Sheffield Brickworks - part 2

Woodside Brick Co.

The Woodside Brick Company was incorporated on the 17th of May 1898 & their brickworks on Chesterfield Road in Meersbrook, Sheffield was up & running by 1901. I have coloured this works yellow on the 1903 & 1935 OS maps below. The 1935 map shows how the works had expanded. White's 1901 to 1954 editions lists the Woodside Brick Co. Ltd. at Chesterfield Road, Woodseats, Sheffield. (Please note it was actual in Meersbrook). Kelly's 1957 edition lists Woodside as producing multi-coloured rustic & engineering bricks. The next & last directory that I have listing the Woodside Brick Co. is Kelly's 1968 edition & it lists the works were making facing bricks in all colours & engineering bricks.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1903.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1935.

As I have been unable to find much information on this works, I have included some info which Darren Haywood sent to the Penmorfa brick website with his brick. 
"The Woodside Brick Co. was one of the largest brick producing companies in Sheffield in the early 1900's, employing about fifty workers on their site. There were two kilns producing approximately 2,000 bricks per day, which may sound a lot, but when you consider that a builder would need about 30,000 to build just one house, it's obvious that the company must have been literally working overtime. The Company produced various types of brick, red for house building, their blue bricks were made from crushed brown shale & engineering bricks."

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

The vast majority of the Woodside bricks found are stamped Ironi, indicating the bricks strength & many are also stamped with a number which according to retired builder Tom Holmes who purchased Woodside bricks direct from the works was the number of the press-machine & production line they were made on. Tom also recalls there were seven of these press-machines & the majority of the workers who operated them were women. I have numbers 1 to 7 in the rectangular frog design plus other variations which are all shown below. Any photos which are not credited to in this post are by me.

The exact year when Woodside closed their works is unknown, but from trade directories we know they were still in production in 1968. According to a website this company is still active with directors, but I have not been able to find any more information about this. Today, Homebase & Dunelm stores occupy this former brickworks site.

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

Examples of Woodside's blue bricks. Tom Holmes tells me, with these blue bricks not coming up to the required standard, they were sold as common bricks for internal walls.

Wilson & Booth, Meadow Head.

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

Fellow collector Frank Lawson has established this brick was made by Wilson & Booth at their Meadow Head Brickworks on Chesterfield Road. This duo are not listed in any of the available trade directories, but from the crispness of this lettering I would date this brick to the 1880's/1890's. I have used the 1897 OS map below to show the location of this Chesterfield Road works (coloured green), which was just a mile south of the Woodside Brickworks. A 8th of March 1890 Sheffield Independent newspaper article reveals William Camm Wilson & Benjamin Beeley Booth, Builders, Contractors & Brick Manufacturers at the Meadow Head Brickworks & Quarry Owners at Norton Woodseats were in the Bankruptcy Court explaining their financial position. A London Gazette notice dated September 1890 outlines Wilson & Booth were about to declare their final dividend before being declared bankrupt.  

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1897.

I have found that the Darlow Brothers were next at this works & I write about them after I have wrote about John Camm. Today a Morrisons superstore occupies this former Meadow Head brickworks site. 

John Camm

John Camm was primarily a builder & I have found newspaper articles referring to him quoting in 1869 & then building a chapel in 1873. Then there’s one trade directory entry for him as a brickmaker & this entry reads, John Camm, Little Norton, Norton, Sheffield, White's Sheffield and Rotherham Directory 1879. So I suspect he was making bricks for his own use only. I am also assuming he was operating the Meadow Head Brickworks on Chesterfield Road, a short distance from where he lived in Little Norton as I do not have anyone else listed as being at this works in 1879. As wrote the next owner of the Meadow Head brickworks was a William Camm Wilson, also a builder, contractor & brickmaker. So with this William Wilson having Camm as a second christian name it was very common in those days for a son to have his mother’s maiden name as a middle name. Haven’t got Ancestry to check this out, but I think I will be correct. 

Darlow Brothers

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

The first trade directory entry that I have found for the Darlow Brothers is in White's 1857 edition & they are listed with the address of Creswick Street, Sheffield. The earliest map that I have online is 1888 & this street is shown fully built on with houses, so this address could be the brothers home address, however there are two open spaces nearby which indicate they may have been clay pits, so back in 1857 a brickworks may have existed on this street to supply the bricks needed to build the houses in this area.

The Darlow Brothers are next listed in Kelly's 1879 edition at Old Hall Road, Attercliffe. The 1889 OS map does not show a brickworks on Old Hall Road, but it does show that this area had not fully been built on, so I am assuming the Darlow's brickworks had been totally demolished by 1889.

From a list of brickmakers found on the web recording entries in Kelly's 1893 edition, it lists the Darlow Brothers as now operating a brickworks on Pinfold Lane, Attercliffe & this directory also lists the brothers names individually as Edward H. Darlow, John Darlow, Mathew Darlow & Thomas Darlow, all brickmaking at this Pinfold Lane works. The section of road which was called Pinfold Lane has now been renamed Staniforth Road. The 1891 OS map below shows this Pinfold Lane works as the Attercliffe Brickworks & by the 1903 OS map this brickworks had gone & only the clay pit is shown. 

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1891.

I mention at this point that the Attercliffe Brick Company which was formed around 1900 had no connection to the Darlow Brothers or to this Pinfold Lane works as their works was off Darnall Road & I write about this Attercliffe Brick Co. soon. 

I now return to the Darlow family & from my copy of the Trades Section of Kelly's 1893 directory it lists that two other Darlow Brothers, William & Joseph were operating the Meadow Head Brick & Tile Works on Chesterfield Road in 1893 & these two brothers are also recorded in this listing as " & at Attercliffe." So it appears there were six Darlow brothers brickmaking in Sheffield. A map of this Chesterfield Road works can be seen in the Wilson & Booth entry above. 

White's 1901 trade directory continues to list the Darlow Brothers (no first names given) as brickmaking at the Meadow Head Brickworks on Chesterfield Road. There are no more trade directory entries after 1901 for the Darlow Brothers at either the Pinfold Lane works as this works had closed & been demolished by 1903 & the Meadow Head Brickworks in White's 1905 edition had a new owner, with Frank Stanley Tinker named as the brickmaker. F.S. Tinker continues to be listed at this works in White's 1908 & 1911 editions. We then find the Meadow Head Brick & Stone Works Limited is listed at this Chesterfield Road works in White's 1919 edition to Kelly's 1935 edition. As previously wrote this former Chesterfield Road brickworks site is now occupied by a Morrisons supermarket. Up to yet no bricks have been found stamped F.S. Tinker or by the Meadow Head Brick & Stone Works Ltd.

Attercliffe Brick Co.

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

The Attercliffe Brick Co. Ltd. is listed in White's & Kelly's trade directories at Copster Road, Attercliffe in 1901, then at Darnall Road, Sheffield in 1905 & 1908 editions. It is unknown why Copster Road is given as the address as this road is two street's away from the works. It appears the works was accessed via Harding Street from Darnall Road.

The London Gazette records on the 24th of March 1914 that the Attercliffe Brick Co. was struck off the Joint Stock Companies list, therefore the company had been dissolved, so I expect the company may have closed not long after their last trade directory entry in 1908.   

 Photo by Simon Patterson.

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

Coupe

The first trade directory listing that I have found for Coupe is for Daniel Coupe & he is listed as operating a brickworks on Pinfold Lane, Attercliffe in White 1879 edition & this Pinfold Lane works can be seen on the 1891 map in the Darlow entry. I next found that the Coupe Brothers are listed in White's 1919 & Kelly's 1923 editions at 19 Carlisle Street East; works, Darnall Road. It is unknown if Daniel Coupe was one of these brothers. Kelly's 1935 to 1968 editions now gives the Coupe Brothers works address as Eleanor Street. I have coloured both Darnall Road & Eleanor Street yellow on the 1935 OS map below. The year the Coupe Brothers ceased making bricks is unknown. This brickworks up to 1908 had been operated by the Attercliffe Brick Co.

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

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

William Wright

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

William Wright is listed in White's 1905 edition with the address of 226, Staniforth Road, Attercliffe & this will have been his home address. White's 1908 edition now lists William Wright at the Kettle Bridge Brick Works which was situated on Ribston Road, Attercliffe. I have coloured this works purple on the 1903 OS map below & the works may have closed not long after 1908 as the 1921 map shows that houses had been built where the brickworks had once stood.

  © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1903.

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

Christopher Thornsby

Photo by Frank Lawson.

Christopher Thornsby is listed in White's 1879 edition with the address of Carlisle Street East, Sheffield. I have used the 1892 OS map below to show there may have been a brickworks (coloured red) in 1879 next to the pond (formerly the clay pit) on Carlisle Street East (green), alternatively the marked Brick & Stone Works (yellow) could be classed as Carlisle Street East, but I am favouring the red works with Thornsby only operating a small concern.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1892.

A search on the web has revealed that Christopher Thornsby aged Full (over the age of 21), a brickmaker & residing at Hill Foot married Ann Green on the 17th of August 1848. Christopher's father's name is given as Joseph Thornsby, a brickmaker, so it appears Christopher was working alongside his father at the time of his marriage. Joseph Thornsby is listed as a brick maker in White's 1845 edition with the address of Woodgrove, Hill Foot, Sheffield. 

I next found a claim by Christopher Thornsby & William Bratley after the Great Sheffield Flood for their losses & it included 5000 bricks which had been deemed unsaleable & had been made for a contract for Robert White. The Claim was granted on the 25th of May 1865 & £52 6s & 6d was paid. The location of the brickworks in this claim is given as High Street, Attercliffe & another search has revealed that High Street later became Attercliffe Road. So I have included the OS 1892 map below for the possible location of Thornsby & Bratley's High Street brick yard (yellow). If correct this location was certainly in the right place for this land to have been flooded in March 1864.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1892.

With the flooding of his property in 1864 it appears Thornsby relocated to Carlisle Street East by 1879 as per trade directory entry. 

Tinsley Park

Tinsley Park Colliery was opened by Earl Fitzwilliam in 1819 & at this date coal was dug from many bell pits. Also in 1819 the Greenland Arm of the Sheffield Canal was opened with the Earl being one of the main financiers of this extension. A tramway also connected the Earl's pits to the mainline railway network. By 1849 Benjamin Huntsman was the owner of Tinsley Park Colliery operating under the name of the Tinsley Coal Co. & in 1852 the first deep coal mine was sunk. The Tinsley Park Colliery Co. was registered in 1898, so the brick above will have been made by this company after 1898. The 1903 OS map below shows that the brickworks was situated on two sites within this complex of many pits. The shape of the frog is a very typical design which was used by many other colliery brickworks around the country right up to the 1960's.   

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1903.

The 1921 map below shows that the brick yard had relocated to the marked brick kiln which is shown on the 1903 map & with the colliery company mainly using the railway to transport their coal & bricks, more track had been laid on the site.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1921.

The brickworks is no longer shown on the 1935 map & the colliery closed in 1943.

William Cooke & Co. Tinsley

Established in 1866 William Cooke & Co. were primarily steel, iron & wire rope manufacturers in Tinsley, but with photographing this brick it appears that they delved into the brickmaking business. The company does not appear in any trade directories in the Brick & Tile Makers section, but with looking at the 1902 OS map below, I believe Cooke's owned the marked brickworks (coloured yellow) which was across the road from their steel works (coloured green). 

A new find in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 18th of July 1904 reveals with the Tinsley Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. going bankrupt the Liquidator, Mr. Thomas Hadfield was selling at Auction the whole of the brick-making machinery. It then appears it was at this point that William Cooke & Co. stepped in & purchased the brickworks with a view of operating the brickworks then building an extension to their steel works on this land. The 1921 map does show the Tinsley Steel Works now occupied the site of the former brickworks on Weedon Street, so this steel works may have been built by William Cooke & Co. ? I have therefore come to the conclusion that Cooke & Co. may have only produced bricks from around 1904 to 1914. I have put 1914 because most brickworks around the country closed for the duration of WW1, some never to re-open like this one. Just looked at todays map of Weedon Street & found that the steel works has gone & the land is being used for storing pipes with Ikea built on the site of the green coloured steel works.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1902.

George Carr

 Photo by Frank Lawson.

George Carr a building contractor, was originally from Rawmarsh before settling to live in Sheffield. The 1881 to 1911 census' record George & his wife Sarah were living at 75, Smilter Lane (now Herries Road) with the 1881 census recording George had named his house, Hawthorn Cottage. Today, this house is still standing, but together with additional extensions is now being used as a charted accountants office. So this begs the question, did George Carr build this house with his own bricks ?

White's 1879 & Kelly's 1893 editions record George Carr was brickmaking on Lovetot Road, Attercliffe. Then White's 1901 edition now lists his brickworks as being on Worthing Road. The last two entries in White's 1905 & 08 editions record George with his home address of 75, Smilter Lane. 

The 1903 OS map below shows George's works as the Worthing Road Brick Works, but I am taking it that when George first operated this yard Worthing Road did not exist & his brick yard was accessed from Lovetot Road as per 1879 trade directory entry. There also appears to be the remnants of an old clay pit on the other side of Worthing Road up to Lovetot Lane. 

This brickworks may have closed by 1914 (WW1) as it is not shown on the 1921 map & factories now occupy this site.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1903.

Timelines to some of the brickworks featured in this post with dates from trade directories.

Woodside Works, Chesterfield Road.
Woodside Brick Co. 1901 to at least 1968.

Meadow Head Works, Chesterfield Road.
John Camm 1879.

Wilson & Booth exact dates unknown, but I suspect they were at this yard in the 1880's to 1890 when they went bankrupt.
Darlow Brothers 1893.
F.S. Tinker 1908 to 1911.
Meadow Head Brick & Stone Works Ltd. 1911 to at least 1935.

Pinfold Lane / Staniforth Road Works.
Daniel Coupe 1879.
Darlow Brothers 1893.

Darnall Road / Copster Road / Eleanor Street Works.
Attercliffe Brick Co. 1905 to at least 1908.
Coupe Brothers 1919 to at least 1968.

I have recently updated my Sheffield Brickworks Part 1 post with new info & bricks, so if you have not visited this post recently, here is the link. Many Thanks for reading my Blog.
https://uknamedbricks.blogspot.com/2015/09/sheffield-brickworks-part-1.html

I wish to Thank -

Frank Lawson - for his many photos
Simon Patterson - photo

Penmorfa brick website - photo

National Library of Scotland & Ordinance Survey - maps

Kelly's & White's Directories
London Gazette