Rowley Regis, Cradley, Netherton, Halesowen & Old Hill Brickworks

In this post I cover the brickmakers who operated in Rowley Regis, Cradley, Netherton, Halesowen & Old Hill.

With already writing about Cakemore & Doulton from this area, I have added the links to these posts below.  

https://uknamedbricks.blogspot.com/2017/09/cakemore-brickworks-rowley-regis.html

https://uknamedbricks.blogspot.com/2016/08/doulton-co.html

Samuel Partridge

Partridge, Guest & Raybould

Partridge & Guest

Samuel Partridge is listed in White's 1851 edition as brickmaking in Old Hill, Rowley Regis. I next found Joseph Guest, a Master Brick Maker in the 1851 census, Marshall Fredrick Raybould, brickmaker & John Tranter, brickmaker joined Samuel at his Powke Lane brickworks sometime around 1854/55, trading as Samuel Partridge & Company. I have calculated the 1854/55 date from the length of time I know M.F. Raybould was brickmaking for. The London Gazette records John Tranter left the partnership on the 23rd of September 1856 & S. Partridge, J. Guest & M.F. Raybould would continue to operate the Powke Lane brickworks under the style of S. Partridge & Co. I have coloured the Powke Lane brickworks green on the 1881 OS map below. Although Partridge did not own Pearson's Colliery next door it appears he obtained his coal from this colliery with there being a tramway running from the colliery up to his kilns.  

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1881.

By April 1858 S. Partridge & Co. were now trading as Partridge, Guest & Raybould, with this new company name coming from an article in the Staffordshire Advertiser dated 10th of April 1858 which reported on the size of common bricks which were to be made to a standard size of 9 ins x 4 1/4 ins x 3 ins. This notice listed 42 brickmakers who all worked within a 12 mile radius of Birmingham & had agreed to this standard size. I am assuming this standard size of common brick was eventually taken up by all brick makers in the country.

Kelly's 1860 edition is the first directory listing of Partridge, Guest & Raybould (red & blue), Old Hill, Rowley Regis & this entry is repeated in Kelly's 1872 edition. 

The London Gazette records Samuel Partridge, Joseph Guest & Marshall Fredrick Raybould, brick & tile makers, Powke Lane, Old Hill had dissolved their partnership by mutual consent & the works would then continue under the style of Partridge & Guest. M.F. Raybould had left the partnership to concentrate on running his works in Harborne, Birmingham which he had taken over in 1872/3 from John Sadler. Kelly's 1876 edition is the first listing of Partridge & Guest at Old Hill. 

Photo by Colin Wooldridge.

In the 1871 census Joseph Guest, a Brick Master & a widow aged 61 & is recorded as living on Moor Lane, Rowley Regis as the Head of the family together with his daughter Sarah Smart & her husband Stephen Smart, a Stationary Engine Driver & their three children.

Joseph Guest died on the 6th February 1882 & son-in-law  Stephen Smart, a Colliery Engineer in the 1881 census then went into partnership with Samuel Partridge, trading as Partridge & Guest, Brick Manufacturers. Stephen Smart is recorded as a Brick Manufacturer in the 1891 census.

The London Gazette records on the 31st of January 1892 the partnership of Samuel Partridge & Stephen Smart was dissolved by mutual consent. All debts due to & by the said firm will be discharged & paid by the said Stephen Smart. This London Gazette article does not say the firm would carry on under the sole control of Stephen Smart, but with Kelly's 1896 entry still recording Partridge & Guest it appears Stephen Smart did continue to run the Powke Lane brickworks as Partridge & Guest. I then found Samuel Partridge died on the 23rd of December 1892. A search of the census has revealed non of Samuel's sons took up brick making, hence the company of Partridge & Guest being turned over to Stephen Smart in February 1892 & this is backed up with the 1901 census recording Stephen Smart as a Brick Manufacturer & Employer.  

Now on to Stephen Smart's sons who worked for him at the Powke Lane brickworks, some longer than others. At least two of his sons were at the brickworks in the 1880's. Frederick William Arthur Smart b.1870 in the 1891 & 1901 census is recorded as a Stationary Engine Driver at a brickworks. Edgar Smart b.1869 is recorded as a Brickworks Manager in the 1901 census. With finding these two brothers were to later run the company, I write more about them later. Eldest son Joseph Edward Smart b.1867 was a Brick Setter in the 1891 census, then Brickworks Foreman in 1901 census, but sadly died in 1908. Horace Smart b.1873 is recorded as a Stationary Engine Driver in the 1911 census, but had gone to work at a Flour Mill by the 1921 census. Freeth Smart b.1876 is recorded as a Stationary Engine Driver at a Brickyard in the 1901 census, then Assistant Manager at a Brickworks in the 1911 census, however by the 1921 census Freeth was a Winding Engineer at a colliery owned by the Earl of Dudley.

P & G stamp mark on a coping brick photographed by Elizabeth Thomson.

Stephen Smart died in September 1910 aged 71. Information from the 1911 census reveals it was Frederick Smart who took control of Partridge & Guest with him being recorded as a Brick Manufacturer. Brother Edgar in the 1911 census is only recorded as a Clerk at a brickworks when previously he had been recorded as a Brickworks Manager under his father, however we find things were to change later. Then it appears brother Freeth played a part in the running of the company with him being recorded as an Assistant Manager in the 1911 census. I then found by the 1921 census Freeth had left Partridge & Guest & had become a Winding Engineer at a colliery. In the 1921 census Edgar is now recorded as a Brick Manufacturer, Employer same as Frederick in the 1921 census, so Frederick & Edgar had gone into equal partnership in the running of Partridge & Guest, however this partnership did not last long as the London Gazette records the partnership of Frederick Smart & Edgar Smart trading as Partridge & Guest, Brick Manufacturers, Powke Lane, Old Hill had been dissolved by mutual consent on the 31st of May 1923 & the said company would then be solely run by Frederick Smart.  

The Birmingham Daily Post dated 8th October 1924 reports that a new company called Partridge & Guest Limited with a Capital of £10,000 in £1 shares had been formed to acquire the business of brick & tile manufacturers carried on by F.W.A. Smart at Powke Lane, Old Hill. It appears from this notice it was a company formed by Frederick Smart & brothers Alfred Hill Bassano & Charles Walter Bassano, however I am not sure what position Fredrick Smart held within the company with the 1939 Register only recording him as a Manager of a Brickworks aged 70. I did find from a 1934 newspaper profile article on Alfred Bassano which stated he was a Director of Partridge & Guest Limited. Another find in a 1938 newspaper article records Mr. S. Ganner, Works Manager was representing Partridge & Guest at a funeral. I then found Samuel Ganner left P & G in 1939 taking up a similar job at Barnett & Beddows. A May 1939 job advert by P & G requiring a youth in the office is the last newspaper reference found for the company.      

Charles Bassano had died in 1933 & Charles Bassano died in 1946, then on the 5th of March 1947 Fredrick Smart died, so I am assuming other people were involved in the running Partridge & Guest Ltd. A notice in the London Gazette reports Partridge & Guest Limited had been placed into Voluntary Liquidation by it's Members (no names given) & on the 2nd of May 1947 at a special meeting the Company's accounts were to be laid before it's Members, after which the Liquidator would wind-up the company.

As a footnote, the notice reporting on the Probate of Fredrick Smart's Estate records he left £1519 17s 1d to his son Harold Smart, a brick maker. So that poses the question was Harold working at the Powke Lane works. In the 1939 Register Harold was recorded as a Brickworks Engineer living on Shenstone Valley Road, Halesowen. If Harold was working at Powke Lane brickworks which was not to far from his home, I doubt very much if he was involved in the running of the company after his father's death. So who was running the company remains a mystery. 

More Brickworks will be added when time allows. 

Ketley Brick Company

First of all I wish to thank Richard Davenhill, Chairman of Hinton, Perry & Davenhill, owners of present day Ketley Brick & Dreadnought Tiles Company for the information received about his company which has filled in many blanks. Also Justin Hughes for information received about his family's ownership of the land the first Ketley brickworks was built on.  

So I start with Justin's information & his ancestor William Hughes who in the 1840's was a brickmaker in Kingswinford.  William's family had purchased several plots of land just outside Kingswinford from the Corbyns Hall Estate in 1799 & one plot of land was to become the location of the first Ketley brickworks around 1875. Justin tells me there are strong indications the Hughes family had named their Estate, Ketley with William Hughes living at Ketley House & having his brick yard next to the house (as recorded on the 1840 Tithe map of the Kingwindford area). I have coloured Ketley House & it's adjoining brick yard land red on the 1900 OS map below. 

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.

Photo by Ceri Owens.

The Sheffield Telegraph dated 5th of January 1875 records the Ketley Brick & Tile Co. had been registered with a capital of £4,000 in £5 shares. With it not stating Kingswinford I am assuming it was the Ketley works as shown on the 1900 OS map above which I have coloured yellow. Green Lane (green) was later re-named Ketley Road. There was another brickworks in Ketley, Shropshire, but as far as I can find this Shropshire works was only known as the Ketley brick works not company, therefore this Ketley Brick & Tile Co. must be the Kingswinford one.  

Info on who had established the Ketley Brick Co in 1875 is a bit of a mystery at the moment, however Kelly's 1880 edition records the Ketley Brick Co. at Kingswinford with William Wood as Manager. It was from a combination of two adverts dated 1882 & 1884, then a London Gazette notice dated 1890 for Ketley that I found the owners of the company. One of them Reuben Cull was living at Standish House in 1881 which he was renting & was just across the road from the works, so this consortium may have formed the Ketley Brick Co. in 1875. I have coloured Standish House purple on the map above. 

Building News - Friday 29 September 1882 

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The owners of the Ketley Brick Co. in 1882 were Thomas Hassall Adcock (d.1886), Anne Adcock (wife) both of Bedford, Willam Hassall & John Hassall of Woodville, Derbys, Reuben Cull of Barnet, London. Now T.H. Adcock & John Hassall were Trustees (from 1871) in the firm John Knowles & Co. fire brick manufacturers in Woodville with John Knowles dying in 1869. Reuben Cull was Knowles' London Sales Agent & after 20 years of service in December 1882 he retired from Knowles' to concentrate on the running of the Ketley Brick Co. The 1884 advert below records Reuben Cull as Managing & Resident Partner. 

Building News - Friday 18 January 1884 

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Photo by Nigel Furniss.

A H C was the Trade Mark of the Ketley Brick Co. & represents it's owners Adcock, Hassall & Cull.

Kelly's 1888 edition now records the company as the Ketley Blue Brick Co. Kingswinford which was still owned by the partnership of Adcock, Hassall, Hassall & Cull. I next found in the London Gazette that Reuben Cull left the Adcock, Hassall, Hassall partnership on the 31st of December 1889. 

It then appears Adcock, Hassall & Hassall then sold the Ketley Brick Co. & it's works to Charles Skelding, William Timmins Skelding, Mr. Jordan & Mr. Webster in early 1890. The Commercial Gazette dated 15th September 1890 reveals that on the 30th of June 1890 the Ketley Brick Company Limited had been formed & was to be run by this new consortium. Also incorporated into this new Limited company was the Skelding Brothers Nagersfield brickworks which would then trade under the Ketley name.

Kelly's 1892 edition records William Timmins Skelding as Manager of the Ketley Brick Co. Ltd. I have coloured the Nagersfield Brick Works red on the 1900 OS map below, which was situated on the road between Wordsley & Brierley Hill at Buckpool.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.

Kelly's 1908 edition now reads Ketley Brick Co. Ltd., Kingswinford, W.T. Skelding, Managing Director. So it appears William was now running the company. 

These next three bricks will have been made at Ketley's Nagersfield Works with B.B. Brand & BBB standing for Blue Brick Brand. 

Photo by Peter Prest, courtesy of Brocross Old Bricks website.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1914.

The 1914 OS map above shows that Ketley's Green Lane brickworks (yellow) was still there, but marked as disused. I am assuming that the clay reserves had been exhausted & with not being able to purchase or lease the land next to the works I then found W.T. Skelding had purchased the Bromley Lane brickworks (green) in November 1896 & had transferred all production to the Bromley Lane works by the time of this 1914 map. Searching trade directories has revealed that Richard North is listed as the owner the Bromley Lane brickworks in Kelly's 1868 to 1888 editions. Richard died in 1890 & Edward Parsons North briefly ran the works before selling it to J.T. Wood & Brothers, Iron Founders in September 1891. B. Wood of J.T. Wood & Brothers is listed in Kelly's 1892 edition at Bromley, Kingswinford. Another newspaper article records with J.T. Wood & Brothers being declared bankrupt the Bromley Brickworks was to be sold in November 1896 & this works new owners turned out to be the Ketley Brick Co. The first newspaper reference found to the Ketley Brick Co. owning the Bromley works is 1904. 

At a date unknown William's son William Edward (Ted) Skelding (b.1910) joined him at Ketley's, learning all the aspects of the business. William Timmins Skelding died in June 1934 & his son William Edward (Ted) Skelding took over the running of Ketley. Kelly's directories continue to list the Ketley Brick Co. with works at Bromley & Nagersfield up to it's 1940 edition. 

I then found by January 1941 Ketley had sold their Nagersfield brickworks to the Brierley Hill Brick Co. who were advertising in January 1941 newspapers that they could supply Staffs blue bricks, brown & blue brindles, red wire-cut & pressed bricks from their Nagersfield Brickworks. The 1943 Ministry of War Directory records the Brierley Hill Brick Co.'s works was closed & under the care of the Ministry. This usually meant armaments were being stored at the works. A 10th of May 1947 newspaper notice announces the Nagersfield Brickworks, Buckpool had been decommissioned by the Admiralty & was to be made ready to be sold by the Brierley Hill Brick Co. on the 19th of May. The works appears not to have been sold & was closed for good. 

I now return to the Ketley Brick Co. Ltd & they continued to produced red & Staffordshire blue bricks at their Bromley Lane works until their business, but not their brickworks was purchased in 1964 by local Pensnett firm, Hinton, Perry & Davenhill Ltd. roof tile manufacturers. I have coloured their tile works purple on the 1937 OS map below which was situated on Dreadnought Road (yellow). In this 1964 take over H, P & D (formed in 1902) purchased the Ketley name, the business & it's tax losses, but not it's Bromley brickworks site which was sold by it's owner W. E. Skelding (Ted) for the purpose of building houses. Several key employees transferred to H, P & D's Dreadnought tile works on Dreadnought Road, Pensnett & Ted Skelding took up the position of running the new company's sales department, a job he did until the mid 1980's. It was after this 1964 take over that H, P & D traded as Ketley Brick & Dreadnought Tiles. Up to Ted Skelding closing his Bromley Lane brickworks Ted was still operating coal fired down-draft kilns & although H, P & D still had some of these kilns they had built two 18 chamber gas fired kilns which Richard Davenhill tells me could easily handle the extra capacity of Ketley's brick production. 

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1937. 

As you can see from the 1937 map above the works now occupied the whole site & Richard Davenhill tells me H. P. & D. had purchased Ketley Clay Quarry in 1930. The 1948 map below shows it occupied the site of the original Ketley Brick Co's works on Green Lane which was now called Ketley Road. H. P. & D. extended Ketley Quarry north right up to Dudley Road & the quarry was fully exhausted of it's clay when it closed in 2019. With the expansion of the quarry right up to Dudley Road the remaining outbuildings of the once Ketley House (previously demolished) were also demolished. Clay is now brought in from other sources to the Dreadnought works.   

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1948.

As a footnote Richard Davenhill tells me that before the 1964 take over of Ketley, Hinton, Perry & Davenhill at their Dreadnought Works only produced small batches of bricks & they were not stamped with any name & with the company being primarily roof tile manufacturers their tiles are stamped Dreadnought a trade name which was registered in 1907. Richard continues, if the Dreadnought name is on a straight line they were made before 1950 & if the Dreadnought name is in a circle shape they are post 1950, examples below. 

More history on Ketley Brick can be read at this link. https://www.ketley-brick.co.uk/ketley_story.html