Barlborough Heritage Centre

I was recently told about this small local brick collection at Barlborough Heritage Centre by a fellow collector. With me finding a Barlboro & Cottam brick at nearby Renishaw a year previous, I when to the Centre to see what was in their collection. The first brick I spotted was the same one as I had found at Renishaw. I got talking to Tony the Centre's Manager, who explained that the bricks had all come from two buildings which had stood in the village, So examples of each brick were saved at the Centre. There is so much local information packed into the Heritage Centre that it is well worth a visit, covering nobility at Barlborough Hall, famous locals, daily life in Barlborough & there is a good display about the 1st World War, remembering the fallen.

So onto the bricks which I photographed with a little bit of information to each.

This brick was made at Hazel Colliery & Brickworks formally known as Cottam No.2 pit in Barlborough. Hazel Colliery had been reopened together with a brickworks in 1909 by a local consortium. The colliery closed in 1914, but the brickworks continued until 1917 as the Barlborough Brick Co. Ltd. The brickworks is recorded in the 1912 edition of Kelly's Trade Directory as Barlborough & Cottam Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. Barlborough, Chesterfield. I then found from the London Gazette that the company went into liquidation on the 14th March 1912, hence the renaming of the brickworks to Barlborough Brick Co.

Please note the wrong spelling of Cottam, this was very common to find misspellings or letters reversed on bricks at this period of time.

  © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1923.

Map dated 1923 showing location of Hazel Colliery & Brickworks where bricks marked Barlboro & Cottam Co. Ltd & Barlboro Brick Co. were made. 

Spinkhill is a small village, a few miles north west from Barlborough & the only information I can find is an article from the London Gazette dated 8th February 1949, registering The Spinkhill Brickyard Limited with the Companies Registration Office (Board of Trade) Bush House, Strand, London, WC2 on that date.

  © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1923.

1923 map showing location of Spinkhill brickworks next to the Railway Station. This works is also recorded on a 1893 map.

This brickworks is recorded in a 1925 trade directory as Webster & Co, (Sheffield) Limited, manufacturers of silica bricks, fire bricks, magnesite, bricks, gangster, compo & building bricks at Archer Road. TA "Webco, Sheffield."

Killamarsh Brick Co. Ltd. at Killamarsh near Sheffield is recorded in 1899 to 1912 editions of Kelly's Trade Directory with Fredrick E. Welsh as manager.

John Lee, farmer, brickmaker & blacksmith at Waterthorpe, Mosborough, Sheffield is recorded in Kelly's in 1887 to 1912 editions.

Although recorded in White's Sheffield 1905 Directory at Wisewood, Loxley, Sheffield, this works was reported in the London Gazette as being voluntarily wound up at a extraordinary General Meeting of the Company on the 16th February 1904. This company had been owned by Henry Crapper who is recorded in Kelly's 1893 edition.

Charles Keyworth is first recorded at Halifax Road, Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield as the proprietor of the New Patent Plastic Brick Company from 1898 to 1913. Mrs Elizabeth Brindley is next recorded as proprietress at the works in 1916, this being the only entry in the trade directory. The works on Halifax Road is then recorded as being operated by the Sheffield Brick Co. in 1925.

Made by the Rothervale Collieries Ltd at their Thurcroft Colliery, Rotherham. The brickworks was in operation from 1918, closing in 1992 after being taken over by Butterley Brick.

John Hall Gosling is recorded as owning collieries in the Chesterfield & Barlborough areas in the mid 19th century. 
He is listed as brickmaker in Kelly's 1864 to 1881 editions & then there is an entry for him in the Barlborough P.O. Directory for 1885. 
Kelly's 1887 & 1891 editions records Fredrick Gosling as brickmaker at Barlborough. Fredrick is John's son. 

This brick was possibly made at Dinnington Main Colliery near Rotherham which closed in 1992.


If you wish to visit the Heritage Centre I have pasted their link below.
http://www.barlboroughrc.btck.co.uk

Avoncroft Museum near Bromsgrove

I first came across the Avoncroft Museum from the many bricks photographed at the museum which are posted on David Sallery's Penmorfa brick site. So after checking the web for opening times & what else there was to see at the museum, a visit was planned. 

The museum near Bromsgrove is a mini village containing buildings which have been rescued & faithfully rebuilt in a setting to match their original location. Most of the buildings contain items & tools for which they were originally used for, like the blacksmith's shop & chain shop. All of these buildings were either rescued from the bulldozer or ones which had fell into neglect. 

Now on to some of the bricks I photographed that day.

These are small bricks which had been made on site by the machinery they have installed to demonstrate how bricks are made. You can buy one of the Avoncroft bricks from the souvenir shop as a keepsake of your day at the museum.

10.12.14 - Bromsgrove - Avoncroft Museum have just updated me on the maker of this brick as Samuel Frisby at Tardebigge. So for information about Samuel, please see the entry further down the post.

The J on this brick is reversed & was made by Joseph Lee Stinson, Brockmoor, Brierley Hill & he is recorded in Kelly's from 1864 to 1872.

Founded in 1885, The Hartlebury Brick & Tile Co. is recorded in Kelly's 1900 Trade Directory with W.H. Bill as manager. In the 1912 edition J.B. Hill is now the manager, to be followed by H.G. Hill in 1921. In the 1924 edition H.G. Hill is now recorded as Proprietor. The Company continues to be listed in trade directories until the last available one in 1940. Whether directories were produced after this date I do not know, but the Hartlebury brickworks is still in production today. 
The site of the original works was purchased in 1950 by Baggeridge Brick. A second works was built by Baggeridge on the Hartlebury Trading Estate in 1986. In 2006 Baggeridge was taken over by Wienerberger & the original Hartlebury site was mothballed. The Waresley Brickworks on the Hartlebury Trading Estate continued under its new owners & is still in production today as Wienerberger's largest UK factory. It was announced in July 2014 that the original Hartlebury works was to be reopened, creating 36 new jobs to meet the ever increasing demand for bricks.

In 1881, Thomas Hawley who lived at Park Hall was successful in his application to build brick kilns on his land, on which he ran a market garden business called The Cherry Orchard. These kilns were not built until seven years later & the works operated under the name of Mason & Dall. A railway siding was soon added & this was followed by the renaming of the works to the Cherry Orchard Brick Company around 1889. This works was Kenilworth's last brickworks to close in 1977 & is recorded in Kelly's Trade Directory from 1900 to 1940.
I have pasted a link below with a little bit more information about the works & how the site looked in 2003.  http://www.warwickshireias.org/cherryorchard.html

Joseph King & Co. are recorded in Kelly's 1860 Directory at Netherend, Cradley through to the 1908 edition. They produced red bricks & terracotta at their Chapel Terra Cotta Works on Park Lane in Cradley, Halesowen. 

I first have a reference to the office building of the Batesford Estate brickworks at Aston Magna near Morton in Marsh, Gloucestershire, which was in production in the late 19th century, as being converted into a Pentecostal Church. By 1977 this building ceased to be used & is now derelict.
From the Gloucestershire Archives on the web, there is a reference to the cost of laying railway sidings to the Aston Magna Brick & Tile Company in 1902/3 by the Great Western Railway. The Aston Magna B.&T. Co. is recorded in Kelly's Worcestershire 1908 edition at Aston Magna, Moreton in the Marsh, Gloucestershire with Robert Allen Rossborough as Manager. 

Postcard of the Aston Magna Brick Works, showing the railway sidings into the works.

The Leamington & Lillington Brickyard Co. Ltd. Lillington Road, Leamington is recorded in Kellys 1884 edition with Thomas Mills as Managing Director. The works was just off today's Villiers Street in the town & was in operation until the 1950's. The former works is now a green open space & houses were built around the site in the 1960's & 1970's.

Samuel Warr was born in 1832 at The Delph, Brierley Hill, Staffs. In the 1851 census, aged 19 he is recorded as brickmaker & then in the 1871 census now aged 39, he is recorded as brickmaker & employing 7 men, 9 women & 4 boys at Lyde Green. Samuel is also recorded in trade directories as brickmaker from 1865 to 1878. 
In the 1891 census, he is now recorded as Coal Dealer in Stratford in Avon & then same again in the 1901 census.

The Ketley Brick Company which was formed in 1875 had it's origins in Kingswinford, Dudley & is recorded in Kelly's 1880 edition with William Wood as Manager. The owners of this company were Thomas Hassall Adcock (d.1886), Anne Adcock (wife) both of Bedford, Willam Hassall & John Hassall of Woodville, Derbys, & Reuben Cull of Barnet, London. In early 1890 the Ketley Brick Co. & it's Green Lane works was sold to a new consortium of Charles Skelding, William Timmins Skelding, Mr. Jordan & Mr. Webster who were now operating as the Ketley Brick Co. Limited. In this Ketley take-over the Skelding Brothers transferred their Nagersfield brickworks into The Ketley Brick Co. Ltd. In Kelly's 1892 edition the company is now listed as the Ketley Blue Brick Co. at Kingswinford with W.T. Skelding as Manager. In November 1896 Ketley purchased J.T. Wood's Bromley Works near Kingwinford. In Kelly's 1908 edition W.T. Skelding is now recorded as Managing Director. I next found the Green Lane works had closed by 1914 & production had been transfered to the Bromley works. It's not until Kelly's 1932 edition that we find the first listing of the Nagersfield works at Brierley Hill together with the Bromley works. W.T. Skelding died in June 1934 & Ketley was then run by his son W.E. Skelding. Both of Ketley's works continue to be listed in the last two available editions of Kelly's in 1936 & 1940. The Nagersfield works was sold to the Brierley Hill Brick Co. in January 1941. The Ketley Brick Company continued to produced red & Staffordshire blue bricks at it's Bromley works up to 1964 when Ketley Brick Co. was purchased by local Pensnett firm Hinton, Perry & Davenhill Ltd. who operated the Dreadnought Tile Works at Pensnett. In the takeover all of Ketley's production was moved to the Dreadnought Works & W. E. Skelding sold the Bromley works site for the use of building houses upon it. It was after this 1964 take over that Hinton, Perry & Davenhill operated under the name of The Ketley Brick & Dreadnought Tile Company & this company is still in production today at Pensnett. So with this brick saying Brierley Hill it was probably made at the Nagersfield Works between 1890 & 1940.

John Taylor is recorded in Kelly's 1860 edition to it's 1872 edition at Linthurst, Lickley, Bromsgrove. John is also listed in the Bromsgrove Trade Directory from 1865 to 1878 as brick & tile manufacturer & coal merchant at Newton Linthurst, Blackwell. From the two entries John made bricks for 18 years.

Information provided by Bromsgrove Library.

Henry Wheelock who originated from Leicestershire in 1879,  is recorded as brick & tile maker & coal merchant at Newton Linthurst, Blackwell in the Bromsgrove Almanack & Trade Directory between 1879 & 1886.

Information provided by Bromsgrove Library.

We next find Henry Wheelock recorded as Managing Director at the Linthurst & Barnt Green Brick, Quarry & Tile Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in the 1888 edition of the Bromsgrove Trade Directory with P. Levens as Secretary. 
I then have a second reference for L.& B.G. Brick Co. from Kelly's Worcester 1912 trade directory, with W.J. Tilt, Managing Director & Francis T. Levens, secretary, office at 110 High Street, Bromsgrove & works at Linthurst, Blackwell. 
Recorded at the dates below in several editions of the Bromsgrove Trade Directory, the Company is then managed by Richard Wheelock in 1890, John Wheelock 1899 to 1912 & John junior 1914 to 1939.

Information provided by Bromsgrove Library. Many Thanks.

Studley is a village near Redditch & the works is now an industrial estate, possibly with some of the original buildings still standing.

Made by J.T. Price at his Kingswinford brick & tile works which was situated across the road from Planet Colliery & St. Mary's Church in Kingswinford. All of which can be seen on this 1881 map with the brickworks marked as the Kingswinford Works (brick & tile). http://maps.nls.uk/view/101597531

Samuel Frisby operated his Tardebigge works from 1896 to 1910. He had been employed by land owner the Earl of Plymouth to work on the Earl's land at Perry Fields Lane, which was next to the canal to make bricks under an agreement of so many free bricks to the Earl in every batch made. 

Information supplied by the Reverend Alan White who has written a book entitled 100 years of Tardebigge. Many Thanks.

Information from Kelly's Trade Directories, Samuel is recorded in the 1892 & 1896 editions at Perryfield, Bromsgrove then in the 1900 & 1904 editions at Tardebigge, Bromsgrove. The next two entries are for Mrs. A. Frisby at Tardebigge in 1908 & 1912, so his wife carried on the business, possibly after his death. Perryfield & Tardebigge are the same location.

The Alvechurch Brickworks was situated close to the canal in the village & produced bricks under several owners from 1860 to 1939. This example dates from the 1930's. 

This next brick was also made at the Alvchurch brickworks & is stamped William H. Wynn, a Ironfounder from Birmingham who is listed in Kelly's Trade Directories from 1876 to 1912 making bricks at Scarfields, Alvechurch, Birmingham. An 1877 advert for the company selling their bricks records R.G. Long as Manager. A descendant of Rowland Granville Long has contacted me saying his 2x Great Grandfather in 1871 was a Wharfinger at Worcester Wharf, Birmingham, after which he then built & ran WH Wynn's Patent Brickworks for 3 or 4 years. An 1880 advert now records Mr Harry Thompson as manager, so we now know WH Wynn moved to the Alvchurch brickworks in 1876. 

Messrs. G.H. & C. Boden father & son, are then recorded as the new owners of the works in 1924. They when on to produce tiles as well as bricks with Mr. G.H. Gittens taken on as manager in 1925. The works next manager was Mr A.G.F. Pitts in 1931 who introduced an extended range of tiles & briquettes for fireplaces to the companies catalogue. With a drop in demand & it's workers enlisting to fight in WW2 plus the constant need to pump the clay pit to stop it from flooding, the decision was made to close the works in 1939. 

Information from Dan Beven, Kelly's Trade Directories & an article in a book called Alvechurch 1200 years of History, supplied to me by the Alvechurch Village Society. Many Thanks.
http://www.alvechurch-village-society.org.uk/index.htm

Although these bricks look like they are behind bars. They are in fact stacked on top of one another against the cage which surrounds the brick making machine & are safely held into place at the back. 

William Henry Ward an architect by trade is recorded as being one of the founders of the Birmingham Patent Brick Company in 1874 who's works was on Stonehouse Lane, California, Birmingham situated near to the No.2 Dudley Canal. The other founders of this Patent Brick Co, who also owned their own brickworks were Edward & Henry Loader Ensor of Woodville, Burton and B.W. Blades, West Bromwich. B.P.B.Co. was wound up in 1877 & we later find in 1888 that William Ward is now the owner of this brickworks with Ward being listed in Kelly's 1888 edition at California, Northfield. William Ward continues to be listed in Kelly's directories at this works until the 1908 edition & this brick will have been made between 1888 & 1908.

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.

Moorwood, this works may have been in Nuneaton ? 

Updated 11.9.17 - Nigel Furniss has now sent an image of one of these Moorwood bricks with this info to Penmorfa. "Owned by Jee's Hartshill Granite & Brick Co. Ltd. near Nuneaton, Had it's own siding, worked by horses on the Midland Railway, Stockingford branch line. This connection was put in place in the 1890's. The brickworks closed in 1912, so had a relatively short life." 

Now armed with this new info, I found only one trade directory entry for this brickworks in Kelly's 1904 edition which reads - Jees Hartshill Granite & Brick Co. (Charles Kingsley Maxwell, managing director), Hartshill, Atherstone, Warks. A little bit more info about this brickworks can be read on the web page which I have pasted the link to below. Please note that this is a very long post, the Jee's info is three quarters way down the article & concentrates mainly on the quarry side of Jee's business.

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

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

1901 OS map showing Jee's brickworks at Moor Wood. Also to note on this map is the tramway to the Stockingford branch line & the tramway into Moor Wood where Jee's had their granite quarries. The 1913 map shows the brickworks as disused.

Updated 22.12.19. Scott Smith has just sent me these two photos of bricks stamped Jees, Atherstone. One has it's letters stamped into the brick, the other has raised letters. Many Thanks Scott.

The maker of this brick could be The Blockley Brick & Tile Works, Blockley & the company is recorded in Kelly's Worcestershire 1928 edition. Blockley at that time was an exclave of Worcestershire until 1931, but the village just north of Morton-in-Marsh is now in Gloucestershire. Just to note, this works is a different works to the one known as Northcot Brick.

Further research has revealed that Benjamin Pollard Blockley owned a part share & then took over a brickworks at Bloxwich & he is listed as Benjamin Pollard Blockley, High Street, Bloxwich, Walsall in Kelly's 1896  edition, then as Benjamin Pollard Blockley, Victoria Brickworks, Bloxwich in Kelly's 1904 edition. I also have an article which states that after his initial venture into brickmaking he then purchased Guest, Keen & Nettlefold's engineering works at Hadley, Shropshire possibly around 1898 & after the sale of the works machinery he established a brickworks on the 200 acre site & this brickworks is shown on a 1901 map. So I am now favouring Benjamin Blockley as the maker of this brick as this article also states that he produced pressed bricks before moving over to the more productive wirecut method at Hadley. I expect he also produced pressed bricks at Bloxwich. A brick stamped with the initials BPB (Benjamin Pollard Blockley) has been found from the demolished outbuildings of Ditherington flaxmill, Shrewsbury by a fellow collector, hence backing up my theory that Benjamin made this Blockley stamped brick. 
Benjamin died in 1922 & was followed by his sons Colonel Blockley & Arthur in running the works. Then the works was run by Arthur's son-in-law, Jimmy Wright in the 1960's. Today Benjamin's Hadley works (Trench Lock) which is now accessed from Sommerfield Road is known as Blockleys & is part of the Michelmersh Group. 

Alfred Espley Brickworks Ltd. is recorded in the London Gazette as being voluntary wound up on the 29th of April 1942 and the company disposed of by the liquidator. Information from a family web site states that Benjamin Bomford b.1864 d.1915 was the manager of the Espley Brickworks in Stratford on Avon, but it does not state any dates. Entries in Kelly's Trade Directory records Alfred Espley as brickmaker from 1876 edition to the 1892 edition, then from 1900 to the 1940 edition as Alfred Espley Brickworks Ltd. operating on Birmingham Road, Stratford on Avon.

Information from an article in an American newspaper states that these Commemorative blue bricks, inscribed Charles & Diana 29th July 1981 were selling for $3 each & were made by Barnett & Beddows, brickmakers in Walsall. In it's first week of production the company sold 1000 bricks.

For more information about the Museum, please click on the link.  http://www.avoncroft.org.uk

For photos of the buildings & collections at Avoncroft on my Days Out blog, please click on my link below.

http://gingerbennsdaysout.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/avoncroft-museum-of-historic-buildings.html

Apedale Heritage Centre, Chesterton, Staffs.

I came across this great museum on the web while I was doing a brick search in the Chesterton area. My cousin had previously mentioned it's brick collection when she had visited Apedale Country Park. So while I was visiting my cousin in Congleton this year, Apedale was on the list for us to visit.
The museum covers the Romans through to daily life in Staffordshire, but I went mainly to see & photograph Ken Perkins & Eddie Grela's North Staffordshire brick collections. I took at least 120 photos & I don't think that I photographed all of the bricks then, but here is a small selection to wet your appetite to go & visit the museum. 
After contacting Ken, we met up for a chat the following Saturday which lasted a good hour and a half. Ken's collection also contains newspaper cuttings & history on some of the brickworks. There is also a collection of roof tiles owned by Gordon Howle who's father Selwyn owned & made tiles locally from 1932 to 1939.
The museum is open on Saturday & Sunday plus other days in the week during school holidays & it's free. There is also a steam train to ride on, plus a drift mine to go down (these you have to pay for), so there is plenty to see & do. 

https://www.apedale.co.uk

You will find photos of the rest of the museum & our train ride on my Days Out blog.

https://gingerbennsdaysout.blogspot.com/2014/08/apedale-heritage-centre-chesterton.html

Apedale - History of the brickworks can be read here - 

https://www.apedale.co.uk/history/brick-roof-tile-works-in-apedale-chesterton/

So here are few of my photos with a little bit of info.

Cobridge Brick & Sanitary Pipe Co. Ltd is recorded as being at Hamil Road & Leek New Road in 1907.

Made by James Downing at his Defiance Brickyard in Chesterton.

The next three bricks were made by Wilkinson Brothers & their history can be read at this link - 

 http://archive.today/aof2x

Thomas Adams brickworks at Newfield, Tunstall is recorded in a trade directory for 1869.

The Berry Hill Colliery & Brickworks were purchased in 1914 by John Slater & by 1918 he also owned New Haden Colliery & Brickworks.

Mr. D. Duddell is recorded in 1959 in making bricks at the Oldfield Brick & Marl Works, Fenton.

The Wall Grange Brick & Tile Works started around 1890 & closed in the 1950's. The works was situated in the Park Lane area of Wall Grange, Leek. 

Vitros was the trade name for the North Staffordshire Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. at Chesterton. Recorded in the Staffordshire Potteries Directory for 1868, this extensive works closed in the 1970's. They produced blue bricks, copings, pavers & plain roof tiles.

Dalehall produced good quality red & blue bricks at it's Ellgreave Street Works,Dalehall in Burslem from around 1850. The link below shows a map of the works in 1898.

http://www.thepotteries.org/location/districts/dale_hall1.htm 

I have found a reference to the works being owned in 1902 by the Stanley Brothers, brick manufacturers in Nuneaton, making red & blue quarry tiles at Dalehall. 

Recorded in the 1907 Potteries Directory, the Pear Tree Glazed Brick & Marl Co. was on High St. in Hanley. The works take it's name from the Peartree pit which was owned by Shelton Collieries which previously occupied the site.  

Recorded as brickmaker in Basford, SoT in 1867, Thomas Bradbury is next recorded as Bradbury & Co. in 1869, with 1876 being the last entry for this company.

I found one these bricks in Congleton, during a rummage around the back streets with my cousin, not knowing that the letters stood for Robert Heath at the time. It was not until my second visit to Apedale that I spotted the same brick & it was made by Robert Heath & Sons who had extensive coal & iron  interests in the Biddulph & Kidsgrove areas, operating brickworks at Cobridge & Smallthorne around 1900.

I had an hand in the Museum getting these next two bricks by John & Elijah Hughes (father & son).
I had photographed two of these bricks at Macclesfield Reclamation yard, which I duly put on that post. I was then contacted by fellow collector David Kitching, who helps Ken with his collection, who asked if I had actually got these bricks as they were on their most wanted list. Alas not, but there were more at the yard, which David went to get. 

John Hughes born c 1807 was followed by his son Elijah Forrester Hughes in his brick making business in Corbridge, Stoke on Trent. Elijah is recorded in the 1872 edition of Kelly's Trade Directory as brickmaker.

The Potteries Brick Company. This was a group of around twenty manufacturer's who produce bricks under the PBC name as well as their own, each stamping the bricks with a different letter to signify the maker.