Holly Bank Coal Co.
Hilton Main & Holly Bank Collieries Ltd.
NCB Hilton Main
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1950.
The Holly Bank Coal Co. Ltd. was formed in 1891 to takeover the running of Essington Wood Colliery, after which the pit was renamed Holly Bank & is coloured purple on the map above. From a December 1930 newspaper account of Holly Bank Colliery the pit had it's own brickworks & had the capacity to produce 150,000 bricks per week, but no maps show which buildings were associated with the brickworks. Around 1920 a new pit was sunk to the west of Essington by the Holly Bank Coal Co. to extract new reserves in that area & this new colliery called Hilton Main (coloured green) was in production by 1924 & was connected underground to Holly Bank Colliery. Coal extraction at Holly Bank Colliery had ceased by the General Strike in 1927. In December 1930 with the Holly Bank Coal Co. being in financial trouble the Debenture Holders put the companies two collieries up for sale as a going concern, but it appears there were no takers at this date. Then in January 1932 when the collieries were again put up for sale Mr. C.A. Nelson, chairman & managing director of Hartley Main Collieries Ltd in Cramlington, Northumberland purchased the Holly Bank Coal Co. & in doing so re-opened Holly Bank Colliery in 1935 & then established a brickworks at Hilton Main Colliery. This Hilton Main brickworks consisted of four continuously fired kilns which are clearly shown on the 1950 OS map above (coloured yellow), producing 26,000,000 bricks per annum. Nelson's two Essington collieries from January 1932 then operated under the name of the Hilton Main & Holly Bank Collieries Ltd. An August 1938 newspaper article states Hilton Main & Holly Bank Collieries Ltd operated three brickworks with a total output of 36,000,000 bricks per annum. The location of the company's third works is presently unknown, unless it includes Nelson's Cramlington brickworks in the North East.
There is the option that the Holly Bank brick below was made by the Holly Bank Coal Co. or the Hilton Main & Holly Bank Collieries Co. with this style of frog being first introduced around 1900 & then continuing to be used well into the 1940's.
Walsall Observer - Saturday 11 March 1939 Image © Reach PLC.
Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
From this 1939 advert I have come to the conclusion that bricks made at the Hilton Main brickworks were also stamped Holly Bank.
Hilton Main colliery in 1947 was Nationalisation with many more collieries around the UK & was then operated by the National Coal Board, so the two bricks below will have been made after 1947. A Durham Mining Museum reference last records Holly Bank Colliery as having men underground in 1940, with nil being recorded at the time of Nationalisation, so I am assuming Holly Bank Colliery & it's brickworks had closed by 1947. NCB's Hilton Main brickworks closed in 1967 & Hilton Main colliery closed in 1969.
W. Davis & Co.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1882.
W. Davis (blue) is listed in Kelly's 1860 edition at Essington & this entry is followed by W. Davis & Co. (blue), Essington in Kelly's 1868 to 1896 editions. Blue referring to maker of blue bricks, but this example looks more red to me, although it does looks blue on it's edges (faces). The location of Davis's works is shown coloured green on the 1882 map above.
I have added this Essington brick to this entry as I am unsure who made it. It appears to be the same stamp mark as used by Davis, but without his name on the top line, so possibly made after Davis had sold the works. There is the option that G.W. Lewis who took over this works around 1900 may have made it, but he is only listed in trade directories & an advert as only making blue bricks. As always if I get the answer, I will update the post.
As a footnote the brickworks which I have coloured yellow on the 1882 OS map above may have been owned by Ralph Hawthorn who is listed as a brickmaker in Essington in Kelly's 1868 to 1880 editions. So far no bricks stamped Hawthorn have turned up.
G.W. Lewis & Co.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1915.
George Warburton Lewis was the next owner of this Hobnock Road brick & tile works at Essington (coloured green on the 1915 map above & named as the Rosemary Brick & Tile Works), taking over from Davis around 1900. Lewis owned another works at Cheslyn Hay making roof tiles & this works is first listed in Kelly's 1876 edition at Rosemary Hill, Cheslyn Hay (shown on the 1915 map below coloured purple). In 1896 Lewis formed his business into a limited company & traded as G.W. Lewis Limited. Lewis owned a third works & I write about that works later.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1915.
The Rosemary Brick & Tile Works, Essington is first listed in Kelly's 1900 edition as G.W. Lewis Limited, (blue), Essington, Wolverhampton. This entry continues up to the 1912 edition & the reference to blue refers to the making of blue bricks of which there are two examples below which are stamped with his "Rosemary" trade mark name. With Lewis's Cheslyn Hay works being situated on Rosemary Hill one can only assume that is where he took the Rosemary name from to use as his trade mark on his products. The Essington works listing from 1921 does not include blue in the entry, so Lewis may have only made his blue bricks at Essington from 1900 to around 1920 as his primary activity was the production of his well known trade marked brand of machine & hand made "Rosemary" roof tiles at his three works. A BBS 2010 journal article states that the company also made rustic facing bricks.
Tile image courtesy of the Frank Lawson Collection.
The previous directory, Kelly's 1924 edition contains the first listing for Lewis' third works called Walk Mill Tileries, but with having the 1905 advert we know Lewis was operating it in 1905. The 1882 map also shows a clay pit & buildings at this location, but is not named, so there is the option that Lewis may have owned this Walk Mill Tileries works in 1882 ? I have used the 1900 OS map below to show the Walk Mill Works which was north of Cheslyn village next to the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
The next significant date is 1968 when G.W. Lewis Tileries & the Haunchwood Brick & Tile Co. merged forming Haunchwood - Lewis Brick & Tile Co., but this new company only had a short life as it went into voluntary liquidation in 1973. A BBS article records that all three of Haunchwood's works closed, but no reference is made to the three Lewis works closing at this date. Another search of the web revealed that the Lewis side of this former partnership continued in business as the National Archives holds documents relating to a register of directors/minutes for G.W. Lewis Tileries Ltd up to 1978 & there is the possibly that the company operated as the Rosemary Brick & Tile Company from 1973 as it was this titled company which was purchased by Redland in 1984 according to Redland's timeline page on the web. Today Redland still make the "Rosemary" brand of roofing tiles.
As a footnote I found this page containing photographs of Fred Dibnah demolishing chimney's at the Rosemary Works in 1987, so I expect this will have been the Rosemary Hill Works at Cheslyn Hay.
http://his.brclients.co.uk/shop/?query=cannock&x=36&y=15
Holly Bush Brick Works
Holly Bush Brick Co.
Two January 2023 finds have revealed that the brickworks called Holly Bush Brick Works near Wyrley may have been owned by the owner of Holly Bush Hall & Farm & were the makers of this brick. Location of this works can be seen coloured yellow on the 1900 OS map below. The 1882 OS map also shows the Holly Bush Works. So the first find was a 1882 "For Sale" notice of farm implements & the Works bricks etc & can be seen at this Ebay link. I then did a newspaper search & found the 1876 notice (below) for the sale of bricks at the Holly Bush Brick Works by W.H. Jones of Shareshill. I am assuming this Mr. Jones may have been the works manager & was running the works up to the 1882 Sale Notice. There are no trade directory entries for the Holly Bush Brick Works.
Shropshire Examiner - Friday 03 November 1876 Public domain.
It appears the works stood empty from 1882 until the Holly Bush Brick Co. took over in 1900.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
The yellow coloured brickworks was run as the Holly Bush Works around 1876 & from 1900 by the Holly Bush Brick Co.
The purple coloured works on the 1900 OS map above is also shown on the 1882 map, so a search of trade directories has revealed the following brickmakers who may have owned the purple brickworks. The 1900 map above also shows an old clay pit, so another pre-1900 brick yard in Cheslyn Hay as well.
These brickmakers are -
Frederick Gilpin, Cheslyn Hay listed in Kelly's 1868, 1872 & 1880 editions;
R. Gilbert, Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1868 & 1872 editions;
Birch & Morris, Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1876 edition;
Humphrey Wolloxall, Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1876 edition;
Alfred Whitehouse, Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1880 edition;
Crutchley & Hawkins, Longhouse, Cannock, & at Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1888 & 1892 editions;
These brickmakers are -
Frederick Gilpin, Cheslyn Hay listed in Kelly's 1868, 1872 & 1880 editions;
R. Gilbert, Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1868 & 1872 editions;
Birch & Morris, Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1876 edition;
Humphrey Wolloxall, Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1876 edition;
Alfred Whitehouse, Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1880 edition;
Crutchley & Hawkins, Longhouse, Cannock, & at Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1888 & 1892 editions;
Henry Hawkins, Longhouse, Cannock, & at Cheslyn Hay, Kelly's 1896 & 1900 editions.
Henry Hawkins
Kelly's 1896 & 1900 editions list Henry Hawkins at Longhouse, Cannock, & at Cheslyn Hay, Then only at Longhouse from the 1904 edition. Hawkins Longhouse brickworks is shown on the 1900 OS map below coloured green, as to the location of his Cheslyn Hay works, it may have been the purple coloured works on the 1900 OS map above (best option). The Hawkins family also owned Cannock Old Coppice Colliery also known as Hawkins Colliery up to Nationalisation in 1947 & I have included two bricks made by Hawkins below. See Cheslyn Hay map in Lewis entry for the location of Cannock Old Coppice Colliery. Today the site of Hawkins' Longhouse brickworks is occupied by industrial units.
With the name being stamped on face of the brick it will be a fairly modern example.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
It is unknown if this brick was made at a brickworks next to the colliery or if it was made at the Longhouse Brickworks (preferred option) situated on the other side of the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal.
With the name being stamped on face of the brick it will be a fairly modern example.
