"Old Bricks - history at your feet"

England - page 19, Letter R

Radcliffe to Ramsay

Radcliffe, Amble

The Radcliffe Coal Company was sited at Amble quayside, Northumberland 1875 - 1955 - P.J. Davison, Brickworks of the North East.

Photos by Chris Tilney.

Photo by Mark Cranston

Photo by Edith Stewart.

Photo by Phil Jenkins.

Radcliffe on Trent

The Radcliffe on Trent Brick Co. is listed in Kellys 1881 to 1895 editions & is then followed by one more entry in 1928. OS maps reveal that the works was still operational between 1895 & 1928 & was situated just outside Radcliffe on Trent in the hamlet of Harlequin, with the works being accessed off Grantham Road. Kellys 1888 edition lists George John Willey, Simon Barratt & Henry Parr as joint proprietors. After several other brickmakers had leased the works off N.A. Norris (land owner) & operating the works under the Radcliffe on Trent Brick Company name, the works was then purchased by Joseph Onions in 1931, who again carried on using the company name. The 1950 OS map only shows the outline of the clay pit, so it is unknown how long the works remained operational under Onions. I suspect it was until the start of WW2. Photo & Info by Martyn Fretwell.

John Ragsdale, Newark

Found Newark, Notts. Photo by Frank Lawson.

Railway Standard & Lightpill

In 1876 Samuel Jefferies is described in a Gloucestershire Directory as "coal merchant and brick manufacturer, Railway Coal Wharf, and Railway Standard and Light-pill Brick Works". Photo by Steve Burrell.

Rainbow

Rainbow was a trade name of Samuel Evers & Sons, Homer Hill works, Netherend Lane, Cradley, Halesowen, West Midlands. Kelly's Worcestershire Directory 1892 - 1940. The red brick was made from colliery waste. The 1940 directory states that they were a branch of E J & J Pearson Ltd making Firebricks and Fireclay goods. The works closed around 1970. Photo by Martyn Fretwell.

Photo by Kaie Martin.

Photo by Angel Rose.

James Rainer

James Frederick Rainer is listed in Kellys 1894 to 1922 editions at the Cheshunt Brick Fields, Prospect Road, Chesham, Waltham Cross, Herts. A second works at Enfield Highway is listed in Kellys 1899 to 1912 editions. Photo & Info by Martyn Fretwell.

Rainford

Rainford Brick & Tile Works, Rainford, St.Helens, Lancs. Slater's Directory 1895

Rake, Littleborough

Colin Driver writes: I recently found the above in Littleborough very near to the former Rake Inn at the bottom of Blackstone Edge Old Road. Further enquiries resulting in me finding a listing in MacDonald's 1879 Directory of the "RAKE FIRE BRICK COMPANY - Halifax Road,Littleborough. Formed in the early 1860s, in 1886 the business is listed as makers of sanitary tubes,fire-bricks, tiles, chimney pots, boiler seatings, blue bricks, ridge tiles, coping &c. They also had a depot at Lees Street in Ancoats for sales around Manchester. In 1889 the Rake brickworks passed to the Littleborough Fire Clay and Coal Company under which it continued until closure in 1896.

Photo by David Kitching.

Ralph, Preece, Davies & Co, Hereford

Richard Paterson writes: In their excellent book 'Herefordshire Bricks & Brickmakers' (Logaston Press, 2007), Edwin Davey and Rebecca Roseff identify Ralph, Preece, Davies & Co as owners of the Albert Brick & Tile Works at Holmer, Hereford. They quote an anonymous description, dated 1892, which states that the works had been 'established for about 50 years' and refer to another source which says that the demolition of the chimney stack was filmed in 1968 or 1969. Davey and Roseff suggest that, at one time, RPD may also have owned the Brickyard at Aylestone Hill, Hereford. Photo by PRBCO.

Ramrod

Ramrod Colliery & Brickworks was on Thorne Road, Whiteheath Gate near Rowley Regis and this works is recorded on two O.S. maps dated 1856 & 1902. I have found that Lord Dudley owned the colliery, so I expect he also owned the brickworks. The name Ramrod came from nearby Ramrod Hall which was built by Birmingham Iron Master William Hunt on land leased from the Earl of Dudley when all this area was all open countryside. William Hunt produced iron ramrods for the British Army at his Brades Ironworks during the American War of Independence 1775 to 1783 and this is how his home got it's name. Under mining on this land resulted in Lord Dudley repurchasing the lease back from Hunt & the hall fell into disrepair. Today a school is now built on the site of the former brickworks. Info by Martyn Fretwell, photograph by Phil Burgoyne.

Ramsay, Newcastle

Photos by Steven Tait.

Photo by Mike Graham.

Messrs George Heppel Ramsay and Co, Fire Brick Works. The founder of this business, Mr. G Heppell, first established his brickworks at Derwenthaugh. Expansion plans were put in hand and the largest brickworks in the area were built, capable of completing 7 million bricks per annum. Clay used in the making of the bricks was transported from the colliery which was about 300 yards away. Photo by George Simpson.

In November 1880 J T Ramsay brick manufacturer at Derwenthaugh was reported as insolvent.