldbury in the 1870's & 80's, so this Nash brick could have been made for him at the Church Bridge Works in the 1870's rather than him owning his own works.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1896.
Photo by MF courtesy of the John Baylis Collection.
Kellys 1884 to 1897 editions now lists the company as James Smart & Sons, so it appears that James's son, William from 1884 was now taking a more active rolled in the running of the company, previously the 1871 & 81 census only recorded William as working for his father. We next find the 1891 census records James Smart as retired & his son William is listed as the owner of James Smart & Sons. Then as previously wrote James died in April 1892 & his Estate including the brickworks was administrated by Trustees. William Smart continues to run the brickworks to around 1897, as we then find in Kelly's 1899 edition that the entry is Smart's Brickworks Ltd., California & Lappal Tunnel Red Brick & Quarry Works, Northfield via Quinton.
According to A.H. Stephenson Smarts Brickworks Ltd. had been formed to purchase the California Works from the Trustees administrating James Smart's estate in 1897. It appears William Smart did not play any part in the running of this new company as he is not listed on the board of directors. The directors of this new company were Josiah Derrington, John Horton Blades & William Roberts. Also joining the board as directors at a later date were Brownlow W. Blades, brother to John H. Blades & Josiah Pearce Derrington, son of Josiah Derrington.
It's at this point that I tell you a little more about James Smart's eldest son Hubert Smart. From Maureen's info, an article says that in 1897 a Trustee of James Smart's Estate had to remove Hubert from the Management of the Brickyard. I then found many newspaper articles explaining the reason why.
In the 10.9.1897 edition of the Liverpool Echo an article headed "Attempted Shooting of a Birmingham Solicitor" records the actions of Mr. Hubert James Smart, a Master Brickmaker in Birmingham. On the 9th of September 1897 between three & four o'clock in the afternoon Mr Smart entered the offices of Messrs Parr & Hasell Solicitors on Colmore Row & confronted Mr. Jeffery Parr who was administrating his father's Will. After a brief altercation over the release of moneys due to Mr. Smart from his father's Will, Hubert Smart took out a revolver & pointed it at Mr. Parr with the intention to shoot him. It had been five years since his father's death & Hubert was desperate for an income from this Will. On hearing a firearm had been produced Mr. Hasell & several clerks rushed into Mr. Parr's office & in the struggle which then took place the revolver went off & the bullet grazed Mr. Parr's jaw, but it was later found that Mr. Smart had been more seriously injured from the bullet as it had gone through Mr. Smart's arm. Mr. Smart was then held by Mr. Hasell & Mr. Pike until the police arrived. Mr. Smart requested that the policeman did not handcuff him as he had blood dripping down his arm & he would not struggle no more. From this point on & when he was charged at the Police Station Mr. Smart remained silent. On being searched at the Police Station Mr. Smart was found to have, as well as having the revolver fully loaded, four more cartridges in his pocket & nine more in his purse. On being later examined by a Surgeon at the Police Station it was found that the bullet had entered Mr. Smart's arm at the point of his wrist, traveled along a path at the side of the bone, then came out by his elbow. Mr. Parr's injury was determined to have had been caused either by the bullet first glancing off his jaw before entering Mr Smart's arm or he had been struck by the trigger of the revolver during the struggle. It was later determined that Mr. Parr's injury came from being hit by the revolver. The Ipswich Evening Star reports that on this day the 15th of December 1897 at Birmingham Assize Court, Mr. Justice Wills found Hubert James Smart a master brickmaker guilty of an attempt to murder Mr. Jeffrey Parr, solicitor. Smart was sentenced to 12 years penal servitude. Wow !!!! That's imprisonment with hard labour. The Coventry Evening Standard dated 18.3.1898 reports that Smart had petitioned the Home Secretary to reduce his 12 year penal servitude sentence, but the Home Secretary deemed that there was no reason to change the sentence passed to him by Justice Wills. The 1901 census records Hubert was serving his sentence at Portland Bill Prison, so I expect he was breaking up & crushing stone by hammer & chisel as part of his punishment. There's a slightly happy ending to Hubert's plight in the fact that he did not complete his 12 year sentence & was released from prison early as we find that in March 1907 he was living in Redditch, Worcs. at the time he made his Will. Hubert died shortly afterwards in June 1907 aged 54, so I am taking it his early release was due to his poor health.
Now back to Smart's Brickworks Limited & also included in the purchase of the California Brickworks from James Smart's Trustees was the Lappal Brickworks last worked by John Garlick in 1884. The date when the Smart Family actually acquired or if they ever worked the Lappal Tunnel Works is unknown, but what is known is that Smarts Brickworks Ltd. had the Lappal Tunnel Works up & running again erecting new buildings & installing new machinery & plant by 1904. This newly installed machinery made bricks using the plastic & wire cut methods. However this works appears to have had a short life closing again by the start of WW1, never to be reopened again, but I have to note that the Lappal Tunnel Works is still listed in Kelly's 1915 edition. The last of the derelict buildings at this former Lappal Tunnel Works were demolished in the 1960's & the site was used a municipal rubbish dump.
Stephenson writes in his 1933 book that this new company (Smart's Brickworks Ltd) was the first to install a continuous kiln of Belgian type in the Birmingham District at the California Works. He also writes that the present directors of the Company were Messrs. Edward (Teddy) C. Blades, A. Guest & B.C. Ottey.
A floor quarry tile made by Smarts Ltd.
c.1908 advert reproduced courtesy of Rob Sutton.
Rob Sutton who is Chair of the Moor Pool History & Preservation Society in Harborne Birmingham tells me this advert came from a c.1908 prospectus in which many companies advertised they were supplying goods & services in the building of the "Moor Pool Garden Suburb". More can be read here.
Going back to the trade directory entries for the company & the 1899 entry of Smarts Brickworks Ltd. continues up to Kelly's 1915 edition. For some unknown reason the Company is not listed in Kelly's 1921 edition (next available directory) unless the California Works had not been re-opened after the war at this 1921 date ? My next directory is Kelly's 1932 edition & the entry is Smarts Brickworks Ltd, Barnes Hill, California, Quinton. This entry continues up to the last directory available in 1940. A web article records the California Works was the last to close in the area in the 1950's. Today the former California brickworks site has been grassed over & the former clay pit site on the opposite side of Stonehouse Lane has been levelled & a fire station has been built with the rest of the site being covered in trees & a grass area. The former Lappal Tunnel brickworks site is now the home of a Asda supermarket store.
If you are interested, photos of a California brickworks can be seen at the link below, but the brickworks is not named in the article. I am almost certain that it's Smart's with one photograph showing a Hoffman type kiln, a similar photo is shown in the next link below. Someone has wrote on the Birmingham Forum website that Weoley Library have a large collection of photographs of Smart's brickworks, so I expect that some of these photos on this first link are the ones in the library.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/nostalgia/gallery/brickworks-california-bartley-green-9425223
In this link there are two photos of the Lappal Tunnel portals & the one of James Smart's brickworks.
https://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-c/california/
Birmingham Patent Brick & Tile Co. / Simkin / William Ward
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
It was with James Smart exposing a rich bed of clay 40ft deep at his purple coloured claypit which lead to the Birmingham Patent Brick & Tile Co. setting up their brickworks in the next field. B.P.B.&T. Co's works (coloured green) was on Stonehouse Lane, California, Birmingham.
The Birmingham Patent Brick & Tile Co. was formed in 1873 to purchase land from Isaac Flavell's Trustees. The consortium was made up of Edward Ensor junior & Henry Loader Ensor, firebrick makers of Woodville, Burton, Brownlow William Blades, brickmaker of blue bricks in West Bromwich & William Henry Ward a Birmingham architect. Both the Ensor Brothers & B.W. Blades were still running their own works at the same time & it was William Ward who was managing the California brickworks for them.
A newspaper article in the Birmingham Daily Post dated 20.5.1874 reports that the B.P.B.&T. Co. took out a lease for forty years on the 25 acre site at the low "Royalty Rate" of 1 shilling & 2 pence per thousand bricks made & a new kiln was to be built to Edward Ensor junior's Patented design producing 150,000 bricks per week. The cost of the new kiln (£1000) & new buildings, plant & machinery (£2000) would be met by Edward Ensor junior. The article goes on the say that the Company announced a share capital of £10,000, in 400 shares of £25 each, of which £6,000 has now been subscribed. The works later consisted of six kilns, two of which were capable of producing 75,000 bricks each per firing & the other four kilns were capable of producing 46,000 each per firing.
The Birmingham Patent Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. is first listed in White's 1875 edition with works at California, Northfield, John Lewis, secretary & office address of 1,Temple Row West, Birmingham. This entry is also listed in Kelly's 1876 edition.
We then find that this Patent Brick & Tile Co. only had a relative short existence because in September 1877 B.P.B.&T. Co. was wound up. I then found two newspaper notices dated the 17th of November & the 11th of December 1877 in the Birmingham Daily Post which advertised that the brickworks as a whole, owned by the Birmingham Patent Brick & Tile Co. was being sold as a going concern. Then the 14th of December 1877 edition of the Birmingham Daily Post reports that the 26 acre site of freehold clay land & brickworks owned by the Birmingham Patent Brick & Tile Co. valued at £10,000 was sold by auctioneer Mr. J. Ward at the Hen & Chickens Hotel for £7,500. The name of the brickworks new owners was not reported in this article.
Ray Shill writes in his book that this works changed hands after 1877 & was later owned by William Ward, one of the founders of B.P.B.&T. Co. in the 1880's. The London Gazette reveals that the B.P.B.&T. Co. had not been fully wound up, one notice dated 13th January 1885 under the heading of Joint Stock Companies Register first gives the company three months to come forward to declare their situation, then as this does not appear to have taken place a second notice dated 28th April 1885 then states that B.P.B.&T. Co. had been stuck off the Register, therefore the Company had been dissolved. I have found that one of the Company's founders Brownlow William Blades died on the 13th March 1881 & his death may have been a factor in the Birmingham Patent Brick Co. not being wound up. I have also found Henry Loader Ensor did not die until 1906, so why he did not wind the Company up is unknown. Bricks stamped B.P.B.&T. Co. have yet to be found, so if you have got one please let me know, thanks.
So with the newspaper notices & Ray Shill's account of the works changing hands in 1877 this ties in with trade directory entries recording the Simkin family brickmaking at California between 1879 & 1884. William Edmund Simkin is listed in Kelly's 1879 & 80 editions at California, Northfield, then Edward Wellington Simkin is listed in Kelly's 1882 & 84 editions at California, Northfield. However after writing that B.P. B.& T. Co. had sold their Works at Auction to an unknown buyer in 1877, the November 1883 Rate Book (BRL CP/N Box No. 2) states that Edward Wellington Simkin was leasing the brickworks & land from the Birmingham Patent Brick & Tile Co. So it appears that the completion on the Sale of the Works at the 1877 Auction fell through & the Simkin's leased the works from B.P. B.&T. Co. No bricks stamped Simkins have been found.
We next find in two newspaper notices that the brickworks previously owned by the Birmingham Patent Brick Co. was once again put up for auction. The first dated 29.7.1882 in the Birmingham Daily Post names the Freehold Property For Sale as The California Works consisting of 26 acres, buildings, kilns, machinery, houses etc. etc. & would be sold on the 22nd of August 1882. The second notice in the Birmingham Daily Post dated the day before the auction states that it was the Birmingham Brick & Tile Works consisting of 26 acres etc. etc. that was up for sale. Rate Books dated December 1883 to 1886 reveal that the new owner of the green coloured brickworks was W.H.Osborne & after the Simkin's had fulfilled their lease William Ward is recorded as occupying the works in these Rate Books. W.H. Osborne continues to be listed as owner of this land in the 1894 & 1901 Rate Books.
So with William Ward now recorded as leaseholder of the green coloured brickworks we find that he is first listed as the brickmaker at the California, Northfield in Kelly's 1888 edition. William Ward continues to be listed in Kelly's directories at this works until the 1908 edition, so the Ward brick below will have been made sometime between 1886 & 1908. The next available map in 1914 only shows the old claypit & Ward is not listed in Kelly's 1912 edition, so the works must have closed soon after 1908. William Ward died in 1909, hence the brickworks closing. Maureen tells me that Smart's Brickworks Ltd. are shown as owners of Ward's works in 1911, but they never re-opened it, they only moved most of the pots etc. to their Lappal Tunnel Works.
This William Ward brick appears to be behind bars, but it is behind the netting to a brick making machine at Avoncroft Museum.
William Ward is also listed as owning a second works at Bourneville. Kelly's 1899 edition records the works at Raddlebarn Lane, today it's Road & coloured red on the 1902 map below. Then Kelly's 1900 to 1905 editions list the works on Elm Road, coloured green. I expect that in 1899 Elm Road had not been built & it was only an access lane to the works from Raddlebarn Lane. William Ward set up this brickworks to provide bricks to George Cadbury for his model village. Cadbury had built his chocolate factory together with 16 houses for his senior employees in 1879. Cadbury then purchased another 120 acres in 1893 to build his Bournville model village for the rest of his workers. With Ward being at his California Brickworks since 1888, I expect he initially provided Cadbury with bricks made at this works until he set up his Elm Road works around 1898.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1902.
M.F. Raybould & W. Raybould
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1882.
This brickworks on Mill Lane, Harborne had previously been owned by James Smart 1849 to 1867 & then by John Sadler & Sons 1867 to 1872/3. We next find in White's 1873 edition that Marshall Frederick Raybould is listed at Mill Lane, Harborne & at Powke Lane, Oldhill near Rowly 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.
I slightly digress as I found that in a 1856 London Gazette Notice that 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 with the company name then changing to Partridge, Guest & Raybould. 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 have estimated that Marshall Frederick Raybould was brickmaking for around 44 years & will have been in his 60's when he retired.
Now onto the trade directory entries for Marshall Frederick Raybould & as previously wrote he is first listed in White's 1873 edition at Mill Lane, Harborne & at Powke Lane, Oldhill. Then in White's 1875 & Kelly's 1876 editions the entry is Mill Lane, Harborne. We then find in Kelly's 1878 to 1897 editions Raybould's entry now reads Park Road, Harborne with Mill Lane being renamed Park Road around 1877/8.
In Kelly's 1882 edition to Kelly's 1888 edition there is the addition of a second works owned by Raybould on Frederick Road, Selly Oak & this works is coloured yellow on the 1882 OS map below. Raybould had taken over this yard from Mrs. Eleanor Boylin in around 1881. Edward Boylin had operated this yard from 1871/2, then after his death in 1873 his wife ran the works. We next find Eleanor's son Charles Boylin joins her at the works with him being listed as a brickmaker in the 1881 census aged 25. So Charles could have started working at the brickworks not long after his father's death in 1873.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1882.
Back to Raybould & it appears that Marshall Raybould closed his Selly Oak yard around 1888/89 as it is not shown on 1900 OS map & the former brickworks site is shown as fields. A school is built there today.
We next find in Kelly's 1899 to 1905 editions Walter Raybould is listed as brickmaking at Harborne Park Road (previously named Mill Lane), Harborne & I taking it that Walter was Marshall's son & had taken over his brickworks. This works may have closed under Walter's ownership as the 1913 OS map only shows the old clay pit. An example of one of Walter's bricks is shown after the map.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1901.
As a footnote I have found another brickmaker with the name of Raybould in Birmingham Directories, so whether this Raybould is the same Marshall Frederick Raybould I do not know, as no initials are given in these entries. The entries are Upton & Raybould, Highgate Brickworks, Leopold Street, Birmingham in Kelly's 1867 & 1868 editions. The 1872 edition only then records Joseph Upton at Leopold Street. So if it is Marshall Frederick Raybould in this Upton & Raybould partnership then the years of 1867/8 tie in with him then moving to his Harborne brickworks in 1873. On saying that Raybould at the same time was brickmaking at Oldhill with Partridge & Guest to around 1875, so how he was managing his time at each works is unknown.
Mathew Grove, Northfield
Photo by Angel Rose.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1903.
Mathew Grove is listed in Kelly's 1867 to 1888 editions as brickmaking in Northfield, Birmingham & I have used the 1903 OS map above to show his works which was accessed off Bristol Road.
David Kitching has supplied me this extra info on Grove.
Matthew Grove was a well respected figure in Northfield in the 1860s to 1880s and was an elected member of the Board of Guardians. In the 1871 and 1881 census he is described as a farmer and brick manufacturer employing 7 & 9 men respectively. In the Birmingham Daily Post dated 18 April 1889, he is described as having suffered pecuniary difficulties and the works seems to have closed around that time.
Although this 1903 revised map shows this works as being disused, it was however still operational & was owned by Gowling & Ingram & they had taken over the running of the works from Mathew Grove. Kelly’s 1890 to 1897 list Gowling & Ingram at the Northfield works. We next find Kellys 1899 to 1904 editions now list Gowling & Ingram with the address of Bristol Road, Northfield. Kelly’s 1908 now reads Frederick Gowling, Bristol Road, Northfield & this is the last entry for the works. The 1914 map shows most of the brickworks had disappeared. I just need bricks made by Gowling & Ingram, & Frederick Gowling to turn up, so I can add them to this post.
T. Williams, New Bridge
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1886.
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 & I have written about this Garrison Lane (Albert Works) in Birmingham Brickworks - part 2. I have coloured this New Bridge works yellow on the 1886 map which shows the works disused at this date. We next find John William Clements is brickmaking at this yard & he is listed at Newbridge, Yardley in Kelly's 1876, 78 & 79 editions, after which I expect the yard closed. No bricks stamped Newbridge by either Williams or Clements have been found.
W. Loach, Quinton
Edward Airey, Quinton
Loach & Sons are listed in Kelly's 1879 & 80 editions at Beech Lane, Quinton. I also found that another brickmaker, Edward Airey is also listed at Beech Lane, Quinton in Kelly's 1876 to 1884 editions. The 1881 map below only shows one named brickworks (purple) & this was actually on Birch Road (green). I then spotted on the other side of Birch Road that there is a clay pit (orange) & a couple of buildings & I have come to the conclusion that this was the Loach's brickworks, but not named as such on this 1881 map because at the time this map was surveyed the Loach family had closed their brickyard. With Edward Airey still listed in directories up to 1884, I am almost certain that he was the brickmaker at the marked purple brickworks. Why trade directories listed both brickmakers as working on Beech Lane (coloured red) & not Birch Road is unknown, unless it was because Beech Lane was the main road into Quinton. The yellow coloured road is called The Hawthorns & at some point there had been a brickyard on this road with the marked old claypit. I also found another brickmaker, Thomas Bird is listed at the Beech Lane in Kelly's 1872 & White's 1875 edition, so he may have been at the purple works before Airey.
In October 2021 after doing more research on these Beech Lane, Quinton entries in trade directories, I have found from the census & old maps that Beech Lanes was the name of the hamlet which included the brickworks as well as the name of the road called Beech Lane which passed through it. Today this road is called Hagley Road West.
I have found a snippet of information on the web about the Loach family. Alfred Loach is recorded as brickmaker in 1880 & living with his family at Beech Lanes, so was he W. Loach's son ? The 1902 OS map now longer shows the purple works only the claypit & today Birch Walk & Birch Grove are built on this former brickworks site. Houses are also built where Loach's yard was on the opposite side of Birch Road & one cul de sac is called Squirrels Hollow.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1881.
Hay Mills
Under this heading I write about the five brickworks that where in Hay Mills & their many owners. At one stage two of the brickworks were both owned by Derrington & Sons, another company then took over both works & this was followed by one works closing & the other one changing hands again. So I start with the purple works on the 1886 OS map below.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1886.
I have established that Robert Holloway owned this Red Hill brickworks coloured purple on the 1886 map above & he is first listed in Billings 1855 edition at Yardley, Birmingham. This Yardley entry is repeated in Casey's 1860 & Kelly's 1867 & 68 editions. The census only records Robert Holloway as a farmer living on Coventry Road, Yardley (road coloured orange). Farming & brickmaking in many instances when hand in hand & more than likely Holloway would have been employing an actual brick maker to make his bricks.
Skelding & Barkling are listed in Kelly's 1879 edition at Red Hill, Yardley & I am taking it they were the next owners of this Red Hill works. Frank Barklam is next listed at Red Hill in Kelly's 1880 edition with the entry of Milton Crescent, Long Causeway, Yardley; & at Red Hill. Hulley's 1881 edition now lists Skelding & Barklam at Red Hill. Kelly's 1882 edition just lists Frank Barklam on his own at Red Hill. So I am wondering if the 1879 directory listing of Barkling should read Barklam ? There are no more trade directory entries for this works after 1882 & the 1900 map no longer shows this yard.
Now on to the green coloured works as shown on the 1886 map above. From later information found I have established that this works was owned by the Shipway family & another article records that the Shipway family started this works in the 1850's. Kelly's 1878 edition lists Henry Shipway at the Speedwell Brick Works, Red Hill, Yardley. This is the only entry for Henry Shipway at this works as Kelly's 1876 edition lists him at a works in Sparkbrook, Yardley & a map of that area does show a disused clay pit, so I don't think that this Sparkbrook entry could be classed as the Speedwell Brickworks in Hay Mills. We next find in Kelly's 1884 edition that Edwin Shipway & Co. are listed at this green coloured works with the listing of ; Works & Canal Wharf, Speedwell Road; office & retail yard, Coventry Road (orange), Hay Mills. Stephenson writes in 1933 book that Josiah Derrington purchased Henry Shipway's yard at Hay Mills in 1888 or 1889, with the yard then becoming Derrington's No.1 Yard. So it appears Henry Shipway was still one of the owners in the Edwin Shipway & Co. No bricks stamped Shipway have been found so far. Before I write about Josiah Derrington at this yard, I first write about the yellow coloured yard owned by Henry Powley who later, also sold his yard to Derrington.
Now on to the yellow coloured works & Henry Powley & Co. are first listed in Kelly's 1879 edition with the works address of Speedwell Brickworks, Red Hill, Yardley. This entry is slightly confusing as it is the same works address given by Henry Shipway. This address is then rectified in Kelly's next edition in 1880 & the entry now reads Henry Powley & Co. Yardley Brick Works, Hay Mills, Yardley. Whether this 1879 address entry was a mistake by Kelly's or if Powley did first call his works, Speedwell is unknown, but it was sorted out by the next directory. Powley & Co. are then listed in Kelly's with this Yardley Brick Works address until it's 1890 edition. Kelly's 1883 & 84 editions also include the office address of Coventry Road, Hay Mills. At this moment in time no bricks stamped Powley & Co. have turned up. Stephenson writes that Josiah Derrington purchases Powley & Co.'s yard around 1890 & it then became his No.2 Yard.
Photo by MF courtesy of the John Baylis Collection.
So with the green coloured works (1888) & the yellow coloured works (1890) now both owned by Josiah Derrington, he called his two works - No.1 yard & No.2 yard & this is when both works started to expand to the size as shown on the 1900 OS map below. Stephenson writes that Derrington initially suffered severe losses at his No. 1 Yard through fire & the complete flooding of the works on the eve of the new Century ! Derrington after purchasing the adjoining No. 2 Yard from Powley & Co. then set about taking out & scrapping unsuitable machinery & for a few years bricks were made by hand. In 1896 a wire-cut machine was installed & this was the first to work successfully in the Birmingham area.
Josiah Derrington & Sons are listed at Hay Mills in Kelly's 1888 to 1915 editions with the addition of Speedwell Road added from the 1904 edition. As early as 1878 Josiah's son, Josiah Pearce Derrington is recorded as working along side his father, but when Josiah Pearce took over the running of the Company from his father is unknown. Josiah Derrington died at the age of 85 in 1920. For the Derrington's Garrison Lane Works, please see my article in Birmingham Brickworks - part 2
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
The Derrington's then sold their two yards to the Builders & General Traders' Co. who are listed in Kelly's 1921 to 1933 editions with the address of Speedwell Road, Hay Mills. We next find between 1933 & 1936 the green coloured yard closed & the yellow coloured yard was taken over by the Yardley Brick Co.
The Yardley Brick Co. are listed in Kelly's 1936 to 1940 editions with the address of Speedwell Road, Hay Mills. The 1938 edition records the works address as 198, Speedwell Road, hence me attributing the yellow coloured works to this Company. The only other works on Speedwell Road at this date was the Waterloo Works & this was owned by the Bayliss family & I write about this works next. Going back to the Yardley Brick Co. & the year this works closed is unknown, but with WW2 taking place I should think this is when it closed. No bricks stamped Yardley Brick Co. have been found so far. A web article states that after the green & yellow brickworks had closed the clay pits were used as municipal rubbish dumps by Birmingham Council.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1938.
Now on to the Waterloo Brick Works (purple) as shown on the 1900 & 1938 maps above. This new works was started by Henry Hemming around 1895 & Henry is first listed at this works in Kelly's 1900 edition with the address of Speedwell Road, Hay Mills, Yardley. Henry continues to be listed with this works address up to Kelly's 1912 edition. Stephenson writes that Henry Hemming personally supervised the works ensuring that his bricks were well made & produced at the right price. The well laid out yard consisted of the most modern machinery of it's day with the drying sheds being heated by exhaust & live steam. A continuous Belgian kiln was then used to fire the bricks.
Stephenson writes that after Hemmings had sold his Waterloo Brickworks he then started a new works at Wood End, Earlswood. Now I have found that Earlswood was originally situated in the Parish of Solihull, hence this quarry tile photographed in a friends collection being stamped Solihull. I have been unable to determine the location of this Wood End works as it is not shown on the 1913 map.
Going back to the Waterloo Brickworks & Hemming then sells his works to Frank & William Bayliss around 1913 with these two brothers being first listed in Kelly's 1915 edition with the works address of Speedwell Road, Hay Mills. This entry continues until Kelly's 1933 when the entry is just for William Bayliss. Kelly's 1936 edition now lists the company as Bayliss Brickworks Ltd. The next reference to this company is an advert in the Birmingham Journal dated 22nd September 1960 when the company was advertising it's bricks for sale. My next find was an advertisement in the Birmingham Journal dated 8th of June 1967 which reveals the Birmingham Brick Co. now operated the Bayliss Works. It is unknown in which year this new company took over this works unless Bayliss Brickworks Ltd. just rebranded as the Birmingham Brick Co. The Birmingham Brick Company next advertises for a Male Clerk, some experience required in the 8th of July 1968 edition of the Birmingham Journal. A web article then states that the Bayliss Works owned by the Birmingham Brick Co. closed in 1969.
Photographs of Bayliss's brickworks & bit more info on Hay Mills brickworks can be seen/read at this link. https://aghs.jimdo.com/brick-and-tile-making/hay-mills/
There's one more brickworks to write about & this is the blue coloured yard shown on the 1900 map above. I am sorry to say that I cannot find any information or trade directory entries for this yard which was also accessed off Speedwell Road. This works is not on the 1886 map & is only shown as a clay pit & pond on the 1913 map, so the only option that I can offer is that it may have been worked by Josiah Derrington & Sons. If I get the answer to this conundrum, I will update the entry. Please get in touch if you know the answer to this works owners, Thanks.
I wish to thank the following :-
Chris Thornburn & John Baylis - for allowing me to photograph their brick collections.
Maureen Surman, secretary/researcher of Bartley Green District History Group
I have gathered some information from a book called Workshop of the World - Birmingham's Industrial Heritage by Ray Shill to whom I am indebted. Also from this link by Ray Shill. http://bcnsociety.co.uk/?archive=1&fn=4&id=40
Maureen Surman, secretary/researcher of Bartley Green District History Group
I have gathered some information from a book called Workshop of the World - Birmingham's Industrial Heritage by Ray Shill to whom I am indebted. Also from this link by Ray Shill. http://bcnsociety.co.uk/?archive=1&fn=4&id=40
Info for this post has also come from A.H. Stephenson s 1933 book & these five sites.
https://www.genealogyforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=2855
http://www.baras.org.uk/lapal-tunnel-brickworks-birmingham
http://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/california-inn-northfield.20203/
https://www.genealogyforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=2855
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search/british-newspapers
https://www.genealogyforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=2855
http://www.baras.org.uk/lapal-tunnel-brickworks-birmingham
http://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/california-inn-northfield.20203/
https://www.genealogyforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=2855
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search/british-newspapers
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