This post covers bricks, roof & floor tiles found so far stamped with the initials BCM & a name. For many years it was thought BCM on bricks stood for British Clay Manufacturers or British Ceramic Manufacturers, but no written proof has ever emerged proving either of these associations existed. The only clue we had of BCM on bricks & tiles was this 1931 Clayworkers list shown below.
With finding an article on the web about pottery being stamped with these BCM initials, with BCM standing for British Commercial Monomarks, a company established in 1925 to provide all parts of the UK with a London postal address & delivery service of it's mail, with companies using either their full name or a trade name. So in February 2022 I set myself the task of finding the answer to these bricks also stamped with the letters BCM & a manufacturers name.
I contacted Steve Birks who had wrote the BCM pottery article on the Potteries.org website asking him if knew if BCM also applied to bricks, but he replied saying he had only found evidence connecting BCM to pottery.
So with reading this British Commercial Monomarks Ltd. was still in operation today, now operating as British Monomarks, I contacted the company & Company Director, Jim Gifford replied saying he had recently been looking though old ledgers & he thought he had seen a list of brick companies who had also signed up to use BCM's postal system, but was unable to find this list again, but would get back to me if he did.
So while waiting for a reply, I decided to process some 30 or more brick company adverts which appeared in several editions of the Architects Compendium sent to me by Mike Chapman who had received them from Paul & Cynthia. This folder had sat on my desktop for several weeks & unknown to me there was a 1937 advert for the Coronet Brick Co. revealing this company was using BCM's postal service. So I had the proof connecting BCM to bricks. It was then the simple task of informing all concerned in "Brick World", Magic !!!!!
Please note all bricks & tiles featured in the post were manufactured after 1925.
Mark Cranston who I had asked at the start of my BCM search if he could search the Newspaper Archives for clues on BCM & bricks, then wrote this comprehensive article on the origins of the BCM company updating it with the Coronet advert I found which solved this conundrum. Mark then added BCM bricks found in Scotland to his post. Further searches on the web revealed companies which manufactured pewter wares had also signed up to use BCM's postal service, stamping their goods with BCM & a name. The most famous name being "Tudric", trade name of Liberty's of London.
So I start with this 1937 Coronet advert with the important information of "Registered British Commercial Monomarks", then two bricks manufactured by this company. A BCM Wains has still to be found.
The Architects Compendium 1937.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
Photo by Mike Chapman.
The Coronet Brick & Terra Cotta Co. had been established in 1895 in Measham, Leics. & in 1927 after several management changes this works was being operated by the newly formed Coronet Brick Co. Ltd. In 1930 Coronet took over two brickworks in Heather, Leics. owned by Henry J. Ford, the Heather works & the Wains works which Ford had purchased in 1922. As the 1937 advert shows Coronet were still operating each of it's works under their original names.
With informing Jim Gifford of my Coronet advert find he then sent me this page from an undated pamphlet which he had just found recording the Junction Brick Co. of Buckley, North Wales using their Jacobean trade name & several Scottish firebrick manufacturers had signed up to use BCM's monomark postal system. Thus providing us with more evidence of the use of BCM stamped on bricks.
Photo by Dave McNicholas courtesy of Old Bricks website.
This brickworks in Buckley, North Wales was established by John Jones & Henry Lamb in 1911. In 1919 Henry Phelp Jones acquired the works, naming his company the Buckley Junction Metallic Brick Co. Ltd. Jacobean & City were two trade mark names used by the company. The Buckley Junction Brick Co. was declared bankrupt & was voluntarily wound up on the 16th of April 1956. As far as we know this was the only Welsh brick company to use the BCM postal system.
A brickworks called Bradwell Wood Tileries, Stoke on Trent previously owned by Joseph Timmis & Sons was operated by Bentley Tileries Limited from the 1st of January 1927. In the 1960's the works consisted of around ten beehive kilns. In 1963/4 the works produced roof tiles, red floor tiles, garden tiles & air bricks. The works closed in 1966 & a London Gazette Notice records that on the 18th of February 1966 at a special Members meeting, the Company was voluntarily wound up & this notice was signed by Chairman, T. Bentley. By 1968 the site had been cleared of all buildings. Greg Julian found this mint example in a friends garden & is a smooth faced paver.
Photo by Greg Julian.
Etruscan was a trade name used by George Woolliscroft & he first appears in a 1865 trade directory as a beer seller and brick & tile manufacturer living at the Eagle and Child Inn in Chesterton, Stoke. By 1868 he was also listed as a builder and manufacturer of blue bricks, chimney tops, drain pipes, roofing ridge & pressed floor tiles in Chesterton. In 1878 he expanded his business interests by becoming a grocer and draper as well. Joined by his son in 1879 the business then became George Woolliscroft and Son. Kelly's 1880 edition records the firm was also operating Canal Tileries in Etruria. In 1904 the business is listed as George Woolliscroft & Son Limited, operating three works, Chesterton; Canal Tileries in Etruria & Melville Street, Hanley. The Melville Street premises continued in use producing tiles until quite recently and was demolished in 2009. With some info by David Kitching.
Photo by Ian Suddaby.
Ian Suddaby found this BCM Acme roof tile in Macmerry, East Lothian, so it had traveled a fair distance with it being made by G.H. Downing & Co. (1933) Ltd. of Audley Road, Chesterton who operated a brickworks & several tileries in Stoke. An article which appeared in the Scotsman newspaper dated 15th of March 1934 records G.H. Downing & Co. had a stand at the Scottish Building Exhibition in Waverley Market, Edinburgh to display their various types of Acme (trade name) tiles. I am assuming it was after this Exhibition that Downing's received an order to supply tiles to the Edinburgh area. Blue bricks made by Downing's are stamped with their trade name of "Iron" & if made, bricks stamped BCM Iron are still to turn up.
Photo by Ian Suddaby.
Image © Illustrated London News Group.
Found in December 2022 this advert comes from the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News dated Saturday 2nd of May 1931 & although it does not say that Acme was a tile company, I am sure I would have put two & two together with the 1931 BCM Clayworkers list that I have & got the answer to BCM on bricks & tiles much earlier.
Photo by Greg Julian, courtesy of Old Bricks website.
BCM Dimples & BCM TV were trade names used by the Trent Vale Brick & Tile Co., Trent Vale Tileries, Stoke who are listed in Kelly's 1921 to 1940 editions. A photo on Exploring the Potteries shows the works in 1964, but a Notice in the London Gazette dated 12th of March 1956 reveals at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the Trent Vale Brick & Tile Co. passed a special resolution that the Company would be voluntarily wound up & Percy John Snow of 17, Albion Street, Stoke was to be appointed Liquidator. This Notice was signed by Chairman, R.W. Beswick. Now the address of 17, Albion Street were this meeting took place & the address of P.J. Snow was the address of the Potteries Brick Co. Ltd, an Association which administrated & sold bricks on behalf of several brick companies in Stoke. So it appears from this web photo several buildings were still standing eight years after the works closed & this photo may have been taken just before they were demolished.
Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
Both BCM TV & BCM Dimples names are recorded in this advert which appeared in the 20th of October 1930 edition of the Staffordshire Sentinel newspaper.
This Magnesia BCM GX brick has a good tale to tell. First it was found in December 2022 by Ian Suddaby while searching through the cinders & furnace debris at Dalzell Steelworks in Motherwell & although it's a standard imperial sized brick, it weighs 6kg. Then Mark Cranston found two newspaper articles revealing who made it & where it was made. A 10th of March 1930 Sheffield Daily Telegraph advert advertises General Refractories Ltd. of Sheffield were selling many types of refractory products of which Magnesia bricks was one of them & the company was using the British Commercial Monomark postal address of GX = Genefrax which was used by General Refractories of Genefrax House, Wicker Arches, Sheffield up to 1933/4, after which it was changed to Genefax House. Now on to where these bricks were made & the answer was found in an article in the Sheffield Daily Independent newspaper dated 6th of September 1930. The article reveals that the Worksop Brick Co. which was associated with General Refractories Ltd of Sheffield had sent a whole tram of these specially manufactured magnesia bricks from the Worksop works to Tunis, where they were going to be used in the lining of Zinc Reduction Furnaces. Please note GR actual took over the Worksop Brick Co. in 1929, but may have continued to use the original name until 1932 when we do know the Sandy Lane Works was operating under the GR name. I have also found a May 1931 newspaper article which states GR exported more of these magnesia bricks to South Africa to be used in the erection of a Copper Smelting Plant, so these magnesia bricks may well have been made at Worksop. However I do have to note that GR had a brickworks in Sheffield making many types of refractory products as well being in association with another company in Ambergate, Derbys which operated under the name of Midland Refractories Ltd.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 10 March, 1930
The General Refractories advert found by Mark Cranston which enlightens us that GR was using BCM GX as a Trade Mark & a Monomark. Again wouldn't it have been nice to have had this advert at the beginning of my quest in solving BCM on bricks.
Photo by Steven Tait.
Found by Steven Tait in the River Tees in July 2023, this Coroma brick adds another BCM GX variation to the list of bricks made by General Refactories. It is unknown if this brick was made at Worksop, but with GR having two more works in Sheffield it is highly likely theses Coroma bricks were made in this area. The 1930 GR advert above lists the Coroma range of bricks, it also records the Trade Mark & monomark - BCM GX.
I have found two separate entries for the Hartshill Brick & Tile Co. which was just off Shelton New Road, Hartshill. The first listing in Kelly’s 1880 to 1916 editions is Hartshill B & T. Co. with J & T. Birks, proprietors, Hartshill, Stoke & the second is Hartshill Brick & Tile Co., Stoke Old Road, Stoke in Kelly’s 1932 to 1940 editions. This works is still shown on a map dated 1947.
Photo by David Kitching.
John Caddick & Son Ltd., Spoutfield Tileries, Brick Kiln Lane, Hartshill, Stoke is listed in Kelly's Staffordshire Directories from 1888 to 1940. Originally operating as Wheatley and Caddick at the Spoutfield Tileries, the partnership was dissolved on 25th March 1886 when Samuel William Wheatley retired. The business was then carried on by John Caddick on his own account. It was incorporated as private limited company 29th July 1909. John Caddick-Adams was the managing director of John Caddick & Son until its closure in the 1980's. Horseshoe was its trade mark. Info by Frank Lawson.
Photo by David Kitching.
Daniel Platt (later & Sons) owned two works, Harpfield Tileries in Newcastle, Stoke & from 1896 Brownhills Tileries in Tunstall, Stoke producing facing & paving bricks, quarries, tiles, ridges & finials. The London Gazette reveals Platt had left the partnership of James Malpass & Daniel Platt at Madeley Heath, Stafford in 1871 with Platt then going into partnership with George Hollins at Harpfield Tileries. Hollins then left this partnership in January 1874 leaving Platt as sole owner of Harpfield & Kelly's 1875 edition is the first listing of Daniel Platt, Harpfield Tileries, Newcastle, Stoke. We next find in Kelly's 1888 to 1896 editions the entry is Harpfield Tileries, Stoke Road, Newcastle with Daniel Platt as Managing Director. The other partners in Harpfield Tileries were George Hollins, William Boulton & Thomas Edge. Boulton & Edge left the partnership in December 1892 & Boulton left the partnership in June 1894 leaving Platt as sole owner of Harpfield Tileries. With the need to expand Platt in 1896 opened Brownhills Tileries, Tunstall, Newcastle on a site which had produced bricks & tiles since 1820. We next find the listing in Kelly's 1900 edition is now Daniel Platt & Sons & it was this company which produced these BCM bricks & tiles around 1931. The 1931 Clayworkers Directory also reveals Platt was using the letters OP as a Trade Mark on his pressed tiles & these letters can be seen on one of his tiles shown above. Also Jim Stevens has found a blue brick with just OP stamped in it, so it appears Platt was also using OP on his bricks. Daniel Platt died in August 1941 & the company continued as Platts Ltd. A photo on Staffordshire Fast Track shows Platt's Brownhill Tileries in 1964. A Staffordshire Sentinel newspaper article states that in early 1988 the Bardon Group of Leicester, quarries & building products, purchased Platts Ltd for 7 million pounds & relaunched Platts Ltd in December 1988. By the re-launch half a million pounds of production improvements had been pumped into Platt's Brownhills Tileries factory which was employing 144 people. I have found a reference stating the Brownhills Tileries works closed in 1996. Below is a Daniel Platt & Sons advert, circa 1931 which shows the company was using the Monomark of BCM / DPS. The original source of this advert is unknown.
J, F, & E Rowley Ltd. are listed in Kelly's 1924 & 28 editions at High Carr Tileries & Bradwell Hall Tileries, both on Talke Road, Chesterton, Stoke producing red & blue, roofing & flooring tiles. John, Fred & Ernest Rowley were the sons of brickmaker William Rowley who ran nearby Metallic Tileries in Chesterton with his sons John, William & Tom. So John had interests in both businesses. The next reference to J.F. & E. Rowley is the BCM Rowley entry in the 1931 Clayworkers list. John died aged 33 in 1934. Two Notices in the London Gazette reveal Director, F.L. Rowley of Rowley Tiles Ltd, Bradwell Hall Tileries held a Creditors Meeting on the 4th of March 1952, after which the Company was placed into the hands of Percy John Snow to be Liquidated. The Bradwell Hall works was then purchased by the Howle Brothers who ran it until 1965 & it appears the High Carr works continued to be run until 1956 under the Rowley family.
Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
The Metallic Tile Co. Chesterton, Stoke was established around 1892 by William Rowley & William was joined at the works by his three of his brickmaking sons, John (Works Manager), William & Tom. By 1904 William & Tom were operating the works as the Rowley Brothers. Tom died in 1929 aged 62 & the works was next managed by William & Tom's sons, John & Bill until the works closed in 1977. In 1941 G.H. Downing Co. Ltd. had taken over the running of Metallic Tileries Co., still running it under that name.
Although plenty of bricks stamped with the company's trade name of Metal have been found, no BCM Metal roofing tiles have turned up yet as per the Staffordshire Sentinel advert dated 20th of October 1930 above or 1931 Clayworkers list at the beginning of this post. So one to look out for.
This brick & tile works at Haying, Silverdale was owned by William Brough between 1860 until the Silverdale Tileries Co. took it over in 1896. The Silverdale Tileries Co. is first listed in Kelly's 1896 edition at Silverdale, Newcastle, Stoke with George Walker as Manager. Kelly's 1900 to 1916 editions now records Ralph Cornes was Works Manager. In 1919 brother-in-laws Thomas Edward Walley & Frederick John Alsop after selling their Knutton Tileries to Shelton Iron, Steel & Coal Co. Ltd. purchased Silverdale Tileries which had stood empty during the War. Continuing to operate this works as the Silverdale Tileries Company by Walley & Alsop this works is listed in Kelly's 1924 to 1940 editions. In 1921 Walley & Alsop purchased Rosemary Hill Tileries from the Trustees of John Nash Peake, a works which had stood idle since the start of the Great War. However there was another change in 1926 when a Notice in the London Gazette records that the Silverdale Tileries Co., operating two works & owned by Thomas Edward Walley & Frederick John Alsop were dissolving their partnership on the 30th of November 1926. Under this agreement Thomas Walley took over the sole running of the Rosemary Hill Tileries works, operating it as T.E. Walley & Frederick John Alsop took over the sole running of the Silverdale Tileries works, continuing to operate it as the Silverdale Tileries Co. Alsop who lived at Parkfield House continued to run his works until his retirement in 1932. Roof tiles; ridges; facing & paver bricks; & channel bricks were made at this time by the company. In 1933 the works was being operated by the United Tiles Manufacturing Company of Chesterton & from the trade directory entries & newspaper adverts the works was still being run under the Silverdale Tileries Co. name. Claud Hodgkinson was works manager & by 1950 the works had 11 beehive kilns. In 1956 the Baggeridge Brick Co. took over the works running it until it's closure in 1960.
Photo by Ian Suddaby.
Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
Located at the very bottom of this advert which appeared in the Staffordshire Sentiel dated 6th October 1928 is - British Monomark; BCM/Silverdale. Again wouldn't it have been nice for this advert to have turned up much earlier.
Photo by Ian Suddaby.
Photo by Ian Suddaby.
Photo by Ian Suddaby.
Triton was a trade name owned & used by Wheatly & Co., Springfield Tileries, Newcastle, Stoke. This works had been established by the Wheatley family in 1819. Kelly's 1872 to 1884 editions record the Springfield works was being operated as Wheatly & Cooper. A Notice in the London Gazette records William Cooper was retiring from the business & it would then be carried on by Samuel William Wheatly & Francis Singleton Sheldon, operating as Wheatly & Co. dated 2nd of January 1888. Kelly's 1896 to 1940 editions then list this new company, Wheatly & Co. at Springfield Tileries. Another London Gazette Notice records Wheatly & Co. partners, Wheatly, Sheldon & Tomlinson were dissolving their partnership by mutual consent on the 30th of September 1911 & the company would then be run by Samuel Wheatley & John Arthur Tomlinson as Wheatley & Co. dated 2nd of October 1911. This works was taken over by Daniel Platt Ltd. in 1978. More information about the company can be read at this Link & a 1930 pamphlet produced by the company showing the BCM Triton trade name can be see at this Link. Both by Steve Birks on thepotteries,org website.
In 1921 Walley & Alsop owners of the Silverdale Tileries Co. purchased the brick and tile works formerly run by John Nash Peake in Cemetery Road, Silverdale which was known as Rosemary Hill Tileries. With the partnership of Walley & Alsop being dissolved by mutual consent on the 30th of November 1926 Thomas Edward Walley then took sole control of Rosemary Hill Tileries operating it under his own name & Alsop took over the sole running of Silverdale Tileries. Kelly's 1936 edition records the Rosemary Hill works was now operating as T.E. Walley Ltd. with Thomas's sons E.L. Walley & F.D. Walley assisting him in the running of the company. Thomas died in 1952 with his company continuing under the ownership of his sons. G.H. Downing & Co. Ltd. then bought the business in 1975, but this only lasted until 1981 when the works was sold to Steetley and then closed, with production being transferred to Streetley's Knutton works. Thanks to David Kitching some of this info.
Taking over the brickworks previously owned by Thomas Plowman, the Woolpit Brick Co. Ltd. operated between 1883 & 1937. Kelly's 1888 edition records the Woolpit Brick Co. Ltd. with Robert Scattergood as manager at Woolpit, Suffolk. There were four brickyards in Woolpit & the Woolpit Brick Co. operated the works called Kiln Farm Brick Kilns. In Kelly's 1925 edition & possibly when Woolpit Brick Co. had signed up to use the BCM postal system E.R. Atkinson was the manager of the works. From 1937 to when it closed in 1948 this works was operated by Suffolk Brickworks (Woolpit) Ltd.
More Companies will be added as & when new BCM brick & tile names turn up.
With Mark Cranston recording Scottish BCM bricks found so far, I have decided rather than duplicate these Scottish brick images in this post I would just add a link to his site containing these bricks for you to see.
As a Footnote I have come to the conclusion that the use of BCM on bricks & tiles may have fizzled out by 1935 because companies which had included their BCM name in their newspaper adverts were no longer doing so.
Many Thanks to all those mentioned in this Post in helping me bring this information to the Web.
