The Lilleshall Company opened its mechanized Donnington Wood Brickworks on Pain's Lane, Lilleshall in 1876. By 1908 it was producing 3 to 4 million high quality bricks per year, but after the 2nd World War production declined due to expense & the works closed in 1972. Info by Martyn Fretwell
Oliver Richardson spotted this one in Shropshire
Found on an allotment in Shrewsbury by Mike Shaw
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Found at North Shropshire Recycling yard by Martyn Fretwell
Reverse of the Lilco brick. S B = Snedshill Brickworks.
Lilco was a trade name of the Lilleshall Company and used for glazed and firebricks, photos by Frank Lawson.
Photo by John Harrison.
Photo by Martyn Fretwell courtesy of the John
Baylis Collection.
The brickyard was established in about 1901, when Priestman Collieries Ltd took over the Lily Drift. Brick production reached a peak in 1955 at about 150,000 bricks per week, mostly for use at local pits. After 1964, high quality facing bricks were produced and were widely used in the North East, as for example at the Airport Hotel Ponteland and the Nuffield hospital, Jesmond. The brickworks closed in 1976. See also NCB Lilley. Photo and info by courtesy of the Frank Lawson collection.
This Lily brick was photographed by Martin Briscoe in a display cabinet at Newhaven Fort, Sussex. It is possible that Lily were actually the makers of the brick machinery.
Linby Brickworks, Wighay Road, Linby, Notts. is shown as being on the edge of the village on the 1875 OS map. The works or it’s owners are not listed in any trade directories that from around 1875 & only the claypit is shown on the 1887 OS map. Today the houses built on Peverel Road occupy this site. Info & photographed at Papplewick Pumping Station near Nottingham by Martyn Fretwell.
Photo by Phil Jenkins.
A W: Albion works, Long Heys Road.
Photos by courtesy of the Frank Lawson collection.
Photo by Sylvia Siddans.
B: Bracebridge works
W: Waddington works
Lincoln Brick Co. operated five works during it's lifetime which
spanned from 1882 to 1975. These were at Waddington near Lincoln;
West Cliffe, Burton Road, Lincoln; Albion Works, Long Leys Road,
Lincoln; Cross O'Cliffe, Bracebridge & Brant Road,
Bracebridge. Photos & Info by Martyn Fretwell.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
Found Barnby in the Willows, Newark, Notts. 2016, R Lineker,
Balderton, Newark, Notts. Post Office Nottinghamshire
Directory 1855. Found by David Ashford, info by Frank
Lawson.
TIMOTHY & WILLIAM LINER are first mentioned in the 1847 POST OFFICE DIRECTORY for Northamptonshire, as brick makers. We then find that Timothy was born in 1804 & William in 1829, so presumably these were Father & Son. Timothy is then mentioned in Kellys directories for 1854, 1869 & 1877. By 1885 Kellys is listed as T. LINER (EXORS of) ROTHWELL & DESBOROUGH, sadly Timothy had passed away in 1880. Kellys 1890 lists Charles Liner, Desborough & Market Harborough. In 1898 & 1906 Kellys lists a Mrs. A. Liner, Desborough & Market Harborough AND William Liner, Rothwell. Then we find that for Kellys 1910 & 1914 William H. Liner, Rothwell. The works had certainly gone by the early 1920's. Photo and info by Nigel Furniss.
Made in Lingfield, Surrey. Photos by Richard Symonds.
Simon Patterson photographed this one at Avoncroft Museum
Thanks to Darren Haywood for the photo.
The brickworks and colliery were situated at Meadowfield, 2 miles SSW of Durham. Photo by Brian Yates.
The Winterton family acquired land at Bordesley Green, Birmingham
& established the Little Bromwich Brick Co. in 1899. The Little
Bromwich Brick Co. is listed in Kelly's 1899 edition with John Henry
Weston as managing partner. This entry is repeated up to the 1913
edition. Kelly's 1915 edition lists a second works at Black Pit
Lane, Ward End (now St. Margarets Avenue). The next trade directory
that I have for Birmingham is the 1940 edition and it still lists
the Little Bromwich Brick Co. at Bordesley Green. The company went
into liquidation and was voluntarily wound up on the 15th October
1951. Photo & Info by Martyn Fretwell.
Photos by Ray Martin.
Lloyd & Son were first recorded as brick and tile makers in 1872, with similar records up to 1886. The next record from 1892 changes to Mark Lloyd, a son born about 1848, as the owner of the brickworks. Later records exist for 1916 and 1926-27, with the last record being in 1930. Kelly's directory for 1908 records Lloyds Brickworks Ltd as being located at the Sutton Old Yard and Wheatmoor brick works. An O.S. map of 1889 names an area between Bedford Road and Whitehouse Common Road as the Sutton Old Yard Brickworks. This includes three marl holes and four rectangles, three estimated about 40 - 50ft long, one 100 - 125ft long, marked as kilns. Other buildings and what could have been a wagon track for hauling tubs up from the quarry are also indicated. A later map of 1903 also names the Wheatmoor Brick and Tile Works, approximately half a mile away at Lindridge Road, that shows a clay pit, a building and four circles, probably beehive kilns. Bricks imprinted "Lloyd & Son" were used in the construction of the Sutton Park and Sutton Town stations on the Midland Railway line that opened in 1879.
This brick would have been produced after about 1890, after the death of Charles Lloyd, born about 1815, and his son Mark Lloyd became the owner of the brickworks. The 1891 census records that Dinah Lloyd was then a widow living with Mark and his wife. After brick making ceased about 1930, both pits were filled, the Old Yard area later used for housing and the Wheatmoor area reverting back to agricultural land. Photos and info by Ray Martin.
Quarry tile by Lloyd & Son. Photo by Jacqui Simkins.
The Whitemoor brickworks had a complex history until 1872 when Walter Lockhart took it over and ran it until 1886 so the age of this brick is quite well defined. These were the first bricks to include the town's name. Thanks to Robin Leach for the photo and info.
Photo by courtesy of the Frank Lawson collection, found near
Penistone. Philip Rothery writes that this a product of
Lockwood & Elliott, Woodsome Sanitary Pipeworks, Fenay
Bridge near Huddersfield.
Photo by Nigel Furniss.
Photo by courtesy of the Frank Lawson collection.
Lofthouse Park provided entertainment for the masses, 1908 - 1913. It was opened by the Yorkshire ( West Riding ) Electric Tramway Company and was situated at Lofthouse, 4.5km north of Wakefield, West Yorkshire. 'In the 1930s, Roper Brickworks moved into the Park across the road' Source: Peter I Wood, Lofthouse Park, in K. Taylor (edit) Aspects of Wakefield 1998. Image PRBCO.
It has been estimated that a third of all the brick houses in England are built from London Brick Company bricks. The London Brick Company started production just over a century ago and usage peaked in the Post-War rebuilding period up to the Nineteen Sixties. Maximum production rose, at one point, to an amazing 16,000,000 bricks per day. In other words - quite common bricks!
there are a lot of photos of the London Brick Company on this Flickr site.
The early brick presses only applied two presses to the powdered clay in the brick moulds. The trade-name Phorpres came about because Fletton Bricks made in Bedfordshire are pressed twice in each direction so that they are literally 'four pressed' if the phrase is pronounced quickly it becomes Phorpres!
Photo by David Kitching.
A commemorative brick by LBC, Thanks to Simon Patterson for the photo.
This photo of an LBC sample cellular brick was supplied by Michael Shaw. It measures 53 x 111 x 38mm
A Charles and Diana commemorative wedding brick, photo by courtesy of the Frank Lawson collection.
Photo by courtesy of the Frank Lawson collection, found near Woolsthorpe, Notts. Another of the Hanson casualties in 8/1984. Situated near Ramsey, Cambs and started 1886 by Alfred Fuller; Warboys Brick Works Co until 1933; LBC & Forders Ltd until 4/1936, then LBC. A 'Warboy's White' - they went over to land-drain pipes and hollow bricks 1950s. Now a tip. Additional info by Chris Fisher.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
Found near Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire by Frank Lawson.
Found at Snettisham, Norfolk. Probably made by LBC after they bought the Dogthorpe Star brick works in the 1920s. Photo and info Chris Dixon.
Showing the 40th anniversary of the accession, 1952 - 1992. These came randomly in packs of L.B.C. facing bricks.
Photo by Alwyn Sparrow.
A tapered Phorpres marked 8ft diameter. Found at an old paper mill site in Barrow in Furness by Richard Comish.
The London and North Western Railway even made its own steel at Crewe, so brickmaking was almost a given. The 1876 1:2500 OS map shows a large round kiln near to West Street in Crewe along with rectangular kilns within the works buildings adjacnt to the Chester line. By 1898 the rectangular kilns had gone and the round kiln had a standard gauge siding entirely circling the structure. There were also four more smaller round kilns nearby. Info by David Kitching.
The L.N.W.R. was always willing to save money where possible and self sufficiency was the byword. In the mid 19th century bricks were often made on a building site, especially when large buildings were under construction. In a large enterprise like a railway new buildings were regularly required throughout the country, all needing large numbers of bricks. Large scale brick making began at Crewe in 1862 using clay from the cutting between the south end of Crewe station and Whitmore. The company had been paying 24 shillings per 1,000 for bricks from outside suppliers whereas company-made bricks cost just 16s.2d per 1,000. The bricks were handmade and so a lot of labour was involved.
In 1872 Chief Mechanical Engineer Francis Webb realised that the L.N.W.R. could make bricks more cheaply if the process was automated. At the time Crewe works were expanding and the clay spoil from the building site was dumped in a field where the clay sub-soil ran deep. Webb gave his Indoor Assistant and Assistant Steel Works Manager, John Aspinall, the task of building a 100ft diameter Hoffman kiln with a 114ft chimney. Two Pinfold brick making machines were driven by an old locomotive. Aspinall worked hard on the project and in the first eleven months about 4.8 million bricks were produced at the cost of 15 shillings per thousand. The brick making plant cost just £5,000 and gave a saving of 1s.2d per thousand, using mass production techniques. Aspinall described the final loading operation as follows:
Around the kiln is a line of rails, upon which the ordinary railway trucks run, and the finished bricks are loaded direct from the kiln into them, by two men who fill their barrows, wheel them to the trucks, and pile the bricks carefully inside, for 5.5 pence per thousand. One thousand bricks weigh three tons, and considering that this weight has to be moved twice and wheeled about fifteen yards, it is not a high rate.
Webb was so pleased with the success of the venture that he doubled Aspinall's salary.
Info from the Wolverhampton History & heritage Website.
Photo by Hamish Fenton
Found near Gayton on the disused S.M.J.R. line by Nigel
Furniss.
Photo by Chris Tilney. Londonderry
Collieries, County Durham.
Probably produced by The Londonderry Co. (part of the Marquess of Londonderry's Estates) at Seaham Colliery Brickworks, Co. Durham. Photo by Frank Lawson.
Possibly Joseph Longley, 1848 - 1857/8, whose yard was at Hunslet Road, Leeds. Found within the rear wall of the Clarence Iron & Steel Works by the Aire & Calder Navigation, Leeds. Image PRBCO.
The Longmead Brick Works was located in Bishopstoke Hampshire. Photo courtesy of Bishopstoke History Society.
Photos by Ray Martin.
Photo by David Kitching.
Longton Hall Co. Ltd.,(George A Mitcheson receiver & manager), Longton Hall Collieries, Longton & Fenton, Stoke. From Kelly's Staffordshire Directory 1896. Info by Frank Lawson.
Photos by David Kitching.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
Lonsdale Brick and Tile Works, Cumwhinton, Carlisle.
The works was started by Claude Lonsdale as the Lonsdale brick and tile works. Kelly's Directory 1894 & 1897 lists Claud Lonsdale, Carlisle Tile and Pottery works. By 1911 the site was owned by M. Richardson and Son and from 1910 to 1938 it is listed as Lonsdale Brick and Tile works but the site was actually bought in 1930 by the Carlisle Plaster and Cement Company who also operated the nearby Cocklakes plaster works. Photo by Mark Cranston.
The Loscoe Brickworks was on Heanor Road, Loscoe, Derbys. and was in production from the 1880's to January 1976. When the clay pits were filled in & built over, a build up of methane gas from the material used to fill in the pits resulted in an explosion, destroying a bungalow. Fortunately without loss of life. Info & Photo by Martyn Fretwell.
Joseph Love (1796-1875), son of William Love, a miner of New York, near South Shields, County Durham married in 1825 Sarah, daughter of Isaac Pearson, timber merchant, of North Shields, Northumberland. Joseph Love became a wealthy miller, shipowner, property developer and colliery owner, associated in particular with Chester-le-street, Shincliffe and Willington, County Durham and Durham City. He was a generous supporter of the Methodist New Connexion.
Joseph Love and Partners owned Shincliffe Colliery and Brick Works which was about a mile south of Durham. Joseph Love (1796-1875) was also a partner in Straker and Love (S&L), Ferens and Love (F&L), Love and Partner (L&P). Info by David Oliver, photo by Chris Tilney.
Joseph Horatio Love and Partners. J H Love was the grandson of Joseph Love and was born in 1853. Photo by Chris Tilney.
Found in a structure on the Cassop Waggonway in County Durham. Photo by David Wigham.
Love & Partner, see above entry.
Edwin G. Loverseed is listed in Kelly’s 1864 edition at Mapperley, Nottingham & this brick is very lightly stamped with Mapperley on it’s reverse. White’s 1864 edition lists Loverseed at Woodborough Road, Mapperley & there were many small yards on this road around this date. Wright’s 1874 & Kelly’s 1876 editions then list Loverseed at 86, St. Ann's Well Road & this will have been his home address. By 1877 Loverseed was running the Nottingham Builders Brick Co. on Carlton Road, Sneinton Hill, Nottingham. Info & Photo by Martyn Fretwell, courtesy of Nottingham City Museums & Galleries.
Probably from the Low Moor Iron Company which operated collieries and ironworks a short distance from Bradford in West Yorkshire. Photo by Derek Barker.
Photo by courtesy of the Frank Lawson collection. The works was at Wharncliffe Woods to the north of Sheffield - found near Linacre Reservoirs, Chesterfield.
Made by the partnership of George Edward Lowry and Walter Lowry. Thanks to George.
Thomas Marshall & William Crapper who owned the Storrs Bridge Brickworks in Loxley & records show
that they were at this works in 1864 when the Great Sheffield Flood took place. The duo are then
listed in White’s 1879 edition with the address of Loxley, Sheffield. At a date unknown Marshall &
Crapper went their different ways, Marshall stayed at the Storrs Brickworks concentrating on only
making refractory bricks & Crapper by 1893 Kelly’s Directory had moved to the Wisewood Brickworks just
down the Loxley Valley. Photo by
Simon Patterson & info by Martyn Fretwell.
Photo by Gordon Hull. Lucas had two brickworks one at Dunston and the other at Eighton Banks which are now part of greater Gateshead. Photos by Chris Tilney.
Robert Lucock, brick and tile manufacturer at Langrigg, in the
parish of Bromfield, near Aspatria. Photo and info by Mark
Cranston.
Photo by Chris Graham.
This brick was found in a wall at St Thomas's Hospital at Edgeley, Stockport which was built in 1841. The likely manufacturer for this is Thomas Ludlow whose works was at Heaviley in 1834. The Ludlow family went on to establish a brickworks on Turncroft Lane, Stockport. Various references list James Ludlow in 1876 & 85, Samuel Ludlow 1865 - 92, T & W Ludlow 1876. From the mid-1880s they are listed at Reddish, but that is many years after this brick was made. Photo by Lyn Bostock.
This one is from Chester-le-Street and features a representation of Lumley Castle, thanks to Simon Patterson for the photo.
Photo by Alan Davies.
Photos by Chris Tilney.
Photo by Edith Stewart.
Photo by Mark Cranston.
Photo by Tony Gray.
Photo by David Kitching.
Photo by Chris Tilney.
Lumley Brick Company was beside the Lumley 6th pit from 1870s to 1938. Early firebricks were marked Lumley with the outline of a fortified tower to represent Lumley Castle. Also produced enamel bricks glazed dark green, deep yellow, cream, and coffee brown. Clay came from the Low Main and 5/4 seams. Bricks were burnt in 6 circular downdraught kilns.
In 1937 Lumley Brickworks ltd. re-opened an old brickworks and the fields next to it were opencast for shale. 2 Fawcett machine presses made engineering and facing bricks which were burned in 8 Newcastle kilns. In 1944 the Fawcett machines were prelaced by 2 Bradley and Craven presses. By 1950 there was 18 back to back Newcastle type kilns in 2 sets rows of 9. These were converted into a continuous kiln. an oil fired tunnel kiln was built in 1960. This was converted to gas in 1977 and the continuous kiln was disused. From 1980 bricks were made on a Spengler machine.
Information from Graham Brooks' website.
Found on Roeburndale Road, Caton Moor, Caton, near Lancaster by the site of the former Brookhouse Brickworks. LUNE, BROOKHOUSE and LUNE 1965 bricks can all be found close by the former brickworks and so it is quite possible that this was made at the Caton Moor site. 'Rural Industries of the Lune Valley, Winstanley 2000' states the works operated between the early 1920's and the late 1960's making quality bricks from the local shale. Image and info PRBCO. See also entry for Brookhouse.
Photo by David Kitching.
Found in Hastings by Simon Patterson, some info on the works here
Found in West Bromwich. I think that this is likely to have been produced at the Lyttleton Colliery just to the south of Wesdt Bromwich at some time in the second half of the 19th century. The colliery site was closed and cleared by 1904. Photo by Bill Whitehead.