Walter Straw, Brickmaker, Sutton in Ashfield

With new information coming to light, I have now re-written this entry. The Straw family started as earthenware potters branching out at a later date to make bricks.

Census records reveal that there were two potters by the name of Walter Straw in Sutton in Ashfield. Walter senior (1830 -1888) was followed in the family business by his son Walter junior (1860 -1915) & it was Walter junior who was the brickmaker/potter.

A recent visit to the National Trust's Mr Straw's House in Worksop has also revealed that Benjamin & William Straw who moved from Sutton to run a grocers shop in Worksop were the sons of Walter senior & brother to Walter junior & with kind permission of the House Steward of Mr Straw's House I have added my photo of Walter senior to the post. Walter's photo hangs in one of the bedroom on the top floor.

So I start with some information about Walter senior who is only listed in trade directories & the census as a potter & these listings are as follows. Also to note in these listings is that Walter first owned a pottery on Eastfield Side (name of the road & coloured yellow on the map below) & then set up a second works called the Red House Pottery on Mansfield Road.
1861 Census Walter Straw, earthenware pottery maker, 30; wife Charlotte, 30 & Walter junior, 1, living on Eastfield Side.
Morris 1869 edition, Walter Straw, pottery manufacturer, Eastfield Side, S-in-A.
1871 Census Walter Straw, pot manufacturer & farmer, wife Charlotte, sons Walter junior, Benjamin, William, living at Red House Pottery, Mansfield Road.
Kelly's 1876 edition, Walter Straw, garden pot & earthenware manufacturer, Eastfield Pottery Works, Eastfield Side. 
1881 Census Walter Straw, potter & farmer of 33 acres, employing 6 men & 16 boys, 2nd wife Elizabeth (Charlotte had died), Walter junior, 21 & listed as a potter, Benjamin,19, William, 16, both listed as grocer apprentices, with all the family living on Mansfield Road (next to the pottery works).
White's 1885 edition, Walter Straw, manufacturer of garden pottery & glazed earthenware, Forest Side Potteries.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey 1877.

Now on to Walter Straw junior the maker of these W. Straw bricks & local historian Luther Lindley wrote in 1907, that Walter Straw (junior) owned two potteries, but are now closed. His residence was built on a site which formerly stood a windmill & his stack yard was on land next to the Baptist Church off Eastfield Side (name of road, coloured yellow). The 1877 map above shows Straw's two potteries, Red House Pottery coloured brown was opposite the school on Mansfield Road & the second was on Eastfield Side also coloured brown. The corn windmill (brown) is where Walter junior around 1900 built his grand house called Herne House. Today it stands on the corner of Skegby Road & Hill Crescent. I have added a 2018 photograph at the end of the post of this much extended house which was made into flats many years ago, but the front of the house although updated with modern windows & a new roof basically remains the same. Local legend says that he built his house not fronting Skegby Road, but at an angle so it faced his pottery works opposite, so he could watch to see if his workers arrived on time for their shift. All the streets & buildings on this 1877 map situated around Walter's stock yard next to the marked Baptist Church no longer exist. After they were demolished Tudsbury hosiery factory was built on part of the land, but today that has also been demolished & the cleared site is waiting to be redeveloped. First this land was going to used for industrial units, then it was changed to houses & now in 2018 an application has been put forward to build a Lidl supermarket there.

Walter senior died in 1888 & from 1895 Walter Straw (junior) is listed in directories in the Brick & Tile Makers section as well as in the Earthenware Manufacturers section. So the trade directory & Census entries are as follows.
1891 Census, Walter Straw, single 31, pot manufacturer & farmer, step-mother Elizabeth, 50 & brother Frank Straw, 16, all living at Red House, Mansfield Road. S-in-A.
Kelly's 1895 edition, Walter Straw is listed at Eastfield Side in the Brick Makers section & at Forest Side in the Earthenware Makers section. 
1901 Census, Walter Straw, single 41, Brick Manufacturer, step-mother Elizabeth, 60, both living with a servant at 28, Skegby Road, Herne House, S-in-A. Walter's new house is not shown on the 1898 revised OS map, so the building of Herne House must taken place around 1899 - 1900 with him being in residence for the 1901 Census. 
McDonald's 1903 edition - Brick & Tile Makers section, Walter Straw, Mansfield Road, S-in-A. 
Kelly's 1904 edition contains the last trade directory entries for Walter listing him just at Sutton in Ashfield in both the Brick Makers section & the Earthenware Makers section.
1911 Census records Walter as a retired potter, single & still living at Herne House with his step-mother Elizabeth now aged 70. 
Walter died in 1915 aged 55. 

I originally thought that Walter junior made his bricks at one of his two pottery sites, the Red House Pottery site being on Mansfield Road same as recorded in McDonald's Directory, but with Kelly's 1895 directory recording him as brickmaking at Eastfield Side, I now think he owned the red brickworks as shown on the map above, with this area of Sutton being marked on an older map as East Field. This works was only a short distance from his potteries & his grand house which I have coloured brown on the map above. Another fact which has drawn me to the conclusion that Walter owned the red coloured brickyard is that his father owned the next field to this brickworks & is numbered field 506 on the map above. This fact has come from an article wrote by local historian Luther Lindley in 1907, in which Lindley states Walter Straw (senior) owned the land (field 506) on Outram Street where St. Michael's Church was built. The sum of £2,000 was paid to Walter (senior) for the land & the church was opened in 1887. 

I have now added the 1898 map below which shows the red brickworks in relationship to St Michael's Church (blue). This area of Sutton by 1900 was now called New Cross.  I have to note & this is a little bit confusing is that all this part of Sutton from New Cross along Mansfield Road (green) & including Eastfield Side (road of that name & coloured yellow) to Sutton reservoir is now called Forest Side. It appears this brickworks closed after Walter retired from brickmaking & this may have been shortly after 1904, his last trade directory entry.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey 1898.

This W. Straw example has come from a house in the New Cross area which is only a short distance from Walter's brickworks. 

Walter Straw's Herne House in 2018 photographed from Hill Crescent. I don't think he would be able to stand at his bedroom window to look over to his pottery today as the view is totally obscured by two large trees. The Red House pottery site is now occupied by a plumbing salesroom & before that when I was a lad the buildings were a Wolseley & Riley car showroom.

With recently visiting Mr. Straw's House in Worksop the National Trust are displaying a wine cooler which is thought to have been made at Walter Straw's Sutton pottery, but the guides told me that the pot is not marked & they cannot say for certain that it was made at Walter's pottery. What they have told me is that Benjamin & William Straw, Walter senior's sons, sold there fathers pots & earthenware in their grocers shop in Worksop & the Trust have sent me a newspaper advert dated 2nd of April 1886 for the Straw's grocers shop advertising Mr. Walter Straw's Sutton-in-Ashfield made earthenware, a copy of which is displayed below. 

My photo of the wine cooler reproduced with the permission of the House Steward of Mr. Straw's House, Worksop.

Advertisement reproduced with the permission of the House Steward of Mr. Straw's House, Worksop.

If you would like to visit Mr. Straw's House in Worksop which has chiefly remained unchanged since the 1920's please see the link below as you have to book your visit due to the size of the house.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mr-straws-house 



While I was searching trade directories for Walter Straw as brickmaker in Sutton in Ashfield, I was finding in the Brick & Tile Makers section listings for William then Walter Straw as brickmaker in Farnsfield, Notts. These entries had got me stumped until I came across an extended family tree of the Straw Family on Ancestry. This family tree showed that William Straw 1824-1904, a potter was born in Sutton in Ashfield & was the older brother of our Sutton Walter (senior) 1830-1888. So it appears William moved to Farnsfield to make pots & then bricks. William was then followed at his Farnsfield works by his son Walter 1863-1954. These are the trade directory entries for Farnsfield Straw's as brickmakers - William, Kelly's 1876 & 1885. Walter, White's 1894, then Kelly's 1895, 1900, 1904 & 1908. 

I am now wondering if William & Walter also stamped there bricks "W. Straw". It's one I will have to investigate. 
Update - After talking to locals & scouring Farnsfield for Straw made bricks & visiting the sites of the brickworks & pottery of which there are no remains of all & are now in private gardens, I have come to the conclusion that the Straw's did not make the standard house bricks for the time, but made the smaller hand made bricks which can be seen in buildings throughout Farnsfield & these Straw made bricks were made so they matched the existing bricks when alterations or extensions were made to buildings in the village. If by chance a Straw stamped brick does turn up, I will add it to the post.

Below is the 1883 OS map of Farnsfield showing the Straw's brickyard & pottery. 

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1883.