Samuel Oxley, Brickmaker, Hucknall under Huthwaite, Notts.

Samuel Oxley is recorded as a brickmaker in Hucknall under Huthwaite in Nottinghamshire in Kelly's 1885 to 1925 trade directories & from information found in census records, the works may have been run by other members of his family as Samuel would have been 75 in 1925, however he would have been overseeing the business. Samuel died in 1931 aged 81.

Thought I would clarify Hucknall under Huthwaite next. When you see the name Hucknall today you automatically think of Hucknall near Nottingham which is six miles north of the city, but this town is Hucknall Torkard. On the other hand Hucknall under Huthwaite today is just known as Huthwaite & this village is a part of Sutton in Ashfield in the District of Ashfield. When my dad lived in the village in the 1920's & 30's his postal address was Huthwaite, Mansfield. 

Finding a named brick made by Samuel Oxley has so far eluded me, but it has not been for the lack of searching. Many of the houses in The Falls area were built between 1879 & 1917 as shown on the maps below & I suspect they were built using Samuel's bricks.  My only conclusion is that Samuel did not stamp his bricks. On one of my foray's into Huthwaite I had gone at the right time when a house on New Fall Road was being renovated, but alas all the bricks which had come out of the house had no name stamped in them & the local builder who was doing the work said he had never seen any bricks marked Oxley. 
Samuel is recorded as later living on New Fall Road in 1912 & I have coloured this road red on all three maps below. Also I have coloured the road which leads down to Samuel's works in yellow & this was Newkiln Lane, it was later renamed Skegby Road as shown on the 1917 map.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey 1879.

First I would like to thank Marg at Sutton Library for supplying me with information from various census records about Samuel Oxley & the different members of the Oxley family who were either brickmakers or brickmaker labourers who may have all worked at the yard. In 2021 I revisited the census records & added new info.

I first start with info on Samuel's father Charles who was also a brickmaker. Charles Oxley b.1821 in the 1841 & 51 census is listed as a brickmaker in Conisborough, Yorkshire. By 1861 Charles & his family had relocated to Nether Moor, Tupton near Chesterfield & in the census he is listed as a Coal labourer with four sons, Joseph b.1847, Charles junior b.1849, Samuel b.1850 & Arthur b. 1855, the three eldest are listed as labourers with Arthur a scholar. The three eldest sons were born in Sandall near Doncaster & Arthur was born in Armthorpe, Doncaster. I mention these locations because later census record other towns for their birth which is incorrect. 

In the 1871 census with part of the Oxley family now living at Hagg Bridge, Tupton, Derbyshire. Charles now aged 50 together with sons Joseph 24 & Arthur 16 are all listed as brickmakers. By the 1871 census Charles' other sons Charles junior & Samuel were brickmaking in Huthwaite. Back in Tupton we then find Joseph continues to be a brickmaker, living in Grassmoor in the 1881 & 1891 census, then becoming a Coke Filler/Cooler in the 1901 & 1911 census & still living in Grasmoor. By 1881 Arthur had become a Draper. Their father Charles in the 1881 census is listed as a Timber Dealer & Inn Keeper on Chesterfield Road, Hasland. Charles died on the 14th February 1884.     

So back to Samuel Oxley & in the 1871 Census aged 21 together with his brother Charles Oxley, aged 22, both are listed as brickmakers lodging with Henry Humphrey (miner) & his wife in Huthwaite, the exact address is not given. It is unknown at this date if the brothers were brickmaking at the brickworks shown on the 1879 OS map above because from receiving information on another brick making family in Huthwaite there may have been a brickworks at the New Hucknall Colliery on Common Road, so the brothers may have worked there first before setting up the brickworks on Newkiln Lane (Skegby Road) as per 1879 map. Another option is that someone else owned the Newkiln Lane works in the 1870's & the brothers just worked there. If I do find evidence the brothers did established Newkiln Lane brickworks around 1871, I will update the post. 

Samuel Oxley in the 1881 Census is recorded as a brickmaker, living on Falls Lane, Huthwaite, aged 31 & married to Mary with two daughters & one son, Frederick Charles. The couple went on to have another son Arthur born in 1883. Samuel is recorded as a widower in the 1891 census, so Mary had passed away sometime after the birth of Arthur & 1891. Samuel did not re-marry. Meanwhile brother Charles in the 1881 census was on his own back in Yorkshire working as a navvy. However the 1891 census does record Charles back in Huthwaite as a Brickmaker. So I have now come to the conclusion that while Charles was in Yorkshire Samuel established his own brickmaking business at the Newkiln Lane works around 1885, operating it in his own name as per Kelly's directory. After which Charles returned to Huthwaite to work for his brother at his works.   

These are the trade directory entries that I have for Samuel - Samuel Oxley, brickmaker, Hucknall-under-Huthwaite, Mansfield in Kelly's 1885, 91, 94, 1900, 04 & 08 editions. Then the listing is Samuel Oxley, brickmaker, New Fall Street, Huthwaite, Mansfield in Kelly's 1912, 16, 22 & 25 editions. Samuel was also a Beer Seller between 1885 & 1904 & he is also recorded as a Boot Dealer in the early 1900's in trade directories.

Samuel's son Frederick Charles Oxley b.1879 in the 1901 census aged 22 is listed as a brick yard labourer living on Columbia Street, Huthwaite & the 1911 census records Frederick as a brickmaker (worker) at the same address, so Frederick had joined his father at the works. Samuel's other son Arthur is only listed as a brickmaker aged 18 in the 1901 census. The 1911 census records Arthur as an Engine Driver & living with his sister Elizabeth who had married George Featherstone, a Brick Setter, all living on Unwin Street, Huthwaite. I have been told houses on Unwin Street were built by Samuel for his family members to live in. I am assuming with George's trade he was working for Samuel & was Arthur's Engine Driver job operating a static steam engine at the brickworks rather than on the railways. I have come across this job description before & I associated it to a brickworks on that occasion also.   

As well as being listed in the 1891, 1901 & 1911 census as a brickmaker Samuel's brother Charles was also a baker. Some of Charles sons also became bakers, but two sons became brickmakers at Samuel's works. In the 1891 & 1901 census Charles was living on Sutton Road, Huthwaite, with him then living on Unwin Street in 1911. Charles' son Charles Edmund b.1874 in the 1891 census was a Brickmaker living with his father. He then became a Coke Drawer living in Hasland in the 1901 census with a return to Huthwaite by the 1911 census aged 37 & now a Brick Yard Labourer. Charles' other brickmaking son Harold b.1880 is listed as living with his father & a Brickmaker (worker) in the 1911 census aged 31.

So from my findings it appears Samuel established his brickmaking business around 1885, was then joined by his brother Charles shortly afterwards. With Samuel still in charge he closed the works around 1925/6. Taking into account Samuel's age I am assuming Samuel's son's Frederick Charles & Arthur & his nephew's Charles Edmund & Harold (Charles' sons) played a part in helping Samuel run the brickworks in his later life. The 1921 census when released (early 2022) should provide me with info on who was still at the brickworks with Samuel. As previously written Samuel passed away in 1931 aged 81.

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

During one of my recent brick sorties into Huthwaite I spoke to a gentleman who together with his father had been coal merchants. Now retired he remembers when he was young & his father was not delivering coal, they would go to Riddings Brickworks at Jacksdale were they would load his fathers lorry up with bricks to deliver to local building sites.  My next question was "Have you ever seen any bricks stamped Oxley." He replied, " The brickworks used to be over there where the Brierley Park Visitors Centre now stands, but I have not seen any bricks marked Oxley." The Visitors Centre was built just to the right of the marked Brick Works buildings on the map below & the park was created from the former brickyard & the nearby former Sutton Colliery site located a little further north in Stanton Hill. Walking Trails also connects three other former pits sites to the park mainly via old railway routes. As to the name of Brierley Park, Sutton Colliery was also known locally as Brierley Colliery from the fact that miners from Brierley Hill in the West Midlands came to sink & then work at the pit in 1874. These miners christening the colliery Brierley & the name stuck.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey 1917.

Another little bit of local history is the use of the vernacular term of Mucky Huckna'. This refers to the village of Hucknall under Huthwaite & not to Hucknall Torkard as a lot of people think & I have found on the web that a lot of "old timers" in Hucknall Torkard have claimed it as their own also, but I'm afraid it belongs to Hucknall under Huthwaite. 

The term was used to describe the village as a coal mining village where most of it's miners worked at the New Hucknall Colliery & lived in the village in the 1870's. The men would come home from their shift covered in coal dust, hence the term mucky, no pit baths in those days. 

Get the tin bath out & fill it with hot water Ma. 

- I feel cleaner now !

Mucky Huckna' could have also been used to describe the foul or colourful language often used by some of the miners in their daily lives. You can read some readers remarks about Mucky Huckna' at this link.

http://www.ournottinghamshire.org.uk/page_id__98.aspx?path=0p2p63p

Also about the sinking of New Hucknall Colliery at this link.

http://www.huthwaite-online.webspace.virginmedia.com/new_hucknall/

I have also found a 1707 reference to the village being called Dirty Hucknall & this name for the village may have been corrupted to Mucky Hucknall with the coming of the coal pits & it's miners.

Dirty Hucknall was a reference to the poorly made roads in the village & because the village was built on clay these roads soon turned to mud during bad rainy weather. Therefore your clothes got mucky if you traveled on these roads during bad weather.

The article which contains this information can be read at this Link. I have been told of another variation in Dotty Huckna' also meaning dirty. 

So there you have it, I have not yet found a Oxley marked brick, but my research has unearthed a wealth of knowledge.

If you have got or you find a Oxley marked brick, please let me know, my e-mail address is on the contact tab, as I would like to come along & photograph it for my post & if by chance you have one spare, I would dearly like to own one. Many Thanks Martyn.

Searching trade directories has revealed another brickmaker working in Huthwaite & the listing from Kelly's 1885 edition is Robert Wright, Hucknall under Huthwaite. The location of his yard is unknown unless he worked with Samuel Oxley ?