Parish
Photo by William Whitehead, courtesy of the Old Bricks website.
Henry Parish b.1823 a Coal Master is listed as owning a brickworks on Church Lane, West Bromwich in Kelly’s 1868, 72 & 76 editions & this brickworks & his Hall End Colliery were situated on land behind the Nags Head Inn which Henry was also the owner/publican at. It appears from a newspaper article that with the sale of Samuel Chavasse's Church Lane colliery taking place at Henry Parish’s Nags Head Inn in May 1866 it resulted in Henry purchasing the colliery. The 1871 & 1881 census records Henry Parish as a Coal Master & victualler at the Nags Head Inn, West Bromwich, employing 70 men & 10 boys. The 1871 census records Henry's two sons Joseph b.1848 & George Henry b.1852 living with Henry, but with no occupation. We then find sons Joseph & George Parish went into partnership with Joseph running the colliery & George the brickworks & George is listed as brickmaker in Kelly’s 1876 & 1880 editions at Church Lane. The brothers were also dealers in lime.
The 1881 census for George Henry records him as a brickmaker & living in Great Barr & the 1891 census also records him as a brickmaker, but now living in West Bromwich. However the 1885 OS map below shows the Church Lane brickworks had gone with only the old kiln still standing & this ties in with George's last trade directory of 1880, so I can only assume George was brickmaking for someone else in Great Barr & West Bromwich after the Church Lane works had closed, which appears to be shortly after 1880. Also note on this map is that both the brickworks & the colliery were situated behind the Nags Head Inn on Church Lane. In the 1901 census George Henry aged 50 was living in North Bromsgrove & a Manager of a Brickworks. The 1911 census records George Henry aged 60 as a Commission Agent (Brick Trade) living in Rubery, Birmingham. Following Joseph in the census reveals he later worked at an Iron foundry.
Photo by William Whitehead, courtesy of the Old Bricks website.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1885.
Freakley Bros.
Photo by Arnold William, courtesy of the "Old Bricks" website.
With what information that I have found on the Freakley Brothers it has created more questions than answers, so I start with the London Gazette Notice dated 9th of September 1881 & this Notice records that John Freakley of Capponfield, Bilston & Joseph Freakley of Mill Street, Ryecroft, Walsall had instituted proceedings of putting their company into Liquidation & the first meeting with the company's creditors would take place on the 30th of September. The brothers company is given as Freakley Brothers, Lyndon Brick Works, West Bromwich, Brick Manufacturers, & as stone dealers at Coseley Moor, Tipton. It appears from a newspaper notice index dated 30th of September 1881 that the brothers company was wound up.
As to the location of this Lyndon Brickworks, I can only suggest it was in the area which I have coloured green next to Lyndon House ? Another option is that the Lyndon Brick Works had been renamed the Shrubbery Brick Works (owners unknown) by the time of this 1885 map.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1885.
Now with this notice saying the brothers were stone dealers at Coseley Moor I have found a brickworks next to Coseley Moor Furnaces, situated between Tipton & Swan Village, but this maybe coincidental. However on Bob's Brownhills website there's a bit of information on which railway bridges the blue bricks made by the Freakley Brothers of Tipton where used, so did the brothers own this brickworks that I have found at Coseley Moor as well or is this article just recording the fact that the brothers operated from Tipton with them being stone dealers there ? As said this entry has created more questions than answers, so if you can help, please email me. Thanks.
John Haines
John Haines of Denbigh Hall, Tipton, a Coalmaster, Coal Factor & Brick Maker died in July 1862. A year later in June 1863 his two brickworks, Roway Colliery & New Town Sand Mine all in West Bromwich were advertised to be Sold at Auction. These two brickworks were the Pump House Brickworks, Great Bridge in the Parish of West Bromwich & the brickworks associated with Roway Colliery, West Bromwich.
Photo by Peter Earley.
I am taking it Haines stamped Tipton on his bricks because of his home address. The 1886 OS map below shows the Pumphouse Brickworks (yellow) was only a stones throw from his Denbigh Hall home (green). Please note Haines' 1850's brickworks would not have been as large as the one shown on the map below.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1886.
John Haines is listed at the Roway Brick Yard in Slater’s 1851 edition, however there are no trade directory listings for Haines at the Pump House Brickworks. I have found the location of Roway Colliery on Roway Lane from mining records, but there is no mention of a brickworks only two cottages next to the colliery, however from old maps I have found Roway House, Roway Iron Works & the Roway Inn all on Oldbury Lane (now Oldbury Road), so could there have been another pit & the brickworks belonging to Roway Colliery on Oldbury Lane ? As always if I find concrete evidence, I will update the post. A 1858 newspaper article lists John Haines, Richard Haines, Job Haines & Henry Haines, all as Coalmasters at Roway Colliery, so I am assuming they were of the same family. Haines & Sons, & Richard Haines are also recorded as colliery owners of several other collieries in the West Bromwich - Tipton area. The Pump House Brickworks was later run by Peter & Samuel Wood in the 1880's & I have been unable to find who ran the brickworks between 1863 & the early 1880's.
J & T Davis
James & Thomas Davis established their Parkfield Brickworks, Greets Green, West Bromwich in 1865 with the brothers being first listed in Jones's 1865 edition & I have coloured their works green on the 1886 OS map below. For some unknown reason the map records the works as Pakefield, but all references to the works I have found call it the Parkfield Works.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1886.
Aris's Birmingham Gazette dated 16th of March 1867 reports the brothers had Dismissed Samuel Tittley from their Employ in August 1866 & he had no authority to receive Money or Orders on their Account. Whether it's the same man, there was a Samuel Tittley brickmaking in Oldbury in 1873 & if so, it appears the Davis Brothers were making sure Tittley was not representing the Brothers in anyway or requesting money on their behalf. The Brothers continue to be listed in Kelly's 1868 & 1872 editions at their Greet Green Road Works.
An advert in the Birmingham Daily Post dated 28th March 1874 advertises the brothers had 10,000 second hand bricks & slate off a very large shed For Sale. so it appears the brothers were trying to make a bob or two.
With Kelly's 1876 edition now recording John & Thomas Davis at the Works, I have found from a later article that James's son John took over his share of the company & continued to run the works with his Uncle Thomas for several years, however the article goes on to say John bought his Uncle Thomas out & this appears to be by 1880 when Kelly's 1880 edition only lists John Davis at the Works. John then goes into Partnership with Thomas Davison forming J. Davis & Co. & this company is listed in Kelly's 1884 edition. However this newly formed company filed for Bankruptcy in December 1885. John Davis of the Laurels, West Orton, Warks & Thomas Davison, Vernon Street, Greets Green told the judge at their bankruptcy trial that they had gone into debt with not being paid by someone who owed them money because he had also gone bankrupt. So it was a knock on effect. Both men were dismissed from their liabilities. With not finding a For Sale Notice for the Parkfield Brickworks or it being shown on 1900 map, I am assuming the Courts ordered the sale of the machinery & plant & the works was dismantled.
Lyttleton
The first reference found to the Lyttleton Brick Co. is a November 1930 job advert for Brick Setters for a top-fired continuous kiln, must be thoroughly experienced. Apply Lyttleton Brick Co. Albert Street, West Browmwich. The brickworks had been built on the site of the former Lyttleton Colliery which had certainly closed & the site cleared by the time of the 1900 OS map. I have used the 1938 OS map below to show the location of the works coloured yellow & Albert Street red.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1938.
A 1931 newspaper article reports bricks made by the Lyttleton Brick Co. were used to build Birmingham's Ice Rink.
My next find regarding the Lyttleton Brick Co. is a 6th of March 1934 Yorkshire Post newspaper article in which the newly formed Allied Brick & Tile Co. stated in their Share Prospectus that they had purchased nine brick companies & this included the Lyttleon Brick Co. which they had purchased off Alfred Edwin Thomas Hassall of 8, Beeches Road, West Bromwich for £31, 400. So I am assuming it was Alfred Hassall who had established the Lyttleton Brick Co. by November 1930.
A 1939 job advert by the Allied Brick Co. Albert Street, West Bromwich records the company were requiring a Brickyard Labourer, must be used to digging; Also two strong youths, aged 18-19.
The 1943 Ministry of War Directory records Allied's Albert Street Works was closed & in the care of the Ministry. That's to say the works was being used to store armaments. This is the last reference to the Albert Street Works, so I am assuming Allied did not reopen the works after WW2.
More Brickworks will be added, as time allows, so please call back.
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