Henry Boys, Brickmaker, Walsall

A request in finding two bricks made by Henry Boys of Walsall by Pat Little, a direct descendant of Henry's, has led me to research & write this post detailing the history of Henry Boys's Company. 

Pat has supplied me with information, photos & an article from his Obituary which appeared in the Walsall Observer in 1894. 

After directing Pat to where to find examples of Henry's bricks at Cawarden Reclamation Yard in Rugeley, she came home very happy with many examples of Henry's work.

Many Thanks Pat for helping me to bring Henry's story to the web.

Photo by M.F.

Photo courtesy of Pat Little.

Henry Boys.

Information in these next six paragraphs was taken from Henry's Obituary, which appeared in the Walsall Observer in 1894 & supplied by Pat.

Henry was born in 1832 on Wolverhampton Street in Walsall. He left school at the age of 14 & went to work for his brother John, who carried out contracts for South Stafford Railways.
At the young age of 17, Henry decided to start his own brick making business on Queen Street & he was very successful in first few years, until the day he was served with 29 writs against him, all in one day, for damages to the adjacent property & persons. These claims brought an end to his company & Henry was not to venture back into business for another three years. 

Not to let his life & business shrewdness slip, he took up the post of being in charge of Moat Gardens, in which he laid out as a pleasure grounds. After this new success Henry reopened his Queen Street Brickworks & then went on to sink Waterloo Colliery, which was in production by 1868. The Waterloo Colliery also had a brickworks & was situated east of Pleck Road near to the Gas Works & many iron & tube works which lined both sides of the Walsall Canal. Pat has told me that Henry's brother John, owned narrow-boats in which he transported Henry's bricks via the canal.

As his new business thrived, Henry expanded his company by opening Wyrley Colliery, Moat Colliery & two more brick yards, Paddock Brickworks on Dark Lane (now Lincoln Road) & a yard at Huddlesford near Lichfield. Henry went on to produce some 27 million bricks for the building of Whittington Barracks.

Being personally in charge of all these businesses, Henry's health started to suffer, so in 1887 he decided to hand over the reigns of his companies to his nephew, Thomas Boys, son of his brother John.

Henry had been an immensely private man & as a prosperous business man he had never taken up any public positions in the town, same as fellow local business men. Instead Henry distributed his wealth by donating £1000 towards the cost of building a new hospital in Bradford Street. He then donated bricks to the value of £109 towards the building of the Science & Art Institute in Bradford Place. By Deed in 1887, Henry settled in trust twelve almshouses on Wednesbury Road with an endowment of £4000. These almshouses were designed by F.E.F. Bailey of Walsall & were built with bricks from Henry's own yard. 

Henry died on 16th March 1894 & is buried in Queen Street Cemetery, a short distance from his home & one of his brickworks. His plot is marked by an imposing monument. In Henry's Will he left in the Henry Boys Charity, provisions to annually supply Whitney blankets to poor widows over the age of 50 at a cost of £1,250. Also the same amount to supply boots to poor, infirm & unemployable men & then £1000 for shoes for orphaned boys & girls between the ages of 6 & 12. He also left a further endowment of £4000 towards the almshouses. In total the sum left by Henry in his Will was £48,000.
 

Photo by M.F.

Three examples of Henry's ornamental bricks.

Photo by Pat Little.

Photo by Pat Little.

Henry first produced bricks around 1850 at his Queen Street Brickworks, but as previously wrote, this first venture only lasted a few years. When Henry returned to brickmaking, I have the following Kelly’s Trade Directories entries for him.  

H. Boys, Waterloo Colliery, Walsall, 1868 edition.  

Henry Boys, Waterloo Colliery, Queen Street Brickworks, & Paddock Quarry Works, Walsall, 1872 edition.

Henry Boys, Queen Street Brickworks ; offices & residence Queen St. Walsall, 1876 edition. 

Henry Boys (patent & ornamental), Queen St. Brickworks, & Paddock Ornamental Brick, Tile & Quarry Works, Dark Lane ; offices & residence, Queen St. Walsall, 1880 & 84 editions.

Henry Boys Lim. James Bridge Colliery & Brickworks, Paddock Ornamental Brick, Tile & Quarry Works, Dark Lane ; offices - W.W. Evans manager, Queen St. Walsall, 1892 edition.

Henry Boys Ltd, Samuel Aston, manager, brickworks - Dark Lane ; offices - Queen St. Walsall, 1896 edition. 

Henry Boys Ltd. William Walter Evans manager, brickworks - Dark Lane ; offices - Wolverhampton St. Walsall, 1900, 04 & 08 editions.

Timelines as follows :-

Waterloo brickworks - 1868 to 1872/3.

Queen Street - 1850 to around 1860, then around 1865 to 1884/5.

Paddock brickworks 1872 to 1908/9.

James Bridge brickworks 1892 to around 1897.

 Photo by M.F.

Photo by M.F.

Locations of Henry's works.
Information from the British History Online website states that Waterloo Colliery & it's Brickworks which was established in 1868 & was on land adjacent to the Walsall Canal & in the same area as the Gas Works & several iron works. So with this colliery & brickworks not being shown on the 1885 OS map below, I have coloured this area red where I am assuming both were situated. Also note there was a iron works called Waterloo next to the canal in this red area.   

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1885.

Henry is recorded in the 1881 edition of Walsall's Red Book as residing & having his offices at 176, Queen Street as well as his brickworks. The site of his Queen Street Brickworks is today occupied by many small industrial units & building merchants yards & this road also runs adjacent to the Canal which Henry may have used to transport his bricks. I coloured Henry's Queen Street, brickworks yellow on the 1885 OS map above.  

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1882.

The Paddock Ornamental Brick, Tile & Quarry Works (coloured yellow on the 1882 OS map above) was on land situated north of Dark Lane (now renamed Lincoln Road) & extended towards Hoar Brook, which runs through Walsall Arboretum. Today this area is now occupied by Prince's Avenue, Beacon Street, Crabtree Road, Walhouse Road & Broadway North, Walsall's ring road. 

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

Coloured yellow on the 1901 OS map above the James Bridge Colliery & Brickworks was situated just off Darlaston Road, on land which was leased from the Earl of Bradford on a 21 year lease at £75 p.a. on 29th December 1890, but this lease was terminated on the 26th September 1901 & replaced with a new lease the next day at £175 p.a. I have found another reference stating that brick making had ceased by 1897 at this works, with the colliery closing in late 1901. Again the Walsall Canal also runs close to this site, so the company may have still used the canal to transport it's bricks ? The Darlaston Brick Co then took over this brickworks & today this former brickworks site is occupied by large industrial units.

According to the Walsall Observer article, Henry owned another brickworks at Huddlesford near Lichfield, but this is not listed in Kelly's Trade Directories with Henry's other brickworks. I then found in an article about the Huddlesford brickworks, stating that it was not listed as being owned by Henry Boys, but by William Thomas, a master brickmaker who did make bricks there for the Whittington Barracks up to 1880 when he retired. So it may have been an agreement between Henry & William for William to make some of the 27 million bricks required for the Whittington contract. After 1880 this brickworks was taken over by Harry Hodgkins & then by his wife Mary, until it closed in mid 1890's.

Ray Martin has sent me these photos of the almshouses on Wednesbury Road, which Henry Boys had built with his own bricks in 1886, leaving an endowment of £4,000 pounds in his Will for there upkeep.   

Broadway Station, Worcestershire

While I was researching brick companies in the West Midlands, I found on a railway blog site for Broadway Station, many pictures of piles of bricks & bricks being laid in the rebuilding of the station & signal box by the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Steam Railway Society. Seeing that you could read the names on some of these old bricks, I duly contacted the Society asking if they could photograph any of their named bricks which they had. So many thanks to Bill Britton, chairman & to Jo Roesen for taking & sending me the photos in this post.

All photos by Jo Roesen.

I first start with this GWR brick - Great Western Railway. The Trust also uses the initials of GWR standing for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway in it's logo & the Honeybourne Line which they are restoring was originally part of the Great Western Railway.

Finding information on the web where GWR made their bricks has been very sketchy, but from several sources I have established that the company had it's own brickworks located within it's rail works at Swindon & it was located on Kiln Lane. Also found that the brickworks used the local Kimmeridge clay which is found in abundance around Swindon, producing their distinct red coloured bricks. The brickworks is also recorded on an Ordnance Survey map dated 1900 & then there is a Britain From Above photograph dated 1946 showing the rail works complex with the brickworks on Kiln Lane marked in the distance on the photo, which can be seen at this link.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw003329

Winchcombe Brick & Tile Co. Jo tells me that this fancy shaped brick came from the original Broadway Station building & formed a ropework design around a window.
This brickworks & pottery at Greet near Winchcombe was first started by William Beckett & he is recorded as brickmaker aged 45 in the 1841 Census. William was then followed by his son Richard until 1913 & then by Richard's widowed mother until 1914, when the Winchcombe Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. purchased the works. The company was still in production in 1939 & is listed in Kelly's Trade Directory, with the closure of the works being not long after that. 
The run down pottery had been sold in 1926 to Michael Cardew. a young potter who had been an apprentice to Bernard Leach. Joining the company in 1936 Ray Finch was then to go on to purchase the pottery from Cardew in 1946. The pottery is still their today operating as Winchcombe Pottery. As a footnote, Cardew went on to run the famous teapot pottery at Bovey Tracey, Devon.

The Redbank Brick Company is recorded in Kelly’s 1895 edition and was on Atherstone Road, Measham along with two other brickworks - Measham Terra Cotta  & Coronet. The company may have taken its name from nearby Red Bank Farm. In 1955 the company produced bricks and pipes & 1983 saw the company expand to produce tiles, chimney pots and terracotta. Now owned by Hanson the original  works closed in 2009 to be replaced by a ultra modern automated brickworks on adjoining land which can produce 100 million bricks per year with just 28 staff.

Link to 1933 ariel photo, with Redbank in the foreground & the Coronet works on other side of railway line. 

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw041747?search=redbank brick works&ref=1

The origins of the Whitemoor Brickworks in Kenilworth started in 1872 when a lease was taken out by Walter Lockhart to make bricks on land owned by the Hawkes family. Walter made the first bricks to carry the town's name. The works was briefly owned by the Leamington & Lillington Brickyard Co. before it was purchased in 1891 by Henry Hawkes. Henry operated it under his own name until 1930, after which it continued until it's closure in 1957 under
ownership which is unknown.

The Milton Hall Brick Co. on Star Lane, Great Wakering near Southend was formed in 1932 & was in production until 1984 when the works was taken over by the London Brick Co. LBC continued to produce bricks at this works until 2005. 

Mobberley & Perry Fire Brick Manufacturers of Stourbridge was formed by brother-in-laws John Mobberley & Henry Perry with this partnership operating the Hurst Fire Brick Works at Woodside, Holly Hall, Stourbridge. John Mobberley had married Henry Perry's sister Maria in 1856. The first reference found for Mobberley & Perry is a newspaper advert dated 15th November 1873 - Wanted a quality old flat chain or roping, state lowest price - Address, Mobberley & Perry, Hurst Fireclay & Brick Works, Stourbridge. There's another fire-brick family connection with Henry Perry marrying George Pearson's daughter, Phoebe in 1869 (Harris & Pearson). The Hurst Works was also known as the Woodside Works as per newspaper articles. Red & blue bricks were also manufactured at this works. 

The 1871 census records John Mobberley aged 45 as a Brickyard Manager living in Lye. Then a February 1873 newspaper article reveals he was running Perrin & Harrison's Brettell Lane fire-brick works at Brierley Hill, however we know by November 1873 John was in the partnership of Mobberley & Perry. Meanwhile Henry Perry in the 1871 census is recorded as a Nail Manufacturer in his father's business. 

Kelly's 1880 edition records Mobberley & Perry were now operating the Himley fire-clay & brick works situated on Oak Lane, Kingswinford as well. The 1881 census records John Mobberley aged 55 as a Fire Brick Manufacturer living on Hagley Street, Stourbridge, then Henry Perry is a recorded as a Fire Brick Manufacturer aged 43 also living on Hagley Street, Stourbridge & employing 40 men, 50 Women & 20 Apprentice Boys. 

The County Express in it's 13th of December 1890 edition reports Mobberley & Perry had taken over J.B. Fisher & Co's Hayes Brickworks at Lye & this consisted of two works. The Hayes Lane works produced fireclay bricks & the Stourbridge Road works, situated nearly opposite produced red & blue bricks. 

John Mobberley died in October 1907 only leaving five daughters. So it appears the running of Mobberley & Perry was now in the sole hands of Henry Perry. John did have a brother, Richard who in the 1871 census is recorded as a Brickyard Manger, but Richard died in 1875. I have also found several other Mobberley's who were related to John & were fire brick makers/manufacturers, but from my findings there were not involved in the running of Mobberley & Perry & were running their own companies or working for other fire brick manufacturers.

Henry Perry died in May 1911 with his two sons George Harry Pearson Perry & James Edgar Perry taking over the running of Mobberley & Perry. Both sons are listed in the 1901 census as Brick Manufacturers, 30 & 28 respectively, both single & living with their parents on Hagley Street, Stourbridge. In 1915 the directors of Mobberley & Perry consisted of G.H.P. Perry, J.E. Perry, W.H. Hill & J.M. Darby. I also note James Edgar Perry was a founder member of Hinton, Perry & Davenhill Ltd., Roof Tile Manufacturers at Pensnett which was established in 1904, so was involved in the running of two companies. 

 

A September 1933 newspaper notice advertises the Hurst fire brick works was being put up for sale with the present owners transferring production to their works at Stourbridge (The Hayes). The Hurst works was subsequently purchased by John Stevens who ran the works into the 1960's. 

By the end of March 1956 fire-brick manufacturers J.T. Price had completed the purchase of the private limited company of Mobberley & Perry which then became a wholly-owned subsidiary of J.T. Price Ltd. which continued to trade as Mobberley & Perry Ltd. It was all change the following year in 1957 when J.T. Price & E.J. & J. Pearson merged forming Price-Pearson Refractories Ltd. This new group also acquired fire brick manufacturers Timmis & Co. in 1958. Again Mobberley & Perry continued to trade under their own name.

A March 1962 newspaper advert for Mobberley & Perry Ltd reveals they were advertising for an Electrician to work in their newly built Albion firebrick works on Moor Street, Brierley Hill. Applications were to be made to J.C. Price Esq. We then find J. & J. Dyson of Sheffield had taken over Price-Pearson in 1968 & it was this company who was still running the Albion Works in Brierley Hill in November 1971. 

Still operating as Mobberley & Perry Ltd., the Hayes brickworks was closed in the late 1960's & their Himley fire-brick works on Oak Lane, Kingswinford was closed in 1990.

Link to 1931 aerial photograph of M & P's fireclay works at Lye.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw035954

Photo taken by Jo Roesen at GWR Broadway Station, Worcs.

Updated 14.2.20. With now finding that Joseph Hamblet's brother John Hamblet made this coping brick I have now updated the entry with the following info. 

John Hamblet is first listed as a brickmaker, aged 18 in the 1851 census living with his brother Joseph Hamblet aged 31 in Rounds Green, Oldbury. So I am assuming John was working at Joseph's brickworks at this date. In the 1861 census John is listed as a Railway Contractor & Publican in Ledbury, after which John was brickmaking again in Southall, Middx. John declares himself bankrupt from this Southall venture, as recorded in two London Gazette Notices 14th December 1866  & 18th October 1867. By the time of the second hearing John was living in West Bromwich & was soon to be running the Paddock Brickworks in Oldbury, coloured yellow on the 1886 OS map below. In these Notices John is also recorded as brickmaking in Ampthill, Bedford, but I do not have the dates when this was.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1886.

Photographed in Sutton Coldfield by Terry Callaghan.

Kelly’s 1876 edition records the partnership of Crowther & Hamblet at the Paddock Brickworks, Oldbury & Charles William Crowther was John’s son-in-law. Charles had married John’s daughter, Annie in 1873. Terry Callaghan tells me that the bridge this C & H coping can be seen on, on the Sutton Park Line, Sutton Coldfield was built in 1879. This Crowther Hamblet partnership may have only lasted between 1873 & 1876 as we find Charles Crowther is listed as a baker in the 1881 census. John Hamblet then at a date unknown was next in partnership with Samuel Tittley at the Paddock Brickworks, but this partnership was dissolved on the 31st of August 1880 as recorded in the London Gazette. We then find in May 1883 John Hamblet an out of work brickmaker formerly at the Paddock Brickworks was declaring himself bankrupt. I next found that his former business partner Samuel Tittley in December 1883 who had also run the Phoenix Brickworks in Oldbury (coloured green on the 1886 OS map above) on his own was declaring himself bankrupt as well. This December Notice also records the conclusion of John Hamblet's liquidation.

However that was not the end of John Hamblet's brickmaking career as the 1891 census records John Hamblet aged 58, as a Brick Manufacturer/Employer in Oldbury. So I am assuming this was at the Paddock Brickworks again. The Paddock Brickworks is no longer shown on the 1900 OS map, so must have closed in the 1890’s. 

A dedicated post about Joseph Hamblet & his family can be now read at this link.
https://uknamedbricks.blogspot.com/2020/02/joseph-hamblet-brickmaker-west-bromwich.html

These next two bricks were made by the Star Brick Co. who had several works in the Newport, Cwmbran & Swansea areas of South Wales, with it's head office & works at Ponthir, near Cwmbran. Kelly's Trade Directory for 1881 lists the Star Brick & Tile Co. on Llantarnam Road, Cwmbran & the 1937 edition lists Llantarnam Road, Cwmbran, Caerleon & Risca both near Newport. The company amalgamated with the National Brick Co. in Heather, Leicestershire at a date unknown forming the National Star Brick Co. This new company was then purchased by Butterley Brick / Hanson in 1971, with bricks still being made stamped National Star Ltd, Newport in 1978.

The Wilderness Brickworks at Gresford near Wrexham was established by Edward Stanley Lea in 1885 and soon afterwards he was joined in partnership by Russell and James Rea and Charles William Massey, all from Liverpool. In 1888 together with Stuart Clarke they formed Clark & Rea Ltd. and became well known for producing quality pinky red and buff bricks. In 1903 Stuart Clark became the sole proprietor of the company which was then operating 8 round kilns for red bricks and 7 square kilns for blues. It appears that the works was never profitable and the Clark family lost money for a number of years. It had closed by 1924 and was dismantled in 1926. Info by David Kitching.

I believe this No.3 brick to be also made by Clark of Wrexham as the colour, texture & the shape of the frog is the same as the Clark brick above. 

This one is a bit of mystery, I expect without the other half of this brick, I will not be able to trace it's maker.

If you would like read more about the rebuilding of Broadway Station & visiting the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Steam Railway, which at the moment runs from Laverton to Cheltenham Race Course, please find the links below.

http://broadwaygwsr.blogspot.co.uk

https://www.gwsr.com/news/news_and_blogs/blogs_and_photo_diaries.html#station

Once again a big Thank You to Jo Roesen & Bill Britton for helping bring these brick photos to the web.

Cawarden Reclamation Yard, Rugeley, Staffs.

If you are after bricks this is the place to come, whether you are after bricks for that extension or a collector like me, there are possibly millions of bricks to search through here. Bricks of all kinds were stacked in all directions & I did not know which way to go next, in the end I photographed 63 bricks that day.

The bricks in this post covers the west of the country from Stoke in the north, to Bristol in the south. I have already posted the bricks found from the East Midlands on my other site & you can see those by clicking on this link.

http://eastmidlandsnamedbricks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/cawarden-reclamation-rugeley-staffs.html 

So onto the bricks found that day. This first one Northcot, I photographed by chance as it was not one that was in the yard, but had been brought in by some builders to Cawarden to find more bricks to match to it, so this one was a Brucie bonus !

Northcot Brick Company (North Cotswold) was started in 1925 by Spencer Churchill & was taken over in 1962 by the Brown family. Michael Brown who is the second generation of the Brown family to run the company is the current Managing Director. The brickworks on Station Road, Blockley, Gloucestershire still uses the adjacent Wellacre quarry to produce their traditional hand made & wire cut bricks. Battersea Power Station was built using Northcot bricks & bricks from the company will be used again when a Malaysian company refurbishes the Power Station.
Two excellent videos of the works can be seen at this link below, one of the tour of the works & one by CNN.
http://www.northcotbrick.co.uk/index.php

Rufford & Co. Hungary Hill, Stourbridge, started in 1802 producing fire bricks & fire clay products, which was later followed by the opening of a second larger works to produce glazed bricks & porcelain baths. The company owned four coal & clay pits to meet the demand to produce it's wares & employed 300 workers at it's peak of production. Francis junior Rufford is recorded at Stepping Stones,Stourbridge as the owner of the works in Pigot's 1829 Directory, which is followed by many entries in Kelly's Trade Directory. The company is recorded as F. T. Rufford in Kelly's 1860 & 1872 editions, then in 1876 as Rufford & Co. with Limited being added in the 1900 edition.  Stamper Mill replaces Hungary Hill as the address in the 1908 edition. After 134 years of producing it's wares the company went into voluntary liquidation in 1936, due to the lack of good quality clay reserves.

This Pressard brick & the Utopia red brick below were both made by the Aldridge Brick & Tile Company, Brickyard Road, Aldridge, Walsall. I have also found blue bricks stamped Utopia which were known for their extreme hardness & were used in the construction of air raid shelters. The company is recorded as starting in 1874 & they produced three types of brick, blue, engineering & hand mades. The company is first recorded in Kelly's 1892 edition as the Aldridge Colliery Co. Ltd. & in the 1896 edition William Fredrick Clark is listed as Secretary. William is then recorded as General Manager in the 1900 edition, followed by the 1912 edition to 1928 edition listing him as Managing Director. The 1932 edition now records the company as the Aldridge Brick, Tile & Coal Co. Ltd with William Fredrick Clark as Managing Director. The last available directory in 1940 just records the works new name. The Company closed in 1965 when the brickworks was taken over by Ibstock.

This is a wall copping of which many examples can be found in the Hanley area of Stoke on Trent. It was made by Woolliscroft Tiles, which was founded by George Woolliscroft (1825 -1906) & he is listed in a 1865 Trade Directory as beer seller / brick & tile manufacturer at the Eagle & Child Inn, Chesterton, Newcastle under Lyme. The next directory entry in 1868, records George as builder, manufacturer of blue bricks, chimney tops, drain pipes, roofing ridges & pressed floor tiles at Chesterton. Kelly's 1876 edition now records the company as George Woolliscroft & Son at Chesterton same as this brick. The 1880 edition of Kelly's records that the company has opened another works, Canal Tileries at Etruria in Stoke, with further expansion in 1884 & 1889 adding the Patent Tile Works, Hanley & the Joiners Square Works. This is followed by the works on Melville Street, Hanley in 1904. From 1910 the company concentrated on producing floor tiles only at it's Canal Tileries & Melville Street works, this being recorded in several editions of Kelly's Directory up to the last available directory in 1940. The Melville Street Works continued to produced tiles up to the year 2000 when Pilkington Tiles took over the Company & this works was closed. 

Link to photos & maps of the Melville Street Works.

http://www.thepotteries.org/potworks_wk/146.htm

The Haunchwood Brick Co. was established in 1875 in Nuneaton by the partnership of George Fowler, William Mattby & John W. Fowler. 1878 sees the Company become a Limited Company. There were three brickworks, No.1 Yard was on Haunchwood Road, Stockingford, No.2 Yard was on Hall End Road & No.3 Yard was on Bermuda Road. In 1896 James Knox was employed as Works Manager & later on with the help of some partners he became the owner of the Company.
Haunchwood Brick Co. is recorded in Kelly's 1876 edition at Stockingford, Nuneaton, followed by the 1880 edition recording the Company as Haunchwood Brick & Tile. The 1888 edition records James Knox as Managing Director. The 1900 edition now lists new works at Heath End & Griff, Chilvers Coton as well as Stockingford. The Company carries on to listed in Kelly's until the last available directory in 1940. 
In 1968 Haunchwood merged with G.W. Lewis Tileries forming Haunchwood Lewis Brick & Tile Company, however this new company did not last long with it going into voluntary liquidation in 1973. Haunchwood's No.1 Works closed in 1970 with the works being demolished the following year & is now Whittleford Country Park, the site being transformed by the local & county councils. No.2 works was demolished in 1970/72 is now an housing estate & the No.3 Works closed in 1969.

You can read more detail about the company at this link on page 11. 

http://britishbricksoc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/BBS_114_2010_Oct_.pdf

This excellent link contains many photos of the works & is about a third way down this very long post.

http://www.nuneatonhistory.com/brickyards-quarries--collieries-extractive-industries.html

This link contains an ariel photograph & a map of the No. 1 Works before it was transformed into a Country Park. If you click on the images, they are enlarged.

http://whittlefordpark.warwickshire.gov.uk/the-park-yester-year/ 

The Lilleshall Company which was mainly an engineering company, was founded in 1802 by the Marquess of Stafford with four local capitalists, John Bishton the elder, James Birch, John Onions & William Phillips  at Oakgates, Shropshire. The company were also coal & iron merchants, iron founders & steel producers. The company opened it's mechanised Donnington Wood Brickworks on Pain's Lane, Lilleshall in 1876. By 1908 the company was producing 3 to 4 million high quality bricks per year, but the company declined during the 1960's & the works closed in 1972. Glazed bricks, like the example above were in production in 1961.
A photo of the works can be seen at this link.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2024941

                                                                       

The Cattybrook Brickworks came about when Charles Richardson an engineer working for the Bristol & South Wales Railway, realised the potential of the local clay when he was visiting the excavations for the Patchway Tunnel. So in 1865 Charles leased a few acres of land at Cattybrook to produce engineering bricks. In 1871 he went into partnership with Ernest Street & Edward Grover, creating the Cattybrook Brick Company Ltd. in 1877. It is reported that Charles's company made 30 million engineering bricks to line the Severn Tunnel in 1872. Portishead Power Station, Fry's factory at Keynsham & Imperial Tobacco at Bristol all used Charles's bricks in the construction of their buildings. 
The Cattybrook Brick Works at Almondsbury, Bristol is recorded in Kelly's 1897 edition with E.E. Street as Manager & in 1900 the company is now run by Frank Richardson, employing 300 workers. In Kelly's 1906 Directory there is the addition of another brick works at Shortwood, Bristol. Then in Kelly's 1914 entry, Mr E. Gwynne Vevers is recorded as Managing Director, with Mr. Thomas Walker recorded as Manager of the two brickworks. The company was taken over by Ibstock in 1969 & by 1973 the company was fully absorbed into Ibstock Building Products Ltd. & the Cattybrook name was lost. Ibstock is still making bricks there today, at it's Over Lane Works.

The Stonehouse Brick & Tile Co. Ltd was formed in 1890 with small scale production starting in 1891. The company had been formed by M.P. Hayward, E. Jenner-Davies & J.F. Hayward, who after inviting Arthur W. Anderson, manager of the Bracknell Brick & Tile Co. to survey land in Stonehouse with the possibility of starting a brickworks, was then given the job as Manager of the works. The works was situated next to the railway line owned by the Great Western Railway in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. Recorded in Kelly's as the Stonehouse B. & T. Co. Ltd. with Arthur W. Anderson as manager in it's 1897 edition, I then have another three entries for the company up to 1910 edition. The company produced bricks until the late 1960's & due to several problems, the works closed in 1968 with the company then concentrating on it's other brickworks.
More can be read about the Company on these two excellent pages. 
http://www.gsia.org.uk/reprints/1997/gi199714.pdf
http://www.coaley.net/indglos_1904/ig190443.pdf

This brick was made at Dumbleton Hall in Gloucestershire, at it's own brickworks on the estate, which was on the western edge of Dumbleton village next to Brickyard Cottages.
Update 26.4.15. William Taylor was employed as brickmaker by Edward Holland owner of Dumbleton Hall in 1851. By 1860 William was manager of the yard & then in the 1880's he was followed by his son, James. The works had closed by 1901.
More can be read at this link.
http://www.hawkerntaylors.moonfruit.com/#/the-brickyard/4569296696

This very ornate brick (one of my favourites) was made by Francis Harry Gordon who was an entrepreneur with business interests in North Staffordshire. He opened his brickworks in the 1870's & it was located adjacent to the Daw End Canal just south-west of Clayhanger Bridge, Brownhills. The works covered seven acres & the clay measures were recorded as being 30ft. thick. There were 3 drying sheds, 3 seven holed kilns, 2 dwelling houses, an engine house & a mill house on the site. Francis Harry Gordon is recorded in Kelly's 1896 edition at Clayhanger, Walsall Wood, Walsall. The works closed in 1896 due to stiff competition & undercutting by the neighbouring Walsall Wood Colliery Brickworks. The parapets on Anchor Bridge at Catshill had been repaired using Francis's bricks, but they were replaced when the bridge was restored in 1988. A large modern housing estate now occupies the site of the brickworks.
The majority of this information was gathered from this website. 
© Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service, http://blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/WAHER_MBL2219/

W.H. Parton & Son is recorded at High Street & works at Kings Heath, Birmingham in Kelly’s 1899 & 1900 editions & then there is a gap in directory entries until Kelly's 1913 & 15 editions at the same address.

Henry Lakin is recorded as brickmaker in Kelly’s 1857 Trade Directory at Stapenhill near Burton on Trent.

Found two bits of Information relating to Hall Green, which may be connected. The first is from a 1908 list of mines in the South Stafford area & it records F.W. Boone as the owner of the Hall Green Brickworks at Wednesbury operating the Moorland Colliery with 3 men below & 2 men above. 
The second is a planning application dated 20th February 1905 for Brick Burning Kilns, Drying Shed, Machine House & Offices at The Aqueduct Brickworks, Crankhall Lane by the Hall Green Brick & Ironstone Co. with the applicants residence recorded as Stafford Street, Wednesbury. 

The Castle Brick Works, Birchills, Walsall is first listed in Kelly's 1900 edition & this entry is repeated in the 1904 & 1908 editions. Kelly's 1912 edition now reads J. Griffin Jones & Company, Castle Brick Works, Upper Green Road, Birchills, Walsall. This entry continues until the 1921 edition, but I have found on the web that this company was still in operation in 1924. Kelly's 1928 edition now reads The Castle Brick Co. Upper Green Road, Birchills, Walsall & this entry is repeated in Kelly's 1932, 36 & 40 editions together with a second brickworks at Bloxwich, Walsall. The Company closed in the 1950’s.

P. G. & R. - Partridge, Guest & Raybould (Blue & Red) Old Hill, Rowley Regis are listed in Kelly's 1860 to 1872 editions. After Raybould had left this partnership, the company continued as Partridge & Guest Ltd. until 1936 & this is the last entry in Kelly's directory recording the works at Powke Lane, Old Hill making blue bricks, stable bricks & garden tiles.

Update 28.4.18.
I can now reveal what happened next to Marshall Raybould & some earlier info for P. G. & R. 
In White's 1873 edition Marshall Frederick Raybould is listed brickmaking at Mill Lane, Harborne & at Powke Lane, Oldhill near Rowley Regis. At this Powke Lane works Raybould was in partnership with Samuel Partridge & Joseph Guest with whom he had worked with since 1856, but Raybould was to shortly leave this partnership to concentrate on brickmaking at his new works at Harborne. The break up of this partnership must have taken place by 1875 as Raybould is only listed at Harborne in Kelly's 1875 Birmingham edition & Partridge & Guest are only listed together in Kelly's 1876 Staffs. edition.

So with Raybould from 1873 at his Mill Lane, Harborne brickworks we find he continues to make bricks at this works until Kelly's 1897 edition. We then find in Kelly's 1899 to 1905 editions the listing is Walter Raybould at Harborne Park Road (previously named Mill Lane), Harborne. So I am taking it that Walter was Marshall's son.

I have also found in a London Gazette Notice that in 1856 Partridge, Guest & Raybould were also in partnership with John Tranter, brickmaking at Powke Lane, Oldhill operating under the company name of S. Partridge & Co. This notice records that Tranter then left the company on the 23rd September 1856. I have also found S. Partridge is listed at Oldhill in White's 1851 edition, so Raybould may have joined Partridge as early as say 1854/5. I estimate that Marshall Frederick Raybould was brickmaking for around 44 years & he would have been in his 60's when he retired. I have now added bricks below made by Marshall & Walter Raybould which where found at Cawarden.

Swindell & Collis are listed in Jones Mercantile Directory 1865 edition as Coalmasters / Brick & Tile Manufacturers at Granville & Gorsty Hill Collieries, Old Hill, Cradley Heath. The company is then recorded in Kelly's 1868 edition at Granville Colliery, Rowley Regis, Dudley. This is followed by many entries until 1908, listing the company with variations of the name & address as Old Hill, Dudley - Granville Brick Works & in the last entry as S & C, (blue) Granville Brick Works, Station Road, Old Hill.

Jacob Sames is listed in Kelly’s Birmingham 1878 & 1879 editions at Garrison Lane. The 1893 edition now records his works as the Atlas Brickworks, Garrison Lane. 

The Atlas & Crown Brick Co. Birmingham is listed in Kelly’s 1890 edition at Garrison Lane, Small Heath & Bordesley Green Road, Saltley with Evan Thomas as Managing Partner. Then in the 1892 to 1900 editions the works are now recorded as Bordesley Green, Small Heath & Bordesley Green Road, Saltley. 

John Bond is recorded as making bricks at his Watery Lane brickworks, Birmingham in Kelly's Directory from 1867 to 1905 editions.

This brick from Berry Hill Brickworks Ltd. was made after 1947, but the brickworks had it's origins in 1870 when it was owned by William Bowers. I cannot find any trade directory entries for William, either under his own name or company name. After William's death the company was owned by Henry Warrington & Son & the first entry for the new owners in Kelly's is 1896 with the works listed as the Berry Hill Works, Fenton, Stoke. This entry is repeated until the 1908 edition. There is then a gap in directory entries for the works, but I have found on the web that the brickworks which was adjacent to Berry Hill Colliery was purchased by John Slater in 1914. John then formed John Slater Ltd. in 1918 owning New Haden Colliery at Cheadle as well. We next find that Berry Hill Collieries Ltd. are the next owners & this company is recorded in Kelly's 1928 & 1932 editions at the Berry Hill Brickworks, Stoke. In the 1920's it is recorded that the brickworks was the largest in North Staffordshire. 1947 sees the Nationalisation of the collieries & the company changed it's name to Berry Hill Brickworks Ltd. In the 1960's the Company added two more brickworks to the group, Clanway in Tunstall & Kingsley in Cheadle. Berry Hill Brickworks Ltd. is recorded as closing in the 1970's.

David Carthy is recorded at Brereton Road, Rugeley in Kelly’s 1892 to 1900 editions. The Brereton Road works is then listed as being owned by Carthy Brothers in the 1904 & 1908 editions.


So if you wish to visit Cawarden Reclamation I have pasted their link below. It's well worth a visit. 
http://www.cawardenreclaim.co.uk

Many Thanks to Cawarden Reclamation for allowing me to go round the yard & photograph your bricks. Many new names have now been recorded on Penmorfa brick web site.