Kilburn
I have not been able to find the maker of these first two Kilburn bricks, but I date them around 1880's/90's, so they may have been made by the Small Brothers.
Found on the web that there were three brickworks in Kilburn, one was close to the colliery & was situated behind the Station Hotel (now a day nursery) on Brickyard Lane. This area is now marked on modern day maps as Rawson Green with the main part of Kilburn village situated to the south-east. I have also found that there was a glass works located near to this brickworks. The second brickworks was in the centre of Kilburn opposite the Hall in 1876 & was owned by Thomas Foulkes. The third was at Lower Kilburn in the 1930's. So I first write about the Small Brothers then Thomas Foulkes & then the yard at Lower Kilburn.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
T. H. & G. Small
Thomas Henry & George Small. Photo by Frank Lawson courtesy of Derby Museum.
The Brickyard Lane brickworks was associated with Kilbourne Colliery, which had been sunk by & on land owned by John Ray of Heanor Hall between 1828 & 1830. I do not have any detailed information about the brickworks other than it was part of the colliery. John Ray then leased the colliery & brickworks to Thomas Henry & George Small in 1854. The Small brothers also held leases on Stanley Kilbourne Colliery & South Normanton Colliery. Following the death of John Ray in 1867 the ownership of the colliery passed to his son the Reverend George Ray, but after finding himself in financial difficulties the Reverend sold the colliery to the Small Brothers in April 1876. By April 1891 the Small brothers were themselves in financial difficulties & the mortgage on the colliery was re-assigned back to the Reverend George Ray. So now back as lease holders of the colliery, the Smalls were found guilty of not pumping water out of part of their mine which had encroached into Drury-Lowes Denby mine & the Kilburn Colliery Company went into Liquidation in 1893. Kilburn Colliery was then sold to Messrs. Sheard, Hurst & Fell in 1896.
Reverse of T.H. & G. Small. Photo by Frank Lawson courtesy of Derby Museum.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
This 1900 map shows the location of Kilburn Colliery marked in purple & it's brickworks was situated on the other side of the main road which I have marked in yellow at Rawson Green, Kilburn. Kilburn village is just off the bottom of this map.
Thomas Foulkes
Thomas Foulkes is listed in Kelly's Trade Directory as brickmaker in Kilbourne in 1876. The reverse of this brick is stamped Kilbourne which is the old spelling of Kilburn & with it being only lightly stamped it is hard to read.
Update 7.4.16. I have now found the location of Thomas's brickworks & it is shown as the old brick yard on the OS map below which was surveyed 1879/80.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey, surveyed 1879/80.
This Kilburne brick is only lightly stamped on the other side & is unreadable, hence not being able to establish it's maker. I did originally think it was made by Thomas Foulkes, but Thomas's bricks are stamped Kilbourne.
Lower Kilburn
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1934.
Barbara & Les Green of Kilburn have told me about a brickworks at Lower Kilburn, the location of which I have marked in yellow on this 1934 map & was just down the road from the brickworks at Horsley.
Update 6.4.16 - I have now found that this works is shown on a revised 1938 map & it is actually in the next field behind the houses.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1938.
Barbara as a child lived very close to this brickworks & she remembers walking along a footpath which was at the side of a stream that flowed passed the brickworks. Barbara continues to tell me that the brickworks was owned & worked by Bill Landers in 1931. Today his son Vernon (aged around 85) still owns the land where this small brickworks was.
Photo from Les Green's collection of the kiln at the Lower Kilburn brickworks taken around 1930 & Les thinks Bill Landers could be one of the three men in this photo.
Many Thanks to Les Green for allowing me to photograph & use the images from his 1934 O.S. map in this post.
Horsley
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1934.
I have been unable to find any information about the brickmakers in Horsley, only trade Directory entries for two of them & all of these bricks have Horsley stamped on the reverse. So it is possible that these three brickmakers all made their bricks on the same site as shown on the 1934 map above at the years recorded in Kelly's Trade Directories.
Bardill & Son
Photo by Frank Lawson.
William Bardill is listed in Kelly's 1876 edition at Horsley.
Bardill & Bailey
Photo by Frank Lawson.
With this one stamped as Bardill & Bailey, I can only assume that Thomas Bailey has gone into partnership with William Bardill, because the next trade directory entry I have is for Thomas Bailey in 1881, so this partnership existed in the period between 1876 & 1881.
Bailey
Thomas Bailey is listed in Kelly's 1881 edition through to it's 1908 edition at Horsley.
J. Sherlock
Photo by Frank Lawson.
I do not have any information about J. Sherlock other than the reverse of his bricks are stamped Horsley & one is shown below. Whether he produced his bricks before or after Bardill & Bailey at the same works needs further investigation.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
Update 25.4.16
I have been contacted by Tim Sherlock a descendant of J. Sherlock & Tim has told me that his first name was Joseph & he was born in Kilburn & worked in Horsley.
From the web I have found an article about Joseph's retirement in 1935 & it covers his early life in Kilburn, first as an apprentice brickmaker to his father. Then at the age of 20 he succeeded his father as foreman of the works before moving to the North West & then to Yorkshire. You can read the companies & the improvements to kiln flues that he invented at this link.
http://conisbroughanddenabyhistory.org.uk/article/retirement-of-mr-joseph-sherlock-conisbrough-a-famous-brick-maker/
As to the exact location of Joseph's works this is still unknown as Tim has told me that he worked in Horsley same as marked on the brick, but the article says he followed his father as foreman of the works at Kilburn. As I have no trade directory entries for Sherlock I can only assume that both Joseph & his father worked for someone else possibly Bardill & Bailey at Horsley & made bricks in their own name. There is only one brickworks marked on old maps in Horsley & I have attributed this works to Bardill & Son then to Thomas Bailey. The alternative is that the Sherlock's worked for the Small Brothers at Kilburn, but why stamp your bricks Horsley ?
If any new information comes to light on any of the above brickmakers, it will be added at a latter date.
Many Thanks to :-
Frank Lawson - photos
Derby Silk Mill Museum
NLS/Ordnance Survey - maps
Barbara & Les Green - info, photos & maps
Tim Sherlock - info
J. Sherlock's first name is Joseph. His eldest son was Arthur Oswald who was an expert engineer and designed new brick manufacturing processes. He had one daughter and three sons the youngest called Timothy Paul Sherlock :)
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