Samuel Daubney Hibbert, Brickmaker, Sutton in Ashfield

S.D.H. - S.  Samuel Daubney Hibbert - Sutton.
My first trade directory entry that I have found for Samuel Daubney Hibbert as brickmaker is in White's 1872 edition with the address of Mount Street, Sutton in Ashfield. Samuel is then recorded in Kelly's 1876 & 1885 editions as brickmaker on High Pavement, Sutton in Ashfield, Notts. Although I do not have the exact location for his yard, an option is set just behind St. Joseph's Club on High Pavement which is named Quarry Yard on street maps. This site was used for many years by Taggs Coaches & today houses have now been built upon it. 

Updated 9.3.16; 12.3.16 & 28.3.17.
New research has revealed that Samuel was also a builder & he is listed in the Builders section of Kelly's 1885 edition at High Pavement, Sutton in Ashfield. I have since found out that Samuel's builders yard was actually on Mount Street which was situated just off High Pavement, as recorded in his 1872 trade directory entry. I have to note that a brickworks is not shown on maps on Mount Street, so the Quarry Yard option looks likely, but cannot be confirmed as a brickworks is not shown as such on maps at this location. My next finding in the 1904 edition of the Nottingham & District Trade Directory, Builders section, records S.D. Hibbert (exors. of), 14, High Pavement, Sutton in Ashfield. Now this address of 14 High Pavement was the builders yard belonging to another building firm called S.H. & F.W. Beeley. So one can only assume that the Beeley family were administrating Samuel's business in that year as the executors. 
During my visit to Nottingham Archives on Thursday I came across a document recording that S.H. & F.W. Beeley (builders & contractors) of 14, High Pavement, Sutton in Ashfield had taken over Samuel Hibbert's building company after his death. 

Added 29.3.20.

This mint Hibbert brick has come from the recently demolished stone terraced houses next to the car repair garage on Mansfield Road, Sutton. These houses to my knowledge had stood empty for at least 45 years. 



   

Cawarden Reclamation, Rugeley, Staffs. - East Midlands Bricks

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 stacked in all directions. As I was photographing the bricks, new ones were arriving for me to check out & there were two new names for me to photograph in that batch. The site is never quiet with people & lorries coming & going all the time.

These are the bricks from the East Midlands & I will be covering some of the others found from the rest of the country in a post on my UK Named Bricks blog at a later date. All told I photographed 63 bricks that day, most of the names I had not photographed before, the rest were variations. Link to Cawarden Post on UK Named Bricks.

http://uknamedbricks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/cawarden-reclamation-yard-rugeley-staffs.html

One of the major brick producers in the country today, Ibstock was founded in the village of Ibstock, Leicestershire from where it took it's name & it is still the home of the companies headquarters. Registered as Ibstock Collieries in 1899, brickmaking had taken place on it's original site since 1830. As the name suggests, Ibstock Collieries mainly mined coal as well as quarrying some clay for brickmaking, but as time went by the company then concentrated on producing bricks. Today the company produces around 900 million bricks per year at it's 24 UK plants, employing 1960 people & is now part of the CRH Group based in Dublin.  

E.D. Derby. Edwin Dusautoy, owned the California Brickworks, Stockbrook Fields, Stockbrook Street in Derby & his works is recorded in Kelly's Trade Directory from 1881 to the 1904 edition. The California Brickworks on Stockbrook Street is then recorded in Kelly's 1908 edition as being owned by the Derby Brick Company.

The Lion Brick & Tile Co. at Scalford, Melton Mowbray is recorded in Kelly's from 1908 to 1925 editions. I have a reference to the works closing in the 1930's & then in Kelly's 1941 edition, the London Brick company is recorded as making tiles there. 
The site has now been reclaimed by nature & is densely covered by trees. Various planning applications have been put forward, but all of these have been turned down, the last being a fishing lake, 10 luxury log cabins & a cafe/clubhouse.

Horace Rendall Mansfield, Hermitage Works, Whitwick, Leicester is recorded as brickmaker in Kelly's 1899 to 1912 editions.

The Bull Bridge Brick Company is first recorded in Kelly's Trade Directory in 1881 at Ambergate, Belper, Derbys. with Samuel Hall as secretary & again in 1887 &1891, but in these two editions the works is recorded as at Heage, Belper. The brickworks was actually in Sawmills near Ambergate & the works continues to be recorded at Heage in future directory editions. Sawmills at that time was a small hamlet in the parish of Heage. 
In Kelly's 1895 edition, William Eaton is recorded as being the co-owner with Samuel Hall, who is recorded as secretary as well. 

Taken from an article in a newspaper dated 13th October 1899. This informs you that the Bull Bridge Brick Company has now been dissolved by mutual consent & Mr. William Eaton will carry on the business under his own name at Bull Bridge, any debts due to or by the late firm will be received or discharged by him.

Kelly's 1916 trade directory is the last entry in William's name.

                

The brickworks at Waingroves, a small village near Ripley, Derbyshire was owned by the Butterley Brick Co. I have found many bricks made by this company, stamping their bricks just Waingroves or Waingroves Metallic, Waingroves Plastic or Butterley Co. Ltd/ Waingroves. 
The works was first opened in 1890 next to the pit, but never got established & was then mothballed. 
With the Company's brickworks at Codnor Park being run down & then closing around 1913/14, the Waingroves brickworks originally known as the Marehay Brickworks, was re-opened & in production in 1915 with completely new updated plant.
The Company closed Waingroves pit in 1921 & then in that same year a new 18 chamber Staffordshire Kiln & chimney was built, which was in use until September 1974. This kiln produced 400,000,000 bricks during it's lifetime. 
Butterley's first entry in Kelly's Trade Directory is 1925, then 1928, both recording the works as The Marehay Brickworks. This is because the works bordered onto the village of Marehay, which is now part of Ripley. It is in Kelly's 1932 edition that the works is first recorded as Waingroves. 
In 1968 the Butterley Company was taken over by the Wiles Group, later called Hanson Trust Ltd, and then Hanson plc. This new company sold off all it's engineering interests, just leaving it's brick & building materials interests. 
The works closed in June 2006 with the loss of 63 jobs.

Edward Gripper an ex-farmer from Essex established his brickworks at Mapperley Top, Nottingham in 1855 & is recorded in Kelly's 1855 edition as Edward Gripper & Co. Mapperley Hill, Nottingham.
In 1867 he was joined by William Burgess, creating the Nottingham Patent Brick Co. This new company used the Hoffman Kiln process which Edward Gripper & his managers had previously negotiated the local use of before Burgess join this new company. This process drastically increased NPBC companies brick output to 27 million per year & in his honour bricks were produced with Gripper's name on. NPBC went on to produce the millions of facing bricks for St. Pancreas Station in London, which they were the main contractor for.

I have found only two entries for The Coalville Tile & Brick Co. The first is in Kelly's 1876 edition with John Evatt as manager/partner & the second is in White's 1877 edition with John Evatt, manager. The only conclusion is that it was a short lived company, but they produced a nice quality brick.

Made by Thomas Wragg & Sons at Swadlincote, Derbyshire near Burton upon Trent, the company is recorded in Kelly's 1876 edition at Hill Top clay works. All of the other Thomas Wragg bricks that I ever found have been salt glazed bricks with Swadlincote stamped under his name, I seem to remember that this was a glazed brick also.

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.

Tucker & Sons, Brickmakers, Loughborough

Researching brick & tile makers Tucker’s has revealed that the family operated four works in Loughborough in their 116 years of production. During all of this time the company traded as G. Tucker & Sons, named after it’s founder Gilbert Tucker who was later joined by his son Gilbert junior at the brickworks. So I start with the family timeline for the company after which I cover the different works & the years they were in production.

Gilbert Tucker senior (1806-1876) had started his Park Lane brickworks, Loughborough by the 1851 Census in which he is listed as a brickmaker, before this date he had been a publican/maltster. I have a date of 1848 when Gilbert established his brickworks, but this cannot be verified. He was joined at the works by his son Gilbert Tucker junior (1838-1920) & this event is recorded in the 1851 Census with Gilbert junior being listed as a brickmakers assistant. The 1861 Census now records Gilbert junior as a master brickmaker & another of Gilbert senior son’s, Nathan (born 1841) is also recorded as a brickmaker in this census. By the 1861 Census Gilbert junior had married & left the family home & was living on Bedford Street. We then find in the 1871 Census Nathan (now an invalid) & his wife were living with Gilbert senior & his wife on Park Lane. One can only surmise if Nathan had an accident at the brickworks ? Gilbert senior died in 1876.

Gilbert junior was joined by his two sons, William & Arthur at the brickworks. Eldest son, William Trueman Tucker (1861-1925) was first a book keeper, then in the 1891 Census he is listed as a brick manufacturer. The 1911 Census lists him as Managing Director of Tuckers. William Trueman Tucker was joined by his son William Jones Tucker (1885-46) at the works & in the 1911 Census William Jones Tucker is listed as a brickmaker. William Jones Tucker’s son David William Tucker born in 1925 became an architect & it appears that he took no part in the running of Tuckers. 

Gilbert junior’s second son, Arthur (1869-1936) was a manager at the brickworks in the 1901 Census & in the 1911 Census he listed as Brick & Tile Manufacturer. Arthur’s son, Arthur Leslie Tucker, born 1907 is recorded as a brickmaker in his father’s 1936 Will. 

The article where I obtained this family info from does not record who ran Tucker’s after 1925, so I am taking it that it was first William Jones Tucker, then after his death in 1946 that it was his cousin Arthur Leslie Tucker, but this can not be verified. The Butterley & Blaby Brick Co. took over Tuckers in 1964 & ran Tucker's remaining two Loughborough works until their closure in 1966 & 1967.

A more detailed account of the family's history can be read at this link. http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2016/04/tuckers.html

As said Tuckers operated four brickworks over the years & these where situated on Park Lane (this road was later renamed Beacon Road), Park Road (this road had previously known as Far Park Lane in the 1860’s/70’s), William Street & the Great Central Works situated on Windmill Road (the part of the road where the works was accessed was later renamed Beeches Road). 

Gilbert senior in 1848 established his first works on Park Lane & is coloured yellow on the 1883 OS map & corresponding maps below. The 1851 Census records him as living on Far Park Lane (later re-named Park Road). The first trade directory entry that I have for Gilbert Tucker & Son is in White’s 1863 edition when his works is listed as being on Park Lane (yellow). We then find in Harrod’s 1870 edition that a 2nd works is listed on Far Park Lane (Park Road) & is coloured green on the 1883 map below. It’s unknown what year this yard was started. 

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1883.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1919.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1938.

I have to say at this point Gilbert senior died in 1876 & Gilbert junior took full control of the business. Kelly’s 1876 edition records two Tucker entries, the first is G. Tucker & Sons, Forest Road, Loughborough & the address of Forest Road could be Gilbert junior’s home address as he is recorded as living at 12, Forest Road in the 1871 Census. There is an alternative option for the Forest Road entry as the William Street brickworks (Tucker’s 3rd yard) is shown on maps as being also being accessible from Forest Road. 

The second Tucker’s entry in Kelly’s 1876 edition is for Tucker & Moss, Radmoor, Loughborough & this is the William Street works coloured blue on 1882 OS map below. William Street is coloured orange & Forest Road is red. I have found that James Moss had been in partnership with Gilbert senior from at least 1860. There are two more trade directory entries for Tucker & Moss in White’s 1877 & Wills Almanac 1878 editions & it will have been Gilbert junior who was in partnership with Moss at these dates. I am taking it that this partnership ended soon after 1877 possibly with the death of James Moss ? It is not known if Gilbert junior continued to run this works after 1877, but the yard is still shown on the 1901 map then gone on the 1919 map. Trade directories reveal that after 1891 only G. Tucker & Sons are listed as brickmaking in Loughborough, so I can only surmise that Tuckers were still running this William Street works up to the beginning of the 1st World War. If I get the answer to this question, I will update the post.

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

Next I found an entry in the London Gazette dated 23rd of May 1878 which records that Gilbert Tucker (junior) of Loughborough, Brickmaker & George Hodson of Loughborough, a civil engineer had given notice in respect of the invention of "improvements in kilns for drying bricks, tiles, terra-cotta, sanitary pipes & other pottery ware, lime, cement & for salt glazing”. Whether this amounted to an actual Patent, I do not know. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/24329/page/3127/data.pdf

Kelly’s 1881 edition again records Gilbert at Forest Road, then in Kelly's 1891 edition the listing is for the Park Road works (green). Kellys 1895 lists just Loughborough. We next find along with the Park Road works there is a new works listed in Kelly’s 1899 edition & this is the Great Central works (4th works) & I have coloured this works purple on the 1901 & 1938 maps below. This newly established works was situated off Windmill Road, just south of the Great Central Railway Station. The works was served by it’s own railway line which ran into the centre of the works & the company used a Hoffman type kiln to produce their bricks. Part of Windmill Road was later renamed Beeches Road (sometime between the 1901 map & the recording of this renamed road on the 1919 map). The 1938 map below shows this change & I have coloured Beeches Road red. 

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

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1938.

Kelly’s 1900 entry is same as 1899, then from Kelly’s 1908 edition to the last trade directory available in 1941 the entry is G. Tucker & Sons, Great Central Brickworks. Loughborough. A 1951 advert for the company lists 3 yards & these are Great Central, Beacon Road (formally Park Lane) & Park Road. I have found however that the Park Road works is shown as disused on the 1919 & 1938 OS maps & these two dates coincide with both World Wars, so this works may have been temporally closed at these two times due to shortage of men to operate them. It is unknown when the Park Road works closed for good, but it may have been in the 1950’s. As said the Butterley & Blaby Brick Co. took over Tucker’s two remaining works in 1964 & a newspaper article records that the Beacon Road (Park Lane) works closed in April 1966 due to the lack of demand for bricks & the un-economical cost to Butterley & Blaby to update the works to using modern oil-fired kilns. The Great Central works did not last much longer either with Butterley & Blaby closing it in 1967, thus ending 119 years of brick production at all of the Tucker’s works. 

So on to the dates (known & estimated) that Tuckers works are thought to have been operational. 

William Street - 1876, but may have been as early as 1860 to the early 1910’s.

Park Lane later re-named Beacon Road - 1858 to April 1966. 

Park Road - previously called Far Park Lane - 1870 to mid 1950’s.

Great Central works - 1898 to 1967.

Going back to the William Street works & with it being accessible from Forest Road via a footpath, both Lynne & fellow Loughborough brick researcher Richard Thorpe have informed me that this old footpath goes to the Ingle Pingle allotments & it then carries on to the old brickwork's clay pit which is now full of water. There is however a new footpath called Emanuel Way which takes you round to the pond. I have just been informed (9.6.20.) that a large steel fence has been erected to protect you from going to near to this very deep water & the pond is no longer visible because the area is all overgrown, so I have added a link to Google maps for you to see this former brickworks site & another Google maps link to the street view of the pond from Adam Dale road.

The Great Central works is now covered by the housing on Tucker’s Road & the claypit now filled with water was once called Tucker’s Pond is now called Charnwood Water & there is a footpath around this water to have a pleasant walk around. 

Tesco now occupies the site of the Park Road works & the nearby Park Lane (Beacon Road) works is now an industrial site & there is a park between this site & Tesco’s.

The 1883 map above of Park Lane & Park Road also shows a brickworks situated on Ling Lane which I have coloured red & with finding one trade directory listing for Joseph Griggs & Co. Loughborough in the Brick Makers section of Kelly's 1881 edition there is the option Joseph Griggs owned this Ling Lane yard. The 1881 census reveals Joseph Griggs is listed as a Timber Merchant living on Forest Road, Loughborough. So it appears Griggs delved into brick making for a short period of time because we find he is still listed as a Timber Merchant in the 1891 census. This Ling Lane works is no longer shown on the 1900 OS map.

Another Loughborough brickmaker James Bombroffe is listed in trade directories from 1863 to 1877 as brickmaking with the address's of Middle Park Lane & Park Lane & from the 1861 & 1871 census I have established his yard was next to Gilbert Tuckers on Park Lane, with both men recorded as living at Brickyard Cottages in the 1861 census, then living next door to one another in the 1871 census on Park Lane. With these two brick yards being situated halfway down Park Lane, I have come to the conclusion that this is how the word Middle was added to describe the location of these two brick yards. The larger scale 1883 OS map below shows Tuckers yard & what was left of Bombroffe's yard (coloured orange) which were the clay pits which had filled with water. I then found in the 1881 census that Bombroffe was still brickmaking & had moved to Syston, living on Oxford Street & possibly working at a brickyard which is shown on the 1883 map as being a short distance from Oxford Street along a Public Footpath. No bricks stamped Bombroffe have so far turned up. Please note Gilbert Tucker also owned the other works shown on this map, situated on Park Road.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1883.

Now back to Gilbert Tucker. Although I have found quiet a few of these Genuine Hand Made bricks, not one of them has been pressed crisp enough, so that you can read all of the letters perfectly.

This is the reverse of Genuine Hand Made & is the best example that I have ever found, the other side of this brick, you can hardly read. That's hand mades for you. 

Tudorstyl was one of Gilbert's brand names. The others being TSL, Newstyl & Multiruf, examples of each are shown below, but I think the Newstyl & Multiruf examples below were made in the 1960's with these examples having the name stamped on the end of the brick & we know the Newstyl came from a house built in 1963. The Multiruf brand of bricks was first introduced by Tuckers in1916 & are still made today by Hanson, at their works in Desford, Leicestershire. 
Hanson's came by the Multiruf name when the Butterley Brick Company purchased Tucker's in 1964, Butterley in turn were then taken over by the Wiles Group/Hanson Trust in 1968. In 2007 Hanson Brick became part of the Heidelberg Cement Group. I can now update that in 2015 Hanson's was sold to Forterra & rebranding to that name took place with immediate effect. In 2018 an application was put forward by Forterra to build a new Desford plant adjacent to the old works & will be operational in 2021 with the capacity to produce 180 million bricks per year. 

Photographed by David Haslam in-situ at his 1963 built bungalow in Leicestershire.

Photographed by Angela Lyons in-situ at her 1963 built bungalow in Mapperley Park, Nottingham. The 1939 advert shown later in the post advertises Tuckers were making Newstyl bricks back then.

This Multiruf example with having the registration number stamped in it may have been made anytime after 1919 when the Multiruf name was first registered as a trade mark.

Leicester Daily Mercury - Tuesday 16 March 1937. 

Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Leicester Evening Mail - Monday 28 April 1952. 

Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of  THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

This Multifuf brick may have been made before the name was registered as a Trade Mark in 1919.

This machine made brick by Gilbert is dated 1888, the same year as the entry in Wright's Trade Directory.

In the 1860's Gilbert was asked by Edward Gripper to supply some of the facing bricks (possibly like the brick above) for St. Pancras Station & Hotel in London, as the Nottingham Patent Brick Company, who were the main brick contractor, could not keep up with the demand for the 60 million bricks that it eventually took to build the Station & Hotel.

Another dated brick, this one is 1887. 

Another variation of Gilbert's work. You have to study this one to decipher the letters of G. T. & Sons. To see the lettering more clearly I have now added this tile which has the addition of Limited.

These next two bricks, TSL - Tucker & Son, Loughborough, I believe were made either by William Trueman Tucker or by his son, William Jones Tucker. I have found many examples of these bricks with the large letters on, the last ones seen where at the old Mansfield General Hospital which was demolished in 2014.

With receiving an old advert (shown at the end of the post) in March 2022, I can now reveal that Old Style TSL & Rustic TSL bricks were made from at least 1914 onwards.

Added - 9.2.15.

John Spencer has sent me his childhood memories of growing up near Tucker's brickworks. He has also sent me maps showing the locations of both yards. The Park Road works is partly built on with houses & Tesco. The second on Great Central Road has houses built upon it with one of the roads being named Tuckers Road & the old clay pit has been formed into Charnwood Water.

John writes :- Growing up I lived on Park Road near the cricket ground and from our back bedroom window, could clearly see the main chimney of the Tuckers Road site, belching black smoke as the coal boiler was fired up. (1960-1967) The kilns (of which there were many) also periodically spewed smoke which again was visible in the distance. This used to fascinate me and as a teenager prior to site being cleared spent many happy hours exploring it with a few mates.

Up the road next to where Tesco now stands is a Catholic church. To the left of the church was a short overgrown lane with a huge derelict brick building at the end.  Again there was a tall brick chimney to it's rear which I now take to be the pump house for the brick pit behind.  On the opposite side of the flooded pit and then totally overgrown site (Beacon Rd side) is where the kilns had stood into the late 70s, the flooded part-filled pit lay in between.

A local builder (Wm Davis) bought the site around 1967? and used the pit to dump building waste in.  Unfortunately they lobbed in a good few tonnes of plaster board which then began to liberate rather large quantities of hydrogen sulphide gas giving rise to what became known as the Shelthorpe smell!  (gut wrenchinly strong rotten egg) The problem took considerable time and effort to cure despite capping the pit with clay, again it stood derelict until the late 80s when the supermarket was built.

The border of the site as I knew it extended, at it's eastern end, between Park Road & Beacon Road along the line of Landsdown Drive and at it's Western end between Parklands Drive and Beacon Road along the line of Crosshill lane.  The Crosshill lane section was and still is used for agriculture. Whether or not it was quarried I don't know but if it were it would have been back-filled long before I was born.
I guess this was the original hole used for St Pancras.

Interestingly I have seen and nearly acquired the last ever brick made by Tuckers.  As a 4-5 year old my Mum used to take old textiles from home to a Rag man on Craddock St in Loughborough.  The company, long defunct, was called Johnsons Metals and operated from a little yard next to the old dole office on Buckhorn Square. Just inside the office door on the window ledge was a proudly displayed a brick stamped "The last Brick Made By G Tucker and Sons". As a teenager some years later and prior to the area being redeveloped I "weighed in" some bicycle parts and tried to persuade the guy to sell me the brick as I (for some reason) found myself drawn to it.  Needless to say he wouldn't !

Thanks John for sharing your memories. 

I wonder what's happened to that Last Brick now ? 

I would certainly like to have a photo of it, so If anyone knows of it's location, please get in touch.

Added 8.5.22.

Barry Peabody has emailed me with his childhood memories of Tucker's Beacon Road works. Many Thanks, Barry. 

I just seached on the Phorpres name (Peterborough) having seen one of their sample bricks at a collector's fair in Shrewsbury. I knew the name and nearly bought it, but it set me thinking of the name of the Loughborough brick works opposite where I lived from the late 1940s to 1963 - and that is how I found your great site.

I lived at 1 Holt Drive, which is directly opposite the Beacon Road entrance of Tucker's brickworks. Holt Drive (and others) only show on the 1938 OS Map because the houses weren't built until 1936 (or thereabouts). I moved to London in 1963 and my parents moved to Shepshed in the late 1960's and by then on the frontage of the old brickworks, the Beacon Pub had been built. I remember the issue of the "Shelthorpe Stink" because it was some years before the filled-in quarry could be built on. They had to install breather pipes to disperse the methane and it was often discussed whether it was (or ever would be) safe to build on it because of the fill that had been used.

Even as a kid, I don't think the quarry could have been used because (always against our mother's warning) we used to slide down the steep slope on our backsides and try to stop before hitting the water that lay in the bottom of the pit. Walking back up to do it again was always a struggle. I suppose the clay marks on our rear ends was always a giveaway as to where we'd been.  It was easy to get onto the site through a gap in the railings alongside Beacon Road. The water was a good place for frog and toad spawn and when the froglets were big enough the disperse they left en masse and crossed Beacon Road. At times it was like a blanket of small frogs and, even with the lower number of cars then, many of them were squashed.

A 2018 find at Cawarden Reclamation, these bricks were mixed in with TSL bricks on the pallet & may have been made by the Butterley Brick Co. during their three years ownership of Tuckers. Up to yet no bricks stamped Butterley Brick Co. Loughborough have been found. Below is a TSL variation found at Cawarden in May 2022. The cross may signify when it was made ?

Gilbert Tucker intertwined Trade Mark tile found at Cawarden Reclamation Yard in June 2020 & below is a 1927 advert bringing your attention to " Without this Mark none are Genuine." 

Reproduced from the Richard Thorpe Collection.

I found this Loughborough Bricks - G. Tucker & Son Makers in April 2021 & it was the only one mixed in with many other bricks at a reclamation yard. I am wondering if it was made around 1927 with the company also advertising their Loughborough Roofing Tiles as shown in the advert above. 

Many thanks to Paul & Cynthia for sending me these three adverts, added 3.3.22.

The Architects Compendium 1911

The Architects Standard Catalogue 1914-17

The Architects Standard Catalogue 1939-41

An in-depth account of the family history of Gilbert Tucker & his descendants can be read at this link.
http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/tuckers.html

Many thanks to - 

Lynne from Loughborough who's article has been invaluable in establishing the Tucker's family tree. 

Richard Thorpe, also from Loughborough for supplying me with photos, info & trade directory entries for this post.

David Haslam & Frank Lawson- brick images.

John Spencer - his account of Tucker's.

Barry Peabody - childhood memories of Tucker's.

Added - 2.12.18.

I have added this South Leicester Colliery Co. brick with it having G. Tucker stamped in it. This company is first listed in trade directories in 1891 & the date matches when Gilbert junior was brickmaking. So if it is the same Gilbert why is he recorded as an agent for the colliery company. If I find the answer I will update the post.

Bennett - Brickmakers in Derby, Nottingham & Lincoln.

Since taking Nottingham Brickmakers - Part 1 offline for an update I have found that search engines are taking you to a blank page, so here is the direct link to this post with it having connections to this post.
https://eastmidlandsnamedbricks.blogspot.com/2016/05/nottingham-brickworks-part-1-mapperley.html

This post all started with an email from Canada, requesting two Bennett of Spondon bricks, which led to me to delve into my shed & the archives of the web. With the help of Carole & Avril (nee Bennett) & others, I have been able to put this post all together & bring it to the Web. I wish to say a big "Thank You" to all those who are credited in the post. 

Originally I had only got two Bennett of Derby bricks, but with the help of fellow brick collector Phil Sparham, who's bricks I had photographed for my blog, I was able fulfil Carole's request for two Spondon bricks made at her descendants brickworks. A trip up to Skipton was next on the list, to deliver the bricks which Avril had searched the past 10 years for. Carole is hoping to be able to take her's back to Canada. I'll keep you posted on that one. Below are the bricks for the sisters, kindly donated by Phil Sparham.

First of all I have identified that there are two possibly three separate Bennett families working at six different brickworks in the East Midlands, which I believe are somehow connected & with so many Bennett's making bricks, brickmaking must be in their blood. I have been unable to establish the direct connection between Carole & Avril's Bennett's who operated their Spondon works around 1851 to the Derby Bennett's who are recorded as owning the Spondon works from 1857. I have wrote about the third Bennett family in my Derby Brickworks part 1 post.

So I first start with the Bennett's that established the Slack Lane Brickworks in Derby & with me doing new research on this branch of the Family in depth on Ancestry I have now updated the post. The main point that I have established was that there was only one Richard Bennett & after his death in 1885 his business was run by his Executors as Richard Bennett & Co. So the theory of a second Richard Bennett has now been removed & some information gleamed from the web has had to be dismissed. However Richard's son, Richard C. Bennett b.1877 is recorded as Brick Manufacturer aged 24 in the 1901 census. Hopefully this new account is more accurate, but there are still gaps to be filled.

Thomas Bennett was born in 1806 in Stapenhill, Derbyshire & I have found that Thomas Bennett is listed in trade directories at various addresses in Derby & these addresses equates either to his home address or to his works which was accessible from both Slack Lane & Uttoxeter Road. Thomas's works is only recorded as the Slack Lane Works in his 1852 & 1857 trade directory entries. 

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey. Published 1886, surveyed 1882.

Slack Lane & Thomas's brickworks are both coloured yellow on the 1882 OS map above.

Trade Directory listings for Thomas Bennett.
1849 Glover - New Uttoxeter Road, Derby.
1852 Freebody - Builder, brick, tile, quarry, Newcastle Tile & Sanitary Pipe Manufacturer, residence, 44 Old Uttoxeter Road, brickyards Slack Lane & Burton Road, depot, Siddals Road. I have been unable to establish the location of this Burton Road works.
1855 Kellys - 44, Old Uttoxeter Road & Siddals Road.
1857 Whites - Slack Lane & Siddals Road Wharf.
1864 Kellys - New Uttoxeter Road & Siddals Road.

Thomas is also recorded as owning a second works at Spondon in White's 1857 edition & Harrow & Harrod's 1860 edition & I write more about this works later.  

This Bennett brick has raised letters & maybe an early example made by Thomas.

1852 Advert.

Thomas & his wife Mary produced four sons & four daughters, of which two sons became brickmakers & one daughter married Henry Leese who later became a brickmaker. The 1841 census records Thomas & his family as living on Old Uttoxeter Road. Then the 1851 census records Thomas & family as living at 44, Old Uttoxeter Road. The three children which play a part in the next part of the Bennett story are eldest daughter Mary born 1833, 3rd son William b. 1844 & 4th son Richard b.1847 & it was Richard who was to be the next owner of Company after Thomas had passed away. I have not been able establish if Thomas's other two sons, Thomas junior & John became brickmakers as they are not listed in the next census with Thomas & Mary.

In either July, August or September 1853 eldest daughter Mary married Henry Hugh Leese (b.1830) of Tunstall, Staffs., a Commercial Traveller (salesman), a job which he is still recorded as doing in the 1861 & 1871 Census, becoming a brickmaker/partner by 1876. I write more about Henry Leese later.

In the 1861 Census Thomas Bennett was still living at the same address & recorded as a Master Brickmaker & employing 38 men & 18 boys. Third son William, born 1844 is recorded as a Grocer aged 21 at the time of his marriage in 1865 to Fanny Margaret Hunt aged 22. The couple went on to have three daughters & in the 1871 census William is recorded as a brickmaker & living at 1, Granville Street, Derby. So I am taking it that he was brick making with his father Thomas. From the 1881 census we find Fanny is listed as a widow & head of the family, so William had died by 1881. I have been unable to find the date of his death, but he would have only been in his early thirties. 

It appears Thomas Bennett must have first leased the land his brickworks was situated on because in March 1863 together with William Ratcliff a Derby Ironmonger, they purchased the Slack Lane brickworks site from Thomas Cooper, a Fellmonger (a preparer of skins or hides of animals, especially sheepskins, prior to leather making). Cooper's works may be the one marked on 1882 OS map above as the Granby Leather Works, situated on Slack Lane. The purchase of the Slack Lane land came from an Indenture dated 25th of March 1863 which I have images of. 

My next find is that Thomas Bennett owned a brickworks in Stoke & he is listed in Kelly's Staffs. 1868 edition at Spoutfield, Stoke. This will be a brickworks called Spoutfield Tileries which was in Cliff Vale & was situated at the end of Brick Kiln Lane where the road meets Shelton New Road. I have coloured this works yellow on the 1898 OS map below. 

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

Photos by Ken Perkins.

This Bennett reverse Derby brick was found in Stoke & is thought to have been made at the Spoutfield Works, Stoke because the colour of the clay is totally different to Bennett bricks which were made in Derby. The brick collector who found this brick has said that several of these dark coloured bricks have turned up in the Stoke area, hence me coming to the conclusion that they were made at Spoutfield & I have not found any of these dark coloured bricks in the Derby area. As to the reverse being stamped Derby & not Stoke, Thomas Bennett may have stamped them this way to distinguish his bricks from Joseph Bennett who produced his bricks at nearby Basford Tileries in Stoke. As of yet I have not been able to establish if Thomas Bennett was related to Joseph Bennett with Joseph being born in Stoke & Thomas in Stapenhill, Derbys.

I found this blue Bennett brick at Spondon reclamation yard in May 2021 & my thoughts are that this example was made by Thomas Bennett at his Spoutfield Works in Stoke, as the clay is similar to other bricks found in the Stoke area. There is no town name on the reverse of this one. The reclamation yard had many pallets of bricks made by Stoke brickmakers, hence me leaning towards this brick coming from Stoke. If it had been made by his son Richard at his Tamworth Works the clay would be more smoother in texture, an example of which turned up in September 2022 & is shown next.  

The 1871 census for Thomas records him aged 65 & now living at 49, Old Uttoxeter Road with Mary aged 61 & Richard aged 24, a traveller (salesman). I am assuming Richard was a brick salesman for his father's company. This census records Thomas was now employing 250 men & boys, so it appears brick making at his three works, Slack Lane, Derby, Spondon & Spoutfield, Stoke was thriving. 

Sadly Thomas died on the 8th of October 1871 leaving a Estate valued at £8,000 pounds, that equates to nearly a One Million Pounds in today's money - WOW. The Executors in Thomas Will are listed as his wife, Mary; Thomas Slack, brickmaker; Henry Leese, Commercial Traveller & son-in-law; & Richard Bennett, son & Brickmaker. This document is the first recording of son Richard being a brickmaker, so I am taking it that it was after his father's death that he took control of his father's three brickworks. Kelly's Staffs. 1872 edition reads Thomas Bennett (exors of), Spoutfield, Stoke & this is the last entry for this works being owned by the Bennett family, so I am taking it that it was sold soon afterwards. This Spoutfield works was next operated by Joseph Caddick. I do not have a 1872 trade directory recording the two Derby works, the next entry is in Kelly's 1881 edition recording Richard Bennett at the helm. For some unknown reason Thomas Bennett's Estate was not finalised until 1885 & this notice appeared in the London Gazette dated 22nd September 1885.

THOMAS BENNETT,Deceased.
Pursuant to the Act 22 and 23 Victoria, cap. 35, intituled " An Act to further amend the Law of Property, and
to relieve Trustees."
NOTICE is hereby given, that all persons having any
claims against the estate of Thomas Bennett, late of Derby, Brick Maker, deceased (who died on the 8th day of October, 1871, and whose will was proved by Mary Bennett, since deceased, Thomas Slack, Henry Leese, since deceased, and Richard Bennett, the exe- cutors, in the Derby District Registry of Her Majesty's Court of Probate on the 24th October, 1871), are hereby required to send particulars of their debts or claims to us the undersigned, on or before the 17th October, 1885, at the expiration of which date the said surviving exe- cutors will proceed to distribute the assets amongst the parties entitled thereto, having regard to the claims only of which they then have notice.—Dated this 14th day of September, 1885.
MOODY and WOOLLEY, Solicitors, Bank-cham- bers, Derby.
© Crown Copyright. The London Gazette. Published 22nd September, 1885. Issue 25513 Page 4484.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/25513/page/4484

Before I write about Richard Bennett I tell you about the partnership which was formed between Richard Bennett & his brother-in-law Henry Leese & as previously wrote Henry Leese married Thomas Bennett's eldest daughter Mary in 1853 & they went on to have two daughters. The 1871 census & Thomas Bennett's Will in October 1871 still record Henry Leese as a Commercial Traveller, but by 1876 Henry Leese was in partnership with Richard Bennett as Bennett & Leese, brickmakers at Derby & Spondon. This is the entry in Kelly's 1876 edition - Bennett & Leese, 49 Old Uttoxeter Road, Derby; & at Spondon; depot, Siddals Road, Derby. They were making bricks, roofing tiles, pipes & chimney pots. There is also one entry for Bennett & Leese at the Cliff Brickworks near Tamworth in Kelly's Warks. 1876 edition.

This Bennett & Leese brick which is stamped Red & Blue Brick Works, Derby is in Derby Museums brick collection. I first thought this brick had been made at the Spoutfield brickworks in Stoke when it was owned by Richard Bennett & Henry Leese when they were acting as Executors of Thomas Bennett's Will in 1872, but now with studying the colour of it's clay I have come to the conclusion that it was made by Bennett & Leese at their Cliff Works near Tamworth around 1876 as per Kelly's Warks. trade directory entry for the duo.  The type of clay required to make blue bricks is not found in Derby, hence the conclusion that it was made in Tamworth were this type of clay is found.

The partnership of Bennett & Leese are next listed in Kelly's 1881 edition at 49, Old Uttoxeter Road, Derby; & at Spondon; depot, Siddals Road, Derby.  

Many thanks to Frank Lawson for finding me this Bennett & Leese, Melbourne brick, but it has raised the question in what year did this partnership purchase the Melbourne works as Richard Bennett is not recorded until Kelly's 1881 edition as owning this works on his own. This works is certainly not listed as being owned by Bennett & Leese in their Kelly's 1881 entry, but we do know this partnership had been formed by 1876 as per trade directory entries for the duo. I have established this brickworks was not actually in Melbourne, but was in Kings Newton which is in the Parish of Melbourne. This brickworks had been run by Henry Orton up to 1861, then after it had been run by someone else (unknown), Richard Bennett purchased the works at a date unknown. We know this works is listed as being owned by Richard on his own in Kelly's 1881 edition. Maps showing the location of the Spondon & Kings Newton (Melbourne) works are shown later in the post.

1881 sees Henry Leese setting up a new brick venture on his own, either purchasing or leasing the Rowditch Brickworks which was situated on New Uttoxeter Road, Derby & was adjacent to the Slack Lane Works. This is the entry in Kelly's 1881 edition - Henry Leese, offices, 14, St James Street; works Rowditch Brickworks, Uttoxeter Road, Derby. I have coloured this Rowditch Brickworks purple on the 1881 OS map above. Henry is recorded in the 1881 census as Brick manufacturer employing 23 men & 14 boys, living with his wife Mary & two daughters at Rowditch House, New Uttoxeter Road, Derby. There are no more trade directory entries for Bennett & Leese as I sadly tell you that Henry Leese passed away in 1882 aged 52. A document on Ancestry does not give the exact date of his death, but it was in either July, August or September of 1882. As of yet no bricks stamped Leese, Derby have been found. 

Richard Bennett was born 31st of March, 1847, the youngest son of Thomas & Mary Bennett. In the 1871 census Richard aged 24 is recorded as living with his parents at 49, Old Uttoxetter Road, Derby, profession, Traveller & this may have been as a brick salesman for his father's company. Then in his father's Will dated 24th of October 1871, Richard is recorded as being a Brickmaker & one of the Executors of Thomas's Will. This 1871 document is the first reference recording Richard Bennett as a brickmaker.

On the 15th day of September 1874 Richard Bennett married Elizabeth Yates. They produced four sons, Thomas W. Bennett, b.1876 (possibly died as an infant, as I cannot find him in subsequent censuses); Richard C. Bennett, b.1877; Edward H. Bennett, b.1879 & Robert Chambers Bennett, b.1882. 

With Richard now running the family brickmaking business from 1871 we find that in 1876 he is listed in two Kelly's 1876 editions (Derbys & Warks) as being in partnership with his brother-in-law, Henry Leese trading as Bennett & Leese, brickmakers in Derby & Spondon; & Cliff near Tamworth. This partnership may have been formed as early as 1872 with the duo still owning Thomas's brickworks in Stoke at this 1872 date. It appears the Stoke works was sold shortly after 1872. The partnership of Bennett & Leese are again listed in Kelly's 1881 edition at Derby & Spondon. As previously wrote Henry Leese died in 1882.

It's at this point that I tell you about my first reference that I have found recording Richard Bennett manufacturing brick-making machinery together with William Sayer. It's in the form of a Bennett & Sayer letterhead which gives the date of 1877 when the company was Established in Nuns Street, Derby. Although not dated this letterhead may have been come from the 1920's/30's. Previously this Nun Street site had been a Silk Mill. 

Martin Hammond (sadly passed away) a well respected authority on writing about brick making & brick companies wrote in the British Brick Society's Journal that the Nottingham Patent Brick Co. in 1879 installed brick-making machinery using the wire-cut method made by Richard Bennett of Derby. The Company of Bennett & Sayer at a later date played a significant part in the running of the Slack Lane Brickworks & I write more about Bennett & Sayer later.

Kelly's 1881 edition for the first time records Richard Bennett in his own name as Manufacturer of red, white & blue bricks, roof tiles, quarry tiles & sanitary pipe with offices at 100 Liversage, Chamber Street, St James Street, Derby & Works at Uttoxeter Road, Derby & at Melbourne, Spondon & Tamworth. On the next line in this 1881 directory Richard is also listed at Kings Newton, Derby & as previously wrote the Kings Newton & Melbourne works were the same works with it being situated in the village of Kings Newton which was in the Parish of Melbourne. 

When I wrote this post I did not know the location of Richard's Tamworth Works, but in 2021 with new info found I can now enlighten you. A Richard Bennett "Bill of Sale" dated July 1885 lists his three works as Uttoxeter Road, Derby; Kings Newton & Peel Tilleries, Cliff near, Tamworth. I then found in Kelly's Warwickshire directories not Staffordshire directories as you would expect with Tamworth being in Staffordshire the listing of Bennett & Lees, Cliff, Kingsbury, Tamworth in it's 1876 edition. Lees in the entry should read Henry Leese, Richard's brother-in-law. Kelly's 1880 edition only lists Richard Bennett at Cliff, Kingsbury, Tamworth; & at Derby, so it appears some time after 1876 & before 1880 Richard took sole charge of running the Cliff Works. Richard is listed again at Cliff in Kelly's 1884 edition. I have coloured Richard's Cliff Works yellow on the 1887 OS Map below. The partnership of Bennett & Leese still continued at Derby & Spondon until Henry Leese's death in 1882. 

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1887.

In the 1881 census Richard Bennett aged 34 is recorded as a Brick Manufacturer employing 90 men & 60 boys, living at Thorne Cliff Villa, Derby with his wife Elizabeth aged 26 & their three boys, Thomas 5, Richard C. 4 & Edward 2. Their youngest son Robert was born in 1882 & as previously wrote it appears Thomas may have died before the 1891 census. Also in Richard's 1881 census entry there is the listing of William Sayer, Engineer aged 27 who was a visitor to Thorne Cliff Villa on the day of the Census. As we know he was the Sayer in Bennett & Sayer. 

Examples of Richard's white & red bricks made at Derby, blue bricks made at his Tamworth works, then five bricks made at his Kings Newton/Melbourne works. It is unknown if the Bennett reverse Spondon bricks shown at the beginning of this post were made by Richard or his father Thomas, but I am favouring Thomas. 

Photo by Simon Patterson.

R. Bennett rev. Kings Newton by Frank Lawson.

Richard Bennett reverse Melbourne.

This brick has Melbourne on it's reverse.

This brick has Melbourne on it's reverse.

Added October 2022, two new finds. R. Bennett rev. Melbourne & Bennett, Spondon, also made by Richard.

On the 1881 Spondon OS map below I have marked three brickworks, one of which is marked disused. Although I do not have proof of the ownership of these yards, I think that the yellow works was owned by Richard Bennett at this date & the blue disused works may have been owned by Richard's father Thomas Bennett. This leaves the red works & I have two entries in Kelly's 1876 & 1881 editions for the Antill Brothers brickmaking at Spondon & this may have been their yard. 

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1881.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey. Published 1885.
1885 OS map showing the location of the Kings Newton yard.

Richard Bennett continues to run his brickworks until his death on the 9th of October 1885. His abode is given as 47, London Road, Derby & he left a Personal Estate of £7,729 pounds which equates to One Million Pounds today. The Executors of his Will are given as his Wife, Elizabeth; farmer Henry Boam the Younger & William Sayer, Engineer. After the death of Richard in 1885 I think this was when his Executors decided to sell the Cliff Brickworks near Tamworth to the Hathern Station Brick Co. who are listed at the Cliff Works in Kelly's Warks. 1888 edition. 

Kelly's 1887 edition now records, Richard Bennett, brickmaker, Slack Lane, exors (executors) of. Then on the next line it says, Mrs. Bennett, Brick & Tile manufacturer, Uttoxeter Road. So it appears Elizabeth Bennett, Henry Boam & William Sayer as Executors were now running the brickworks & the brick-making machine side of the business. The 1891 census records Elizabeth Bennett as Head of the family & "living on her own means." Sons Richard C. aged 14, Edward aged 12 & Robert aged 9 are listed scholars. 

In Kelly's 1891 edition there is the first entry for Richard Bennett & Co. at Slack Lane, Derby & this Company was run by Richard's Executors as Richard's boys were still listed as scholars in 1891. Kelly's 1895 edition records the same entry as the 1891 edition.

I then found this Advert in Kelly's 1895 edition for Bennett & Sayer, Engineers having their Head Office at the Slack Lane Brickworks.

Bennett & Sayer Engineers Ltd. are listed in the Machine Manufacturers section of Kelly's 1916 & 1922 editions at the Engineering Works, Nuns Street, Derby with Head Office at Rowditch, Uttoxeter Road, Derby. Now this office address of Rowditch, Uttoxeter Road will be the Slack Lane Brickworks as recorded in the 1895 advert. Rowditch comes from Rowditch Farm which had occupied the area of land between Uttoxeter Road & Slack Lane. I also have to add to save confusion that there was also a brickworks owned by Joseph Tomlinson called Rowditch Brick Works (coloured purple on the 1881 OS map above) which was situated on the former farm land at this time & was next door to the Slack Lane Brickworks. Another Bennett & Sayer advert can be seen at this Link, on a fellow brick collector's Flickr site.

I have reason to believe that the Bennett's Spondon brickworks had closed by 1897 because the 1899 OS map now shows a Tar Works occupied the site. With the death of Richard in 1885 the Spondon Works may have closed back then as there are no trade directory listings for the works after his death. From a written account of the Kings Newton works that closed in 1899 & the 1899 OS map only shows the marked "Old Clay Pit". Kelly's 1899 & 1900 trade directories just lists Richard Bennett & Co. at Slack Lane, although there is the addition of a distribution yard at London Road Wharf, Derby.

We next find in the 1901 census that Richard's son Richard Charles Bennett aged 24 is listed as Brick Manufacturer living with his mother Elizabeth at 126, Old Uttoxeter Road, Derby. Brothers, Edward aged 22 is listed as a Surveyor & 19 year old Robert is recorded as a Builders Apprentice. So it appears from 1901 or even a couple of years earlier Richard C. Bennett was now running the brickmaking side of the family business. From information found it appears William Sayer was involved in the running of both Bennett & Sayer Ltd. (Engineers) & Richard Bennett & Co. Ltd. Kelly's 1904 edition is the last entry for Richard Bennett & Co. at Slack Lane, Derby. 

The London Gazette dated 28th of August 1906 (page1, page 2) reveals Richard Bennett & Co. was voluntarily wound up on the 2nd of July 1906 by it's members & on the 24th of July an agreement was signed for the Derby Brick Co. to purchase the brickworks previously owned by Richard Bennett & Co. Shares & debentures in the DB Co. were then distributed to the share holders of the former company. This notice was signed by Chairman William Sayer. The formation of the Derby Brick Co. had all come about with an amalgamation of five local Derby brick companies with the common interest in saving unnecessary expense & to stop the under-cutting of the price of their bricks between themselves. With William Sayer being Chairman of Richard Bennett & Co. he then took up a position within this new company of the Derby Brick Co. At the time of his death in 1918 William Sayer was the Chairman of the Derby Brick Co. It is unknown if Richard Bennett's son Richard Charles Bennett, brick manufacturer in 1901 took up a position within the DB Co. after 1906, but by the 1911 census Richard is recorded as a "Engineer Disengaged" & still living with his mother Elizabeth in Derby who is listed as "Living on her own means". I have written a fuller account of the formation of the Derby Brick Co. in Derby Brickmakers - part 1.

Although owned by the Derby Brick Co., the Slack Lane brickworks in 1931 was still closely associated with Bennett & Sayer & Co. (Engineers) with me finding this letter in Nottingham Archives. Wrote to The Radcliffe Brick Co. & dated 9th December 1931 it states Bennett & Sayer's Mr. Needham would like to arrange a visit to the Radcliffe Brick Co. about their machinery requirements. The letter then goes on to say that Bennett & Sayer would be glad to arrange a visit for Radcliffe's owner Mr. Joseph Onions to visit their Slack Lane brickworks, signed F.L. Nadsworth for Bennett & Sayer. This statement appears on the letterhead shown earlier "As brickmakers, we have perfected our machinery by actual use". You can't say better than that as a recommendation for their products. Then surprisingly the first entry for the Slack Lane brickworks listed as a works owned by the Derby Brick Co. is in Kelly's 1925 edition.

Another snippet of information found in the Derby Daily Telegraph dated 7th of August 1936 regarding the Derby Brick Co & the history of it's Slack Lane Works, tells you "the works was now in it's 100th year. The works Hoffmann Continuous Kiln had been installed by the late Richard Bennett in 1866 with it being only the second kiln of this type to be installed in this country, & the fire which was then kindled has never since been out. In this particular kiln it has been computed that 300,000,000 bricks have been burnt, a quantity beyond the power of mind to conceive." I have to correct the writer of this article to the point that in 1866 the Slack Lane brickworks was owned & being run by Richard Bennett's father Thomas Bennett, so it was Thomas who had the Hoffman kiln built. The earliest reference I have for Richard is the 1871 census recording him aged 24 as a Traveller (possibly a brick salesman or someone who was learning the trade of brickmaking) & living with his father. Then the first Hoffmann Kiln to be built in this country was by Edward Gripper at the Nottingham Patent Brick Co's works in Nottingham. Gripper had negotiated the sole rights with it's inventor to build this type of kiln in the East Midlands, therefore anyone wishing to build a Hoffmann kiln within the area had to apply to Edward Gripper for permission. So I am assuming Thomas Bennett was a very close friend of Edward Gripper with Gripper only getting the rights in 1866. From my findings several other local brickmakers were turned down by Gripper to protect his monopoly in the sale of the vast quantities of bricks that could be produced in a Hoffmann kiln. 

It is unknown in which year the Derby Brick Co. closed it's Slack Lane works, but the company as a whole went into Liquidation on the 6th of March 1968 as recorded in the London Gazette. This notice was signed by Chairman Norman William Sayer, son of William Sayer (as in Bennett & Sayer).  

As wrote William Sayer died on the 14th of December 1918 at his abode, The Mount, Uttoxeter Road leaving effects to the value of £34,727. Recorded in William's Will son Norman William Sayer, Engineer was left all his shares in Bennett & Sayer, taking full control of the running of Bennett & Sayer. As a footnote Bennett & Sayers as Engineers went into voluntary liquidation in 1990.

I now move on to the family history that Avril has sent me & the information that I have gathered from the web covering the Bennett's Carole & Avril are connected to. These Bennett's are more than likely related to the Bennett's that I have just written about, but with the family tree Avril sent me, I have been unable to find the link.

I first start with their direct descendants at Spondon, then Mapperley, Nottingham & then Lincoln, followed by other members of their Bennett family who continued to work at Nottingham.

Francis Bennett 1806-1877, Carole & Avril's 3 x Great Grandfather is recorded in their family history, in making bricks at Spondon in 1851 & was a member of the large Bennett family who were all well known brickmakers & workers at Spondon.

Followed by his son Charles (born 1832), who at the age of 9 started at the yard, learning the art of brick making. Charles progressed in the brickworks & in 1854 he married Mary Ann Holloway who produced him a son, Francis in 1855. The couple when on to have three more children in the following years.

By 1857 the Spondon works owned by Charles family was now in the hands of Thomas Bennett owner of the Slack Lane Works in Derby & as of yet I have still not found the connection between these two Bennett families. 

Charles moved with his young family in 1861 to take up the job of foreman at a brickworks owned by Edward Gripper, in Mapperley, residing at 22 Mapperley Hill, Nottingham. 

Edward Gripper who had been a farmer in Layer Marney, Essex had moved to Nottingham in 1855 to start his brick making company at Mapperley Top, something which he had no experience in. Edward is recorded in Kelly's 1855 edition as Edward Gripper & Company, Mapperley Hill, Nottingham.
The company succeeded & in 1867 Edward Gripper together with William Burgess, who was a brickmaker & coal merchant, formed the Nottingham Patent Brick Company. This new company used the Hoffman Kiln process which Edward Gripper & his managers had previously negotiated the local use of, drastically increasing the companies brick output to 27 million per year. In Edward Gripper's honour bricks were produced with his name on & an example is shown below. 

NPBC went on to produce the millions of facing bricks for St. Pancras Station in London, which they were the main contractor for. When demand outstripped supply Tucker's of Loughborough supplied the extra bricks required to keep the construction of Station on time. So Charles Bennett could well have been involved in overseeing the production of these Nottingham Patent Brick Co. stamped facing bricks (example below) with him being a foreman at Nottingham Patent Brick Company's Mapperley Works.

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw057127

Two ariel photos of the works at Mapperley in 1938.

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw057128

After Charles's wife passed away in 1869, he remarried for the second time to Elizabeth Cooper, producing five more children. 

So with Charles transferring over to the new company, NPBC, he progressed his way up to Works Manager. He then moved to a new house that he had built at 752 Woodborough Road. Along side this house he built a row of terraced houses for his workers. Charles also gave land to build the Wesleyan Chapel on Mapperley Road. 

752 Woodborough Road. Photo by Avril.

Charles rose to great heights in the local community, he was a town councillor, then elected Alderman in 1880 & was also a magistrate. He then marries for the third time to Louisa Crisp. He died in 1909 at the aged of 77. Bennett Street & Bennett Road in Nottingham are named after him in his honour. 

Charles eldest son Francis Thomas (Carole & Avril's Great Grandfather) followed in his father's footsteps becoming clerk at NPBC, with him then moving to Lincoln around 1885/6 to run the Bracebridge brick works. 
Francis Thomas is first recorded in Kelly's Trade Directory as Manager at the Bracebridge Brick & Tile Co. Ltd., works Bracebridge in the 1889 edition. I also have this advert for him from the same year, but in this it records him using his second christian name only. 

A 2023 find in the Lincolnshire Chronicle newspaper dated 3rd of April 1885 reveals T. Bennett, Manger of the Bracebridge Brick Co. was advertising bricks for sale at the works. So this advert firmly puts Francis Thomas Bennett at the Bracebridge works in April 1885.  

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

I have found from the web that the Cross O'Cliffe works together with the South Cliffe & Bracebridge brickworks were amalgamated into the Lincoln Brick Company in the early 1890's.
Francis is next recorded in Kelly's 1892 edition as the Manager of this newly expanded company, The Lincoln Brick Co. with works at West Cliffe & Cross O'Cliffe, Bracebridge. Then in Kelly's 1896 edition, Francis is recorded as Manager at the Lincoln Brick Co. with works at Burton Road, West Cliffe & Cross O'Cliffe, Bracebridge.

Recent find, June 2015, Lincoln Brick Co. 

B denotes Bracebridge Works. 

Francis had fourteen children which is recorded in the 1891 census all living in a small workman's cottage next to the works.  He died at the age of 45 in 1900. His son Charles born 1875 follow his father as manager of this works.

Photo take at & with the courtesy of Lincoln Museum of Life.

W denotes West Cliffe or Waddington Works.

The Lincoln Brick Co. had operated six different sites during it's lifetime. They were West Cliffe, South Cliffe, Cross O'Cliffe, Albion, Bracebridge & Waddington.

Carole & Avril's Grandfather Benjamin did not follow in the family business, becoming a dentist instead, he sadly died at the age of 38 of TB in1929. 
Carole & Avril's father Desmond moved to Yorkshire, with them both only knowing that their Grandfather Benjamin had left shares to him in the brickworks at Bracebridge. It was only after Desmond's death in 2002 that they found out they were descended from a brick making dynasty, coming from Spondon & Mapperley, which went back many years.

Now back to Nottingham, part of works had moved from Mapperley to Dorket Head, Arnold, a site which had been purchased by NPBC from Robinson & Sykes in 1895 to replace the Mapperley Lower Yard which was worked out.  

Other members of the Bennett family to be connected to NPBC have included M. Frank Barnes NPBC manager married to Georgiana Bennett born 1863, Charles Lawrence Bennett NPBC director born 1874, Leslie Charles Bennett director born1902, John Raymond Bennett NPBC director born 1908 & Peter Bennett, director, son of Leslie Charles.

 Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

Charles Lawrence Bennett.

Charles was born in 1874 & died on the 30th November 1950 at his home, Hilcrest in Mapperley, aged 77. Charles had been at the Nottingham Patent Brick Co. for 60 years with him being in the position of Chairman & joint Managing Director when he passed away.

 Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

Leslie Charles Bennett.

Avril has sent me a newspaper article about Leslie Charles, Charles's (1832-1909) Grandson, which I have transcribed below.
Retiring around 1973, Leslie played an important role in progressing the company forward in planing, development & commissioning the works at Dorket Head. Joining the company in 1921, he was works manager by 1928, then general manager in 1931. He joined the board in 1938 progressing to Managing Director in 1950.
Leslie pioneered the development of the mechanical handling of unfired bricks & bringing the six old brickyards in Arnold, Mapperley & Carlton together at Dorket Head. 
He was awarded the Honria Causa Silver Medal by the Institute of Clayworkers in 1971 for his outstanding services to the industry.
He was the eighth generation of the Bennett family to work in the industry started by Robert Bennett some 200 years earlier.

Mike Chapman has supplied me with some photographs of the machinery which Leslie designed & developed in conjunction with the manufacturers Woodfield. These mechanical handling machines where installed at the Top Yard & were in operation until the yard closed in 1967. 

  Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

First moved by fork truck from the hot floor dryer, the unfired bricks were then loaded on to cars, which then went into the kilns.

  Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

 Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

 Photo courtesy of the Mike Chapman Collection.

In this 1962 photo Leslie's son Peter (aged 12) is doing the honours of the first lighting of the newly installed Gibbon's style kiln at Dorket Head. (Leslie is on the left).
Peter followed in the family brickmaking tradition & became works manager & then a director at Lime Lane, Dorket Head before leaving the Company in 1991. Peter's last job at the Company was as Technical Manager at the Maltby Brickworks which Nottingham Brick PLC (NPBC) had purchased in 1979 from the Maltby Brick Company & this works was producing 450,000 engineering bricks per week. Avril tells me that Peter sadly passed away in 2012.  

The Nottingham Patent Brick Company's works at Dorket Head after being run under the Nottingham Brick PLC name & then owned by Marley Brick is now owned & run by Ibstock.

Peter was possibly the last Bennett to be associated with this proud brick making family. 
Unless, out there in this Wide World there is still a Bennett making bricks ?

Update - 5.10.14

Carole & Avril with their bricks at Avril's house, just before Carole's trip back home to Canada.

Carole has just sent me these two pictures of her Spondon brick in Canada, proudly being displayed on her mantlepiece.

She was unable to take the Derby brick because of the baggage weight limit, but is hoping to take it home on her next visit.

Avril is displaying her two bricks in her front porch & they have attracted much interest already.