James Oakes, Pipe & Brickworks, Jacksdale

I have covered Riddings bricks in my Riddings Wall post, but after finding different Ridings bricks from different periods, I decided to show these different designs & expand the history of the company started by James Oakes, born 1788. The company continued with many changes under the Oakes family until 1972, when the pipe & brickworks were purchased by Hepworth, which then closed in 1987. As there were a number of James in the Oakes family, please see the family tree at the end of this post.

We first find James Oakes (born 1788) was working for Thomas Saxelbye, Richard Forrester, Nathaniel Edwards, all of Derby & William Whylde of Southwell & these gentlemen were all partners in Thos. Saxelby & Co. Ironfounders at the Derwent Foundry in Derby, who in 1802 established the Alfreton Iron Works in Riddings. The name of Alfreton was used rather than Riddings with the town of Alfreton being known more nationally. The Alfreton Ironworks was situated at Pye Bridge next to the Cromford Canal & lay within the 300 acre Riddings Estate, Somercotes belonging to Lancelot & Christopher Rolleston. In 1804 Joshua Lomas replaced William Whylde on the board, but left the partnership the following year. At the beginning of 1805 the board took the decision to transfer all of Saxelbye & Co. iron production from it's Derwent Foundry in Derby to their Alfreton Works & George Mushet was appointed manager.  In 1808 the company purchased the Riddings Estate at auction which included Riddings House from the Rolleston family. 1808 sees David Mushet leave the company, selling his shares to James Oakes, who is then appointed manager of the Works. In that same year Thomas Saxelbye also sells his shares to James. James then becomes a full partner in Saxelbye & Co. in 1810.  

1817 sees James purchasing the whole company & estates at auction. He also purchased Richard Forrester's shares to become the sole owner of the Riddings Ironworks. James then proceeds to expand his company in opening several collieries.

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

James then moved his family to Riddings House (coloured green) which came with the purchase of the Alfreton Iron Works. The house & pleasure grounds were set in 80 acres of land in Riddings, Derbyshire, which then became the family home for future generations. James Oakes passed away in 1845. 

In 1846 a brickworks was built next to the Ironworks & is coloured yellow on the map above. This brickworks is no longer shown on the 1899 OS map & new buildings now occupy the site. I then found a new brickworks had been established at Selston Colliery which was sunk in 1874 by James Oakes. I have therefore come to the conclusion that the brickworks at Alfreton Works closed in the 1880's or early 1890's & brick production was moved to the Selston Colliery yard. Today recycling companies, scrap metal yards & a variety of other industries occupy this site now called the Pye Bridge Industrial Estate.

In 1847 James Oakes (born 1816) noticed a black oily substance coming from the walls of his coal mine, which with the help of his brother-in-law, Lyon Playfair who was a chemist, sent a sample to his friend James Young for testing. Then Playfair with the assistance of Edward Meldrum set up a refinery next to James pit to refine the crude oil into paraffin for lamps, yielding 300 gallons per day. Thus creating the World's 1st oil refinery. This only lasted two years as the crude oil dried up.

As wrote James Oakes sank Selston Colliery in 1874 at nearby Pye Hill which is just over the Derbyshire border in Nottinghamshire & the 1880 OS map below shows the associated brick yard, which I have coloured purple. Riddings House & The Alfreton Ironworks are just to the left of this map.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1880.    

We then find by 1900 a larger brick & pipeworks had been built next to Selston Colliery which had now been renamed Pye Hill No. 2 Colliery & I have coloured this larger Pye Hill brickworks purple on the 1913 OS below. It's at a later date that Pye Hill Colliery together with it's brick & pipe works fall within the boundaries of Jacksdale village, Notts. All of the Company's bricks made at this larger works continue to be stamped Riddings. 

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1913.   

We find later members of the Oakes family expanded the company with a joint venture with the Butterley Company in forming the Riddings & District Gas Co. in 1888. By 1914 the company also owned sand & iron ore quarries, manufactured gas & water pipes, cylinders, did specialist work for power stations & produced tar macadam for roads. In 1920 Stanton Iron Works Co. purchased the company's foundries & ironstone works, leaving the coal & clay works to continue under the Oakes Family. In 1947 with the pits being nationalised, the clay works changed its name to Oanco. The company was then purchased by Hepworth Ceramics in 1972. The pipe & brickworks finally closed in 1987. Today green fields with newly planted trees now cover the site of James's pipe & brickworks in Jacksdale & only finding his Riddings bricks reminds us of his rich industrial past & this blog of course !

 Photo supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne

View of one of the round kilns & pipe yard at Pye Hill.

  Photo supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne

Workers loading or unloading the rectangular kiln at Pye Hill.

Photo from the Frank Lawson collection 

Photo supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne

Front cover of Oakes catalogue around 1903/4.

  Photo supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne

Please note the truck has the address of Jacksdale, Notts. on it's door, so we know the brickworks was classed as being in Jackdale by 1937.

View of the pipe & brickworks from the south east in 1946.

 View of the pipe & brickworks from the north west in 1946.

This is probably the newest brick made of the ones shown.

A variation found in Huthwaite.

I acquired this wall coping brick in August 2021. 

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1959.            Image supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne.

1959 map showing the pipe & brickworks, a rectangular brick kiln is marked next to the railway line & it maybe the one in the photo shown above being loaded/unloaded by the men. This map also shows the works had many down-draft round kilns. 

In March 2018 Will Moss found me this Riddings "Blue" brick in Brinsley & it came from the footings of a demolished building. I say blue brick, but it's not a true blue brick made with Etruria marl clay as found in the West Midlands because where this brick is chipped you can see the red clay underneath & this bluish effect is only on the surface. These blue bricks would have been made with local clay & fired at a higher temperature to achieve this bluish effect. The weight of this brick is also heavier that it's red counterpart & may well have been suitable for the underground footings of buildings & been impermeable to water. Will also found a Eastwood blue brick on the same piece of land & this brick also shows where it is chipped that it is red under the surface. Other local bluish bricks that I have found are by Sherwood Colliery, Butterley Brick Co. Kirkby, Shipley & Brinsley. Needless to say that these East Midlands "Blues" did not match their West Midlands counterparts for quality & therefore did not capture a share of the blue brick market.

I have found on the web three possible entries for James & his descendants, as the information does not quite add up, it may not be accurate. Fortunately today we are more accurate with our information.

James Oakes' Family Tree 

James Oakes married Sarah Haden 19 May 1814 at the Church of Saint Michael, Derby.

James & Sarah's children.

Sarah Anne christened 3-5-1815 in Alfreton

James junior christened 6-4-1816 in Alfreton

Mary christened 3-3-1818 in Alfreton

Richard Haden christened 29-11-1819 in Alfreton

Margaret christened 23-8-1821 in Alfreton

Charles Henry christened 7-1-1826 in Alfreton

1841 Census for Alfreton

Living at Riddings House - James 50, wife Sarah 50,

Children - Sarah 25, James 25, Thomas 20, 

Margaret 15 & 6 servants.

The ages of the children match up, but is Richard now known  as Thomas ?

In this next entry from Kelly's Trade Directory 1891, Richard Haden Oakes / Thomas Oakes is now Thomas Haden Oakes esq. J.P., Lord of the Manor & living at Riddings House.

Charles Henry & James jnr. Oakes living at Holly Hurst.

Charles Henry Oakes together with John Wales Laverack are managers at Riddings Colliery & Robert Knowles is the manager at the Iron Works.

An accurate family tree supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne.

James's descendants no longer live at Ridding House, which is now a nursing home.

Many Thanks to Martyn Taylor-Cockayne for supplying me with photos, maps & information of James's Iron & Brickworks.

Jacksdale's history past & present can be read on Martyn's website.

http://www.jacksdale.org.uk/about-us