East Midlands Named Bricks : The Hathern Station Brick & Terra Cotta Co. - works - Hathern Station near Loughborough & Cliff near Tamworth

The Hathern Station Brick Company near Loughborough, Leics. was established in 1874 by George Hodson & James F. Hodson. The first trade directory listing for the company appears in Kelly's 1876 edition. The brickworks was actually situated next to Hathern Railway Station on the edge of Sutton Bonington village & I have coloured the works yellow on the 1882 OS map below.

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

Kelly's 1876 edition.

Kelly's 1881 edition.

An article in the December 1896 edition of the British Clayworker magazine reports The Hathern Station Brick & Terra-cotta Company Limited had been formed to raise capital of £40,000 pounds in £10 pound shares to acquire the business owned by G. Hodson at Sutton Bonington, Notts & at Cliff near Tamworth, Warwick & to then carry on the business as brick, tile, pipe & terra-cotta manufacturers. This new Company was incorporated in 1902 & the first trade directory entry listing this new company is in Kelly's 1904 edition. This business flourished & 'Hathernware' & glazed faience wares were exported worldwide during the first three decades of the twentieth century with many cinemas being faced and decorated with the products from this works.

December 1907 advert.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Hathern_Station_Brick_and_Terra_Cotta_Co.

1911 advert.

The Architects Compendium 1911.

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

This 1919 OS map shows the brickworks had increased in size & was now occupying two more fields since the 1882 map.

I "acquired" this advert several years ago from a source that I cannot now remember where from, so if I am infringing any copyright I will remove this advert if asked to do so by it's owner. It may date from the early 1900's.

In 1934 the Company re-branded it’s name to Hathernware Limited, Loughborough, manufacturers of terra-cotta & blue bricks. I am assuming with this 1934 info the company had ceased producing red bricks from this date, however the last trade directory listing the manufacture of bricks at the Hathern Station Works appears in Kelly's Notts. 1916 edition, so it may have been shortly after 1916 that red brick production ceased. WW1 may have been another factor for brick production to cease with many of their men joining up to go to war & the company then concentrating on producing their faience ware.

Although the Hathern Station works survived into the 1970's when restoration projects began to provide much needed business, a takeover by Ibstock finally led to closure of this works in the summer of 2004. The Hathern name is now owned by Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC & the company's terra cotta & faience wares are made at their Charnwood works in Shepshed.

Photo by Frank Lawson.

As wrote Hathern also manufactured blue bricks at their brickworks in Cliff, Kingsbury near Tamworth which they had taken over from Richard Bennett of Derby after his death in late 1885 or early 1886. Kelly's Warks. 1888 edition is the first listing for the Hathern Brick Co. at Cliff. Hathern closed it's Cliff Works in 1969. Today this former Cliff Brickworks site is the clay pit to Wienerberger's massive blue brick works which was built on the former Whateley Colliery & Brickworks site. I have coloured the Cliff Brickworks green & it's access road red on the 1902 OS map below.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1902.

I photographed this coping brick on a disused Nottingham Suburban Railway bridge in Woodthorpe Grange park, so this brick can be dated as being made before 1889 when the railway opened.