Stanley & West Hallam Brickworks

Stanley

J. Barber

John Barber, Stanley. Photo by Frank Lawson.

There were two brickmakers who operated at this site in Stanley, Derbyshire, of which I have got an example by one of the makers, John Barber. These bricks were produced from the clay/shale which was found between the seams of coal at the adjoining colliery. Information for the brickworks at Stanley was rather sketchy until I came across an article on the web by Michael Robinson, a local historian in Stanley. Michael wrote that he had found a brickworks & cottages on Sough lane, now Dale Road marked on an Ordnance Survey map dated 1841 & then in White's 1857 Trade Directory I found that John Barber is listed as brickmaker & colliery owner in Stanley. 

Reverse of J. Barber. Photo by Frank Lawson.

The 1880/1 surveyed OS map below shows the location of the brickworks owned by John Barber then the Small Brothers.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1880/1.

Small Brothers

The small pit & brickworks was then sold on the 13th of October 1858 to the Small Brothers, who set about sinking a deeper mine which was opened in 1870. It was at this time that the Small Brothers formed the Stanley Kilbourne Colliery Company. I have yet to find a brick in this name, but the Small Brothers also leased the colliery in Kilburn & I have a brick made by the Brothers at that works & it is stamped with the brothers initials & Kilburn on the reverse & this brick features in my Kilburn Post. The Stanley Kilbourne Colliery Company due to financial difficulties closed in 1885. 

I have found that after 1885 the brickworks ceased to exist but Stanley Kilbourne Colliery was later sold to the newly formed Derby Kilburn Colliery Company in 1893. After DKCC established their coal business they opened a brickworks at Chaddesden Hill & more can be read about this works in my Derby Brickworks - part 2 Post. 

I originally thought DKCC had taken over the brickworks at Stanley Kilbourne Colliery, but with finding that this brickyard does not show on the 1900 OS map it was back to the drawing board in finding DKCC's brickworks. It was through studying a 1900 map & following a tramway from Stanley that it reveal the location of DKCC's brickworks at Chaddesden Hill.

Updated 25.7.20.

I have recently photographed this Stanley brick at Cawarden Reclamation Yard & there is no makers mark on the other side, so there's a strong possibility that the Small Brothers used Barber's "Stanley" plates in their moulds with it being the same frog & stamp mark. I am assuming this was to save money which was an asset the brothers were always short of. Fellow brick collector, Frank Lawson has also photographed one of these Stanley bricks, which he found while walking near Stanley village.

West Hallam

Hallam

Photo taken at the Silk Mill Museum, Derby.

I have three options for the maker of this Hallam brick, my first option & first choice is G. Adamson & he is listed as brickmaker at West Hallam in Kelly’s 1864 edition. From the style of the lettering on this brick it indicates to me that it was made around 1864. G. Adamson may have owned the Mapperley Crossroads yard as shown on the 1900 map below which is in my second option. I have also found that this yard is also shown on the 1880 map, so it could well have been there in 1864.

My second option from a web article is the Newdigate family. Their brickworks was situated near to Mapperley Crossroads just to the north of West Hallam village & had been built in the early 1900's next to the family's saw mill & this brickworks is shown on the 1900 map below. I have also found from an article in the Ilkeston Pioneer newspaper that there was a previous brickworks on this site in 1885. The owner Colonel Newdigate had instructed Mr. Wright Lissett to sell by auction all of the plant, machinery, brick presses & moulds from the brickworks. As said a sawmill followed this brickworks after 1885 & another brickworks was built again by the Newdigate family in the early 1900's. This 1900's brickworks then became a pottery & two bee-hive kilns were built in the 1920's of which one was demolished in the 1950's, but the most interesting fact is that I found in this article was that these two bee-hive kilns had been built using the bricks from the original bee-hive kiln & buildings of the 1900 brickworks & sawmill. I then ask, could these bricks have also come from the original brickworks in 1885, it's possible ! 

Todays Kiln Close also occupies part of this former brickworks site & all of the fields which surrounds the word West on the map below, have all had houses built upon them & forms part of West Hallam. 

My third option is for a brickmaker with the name of Hallam, but as yet I have not found no trade directory entries for a brickmaker with that name. 

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

Some of the Newdigate information for this entry was found in this link. http://www.ilkcam.com/Archived/2009/0329WHXRds.html

West Hallam Colliery Co.

Photo by MF courtesy of Erewash Museum, Ilkeston.

West Hallam Colliery & it's associated brickworks was on High Lane, West Hallam & I first use the 1900 OS below to show their locations. The colliery is recorded in mining references as being in production from 1893 to 1933, with the colliery still listed in 1940, but with no men recorded as being either below or on the surface. 

Originally this colliery consisted of four pits & the one marked West Hallam Colliery on the 1900 map is shown as No. 4 pit on the 1879 map. Also on the 1879 map (shown below the 1900 map) there is a brick kiln marked just to the right of No. 4 pit. We then find by the 1900 map a new larger brickworks had been established next to the Nutbrook Canal & had been built on the site of the former West Hallam Iron Works, which is shown on the 1879 map along with West Hallam Colliery No.1 pit. 

The brickworks as shown on 1900 map must have closed around 1912 as this brickworks is no longer shown on the next map dated 1913. As said the colliery appears to have closed by 1940.

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

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1879.

I originally attributed the WHC brick below to William Horridge, brickmaker at Cotmanhay, but there is the possibility that WHC stands for West Hallam Colliery. We may never know for certain who actually made this brick, only

the person who donated it to the Silk Mill Museum in Derby will have the answer, but I expect too many years have elapsed since then to trace the finder of this brick. I have since found that the Museum has very few records for their bricks. 

Photographed at the Silk Mill Museum, Derby by Frank Lawson.

Many Thanks to :-

Erewash Museum, Ilkeston

Silk Mill Museum, Derby

Frank Lawson

NLS/Ordnance Survey