In this post I mainly cover Coalville together with Whitwick, Ibstock & South Leicestershire Collieries.
I first start with some early info on William Whetstone who was born in 1817 & along with his elder brother Joseph b.1800, both are listed in Melville's 1853 edition as Wool-staplers in Leicester which they carried on doing for many years thereafter, but the 1861 census records both had branched out into new directions. Joseph had become a partner in the Whitwick Colliery Company with William Stenson the elder & others. Further research has revealed Joseph became a shareholder in the late 1850's & then with William Stenson retiring & leaving the partnership in April 1860, Joseph Whetstone became the main shareholder. Then William Whetstone is recorded as a manufacturer of ornamental flooring tiles or that's what I believe the scribe of this census was trying to write as he has wrote ornametace. This census 1861 records William was living with his family at 49, Northgate Street, Leicester. White's 1861 edition also records William Whetstone as a Manufacturer of ornamental tiles. Newspaper articles reveal William owned the Mosaic Tile Works on Whitwick Road in Coalville. The earliest OS map that I have access to is 1881 & this map above shows there was a brickworks as well at this date which I have coloured green, but it is unknown if William Whetstone had brickworks on his tile works site in 1861. I have only found info relating to William Whetstone making floor tiles at his works which he stamped Whetstone, Coalville, but my thoughts are that with him stamping his name in his tiles he may have also made the Whetstone brick above at his tile works, however I do have another two locations were this William Whetstone brick may have been made & I write about these two other brickworks shortly.
As wrote William's elder brother Joseph in the late 1850's became a partner with William Stenson the elder (1771-1861), Samuel Harris & his other brother James Whetstone at the Whitwick Colliery Co. & in 1860 William Stenson the elder left this partnership leaving Joseph as the main owner. Stenson's grandson William Towndrow Stenson became the manager of Whitwick Colliery at this date. I mention William Towndrow Stenson at this point as he plays a part later in this Whetstone story. The 1861 census records Joseph Whetstone was employing 400 men at his worsted works & 500 men at his colliery. Joseph Whetstone died in January 1868 leaving his whole estate of 50 thousand pounds including Whitwick Colliery to his brother William, the sole executor. I am assuming brother James Whetstone has also died. Harrod's 1870 edition records William Whetstone as a Manufacturer of patented mosaic, encaustic & other ornamental flooring tiles. So with William Whetstone owning Whitwick Colliery the 1871 census records him as a Landowner & Colliery Proprietor living at Broomleys House, Coalville.
I have also found Joseph Whetstone had purchased Ibstock Colliery & Brickworks in January 1865 from E.M. Green after the colliery's lessees Messrs. Bray, Roseby & Child had gone bankrupt in October 1864.
With William Whetstone acquiring both Whitwick Colliery & Ibstock Colliery after Joseph's death in 1868, it appears Thomas. T. Paget then joined William Whetstone as a partner at his collieries. A October 1868 newspaper article reports that Thomas Paget MP held a well attended election canvass meeting in the large room of William Whetsone's Tile Works, so I am assuming both men were in partnership at the time of this meeting. The London Gazette dated 3rd of June 1873 records Thomas Paget left this partnership on the 28th of May 1873 & the business would then carry on under the sole control of William Whetstone.
Now both Whitwick & Ibstock Collieries had brickworks, so was this Whetstone brick made at either of these two collieries while under the sole control of William Whetstone ?
1873 seems to be year when William Whetstone decided to sell off his empire, the Freeholds on both Whitwick Colliery & Ibstock Colliery were put up for sale in late May 1873 & it appears from an 1873 newspaper article that William sold his Mosaic Tile Works to the Coalville Tile & Brick Co. which had been established by John Green Evatt, Edward Ison & William T. Stenson to take over William Whetstone's tile works. This 24th of October 1873 Leicester Journal article reports on a supper at the Mosaic Tile works for the employees of the Coalville Tile & Brick Co. which was paid for by the works previous owner William Whetstone & the works new owners. Evatt & Ison were present at this supper & in a speech by the works foreman Mr. G. Westerman he thanked William Whetstone Esq. for his contribution to this fine evening which was enjoyed by all. I write more on the Coalville Tile & Brick Co. later in this post.
As wrote William Whetstone in 1873 sold Ibstock Colliery to the newly formed Ibstock Colliery Limited, a partnership formed by it's directors Wilkinson, Webb, Stalland & Standing. Now originally this colliery was being sold Freehold, but it appears from an 1884 newspaper article that this new Limited Company only purchased the colliery & brickworks etc & not the land because this article reports William Whetstone as landowner was selling all remaining brickworks stock which included over a million bricks which had to sold with the premises now being leased.
There's also a twist on the Freehold sale of Whitwick Colliery which does appear to have gone ahead as planned. The colliery & brickworks freehold was sold to George Thorp & Joseph Boam who had formed the Whitwick Colliery Company Limited with others (including William T. Stenson again) with shares being offered in September 1873 & here's the twist William Whetstone is then recorded in this notice that on the 18th of July 1873 he had entered into a contact with George Thorp & Joseph Boam, owners of the Whitwick Colliery Co. Ltd. It's White's 1877 edition which reveals the answer to this contract & in the description entry for Coalville it reports that the Whitwick Colliery Brick & Tile Works were producing high quality white & blue bricks, encaustic tiles & chimney pot etc. It then states William Whetstone Esq. of Leicester was employing a large number of women at the colliery tile works in the production of encaustic tiles for flooring. So it appears through this agreement with Thorp & Boam, William had established a new tile works next to Whitwick brickworks & was still producing his high acclaimed mosaic tiles. The 1881 census records William with no occupation, so I am taking it he had retired by this date & was living on the money received from the sale of Whitwick Colliery which the September 1873 newspaper article states that it had created great wealth to it's former proprietors.
So in a nutshell this Whetstone brick could have been made at William's Mosaic Tile Works or Whitwick Colliery or Ibstock Colliery, so the choice is open to discussion.
White's 1877 edition.
The London Gazette dated 23rd of February 1877 then records that on the 1st of February Edward Ison left the partnership by mutual consent & from that day the Coalville Tile & Brick Co. would then operate under the style or firm of Evatt & Stenson. I next found William T. Stenson died in October 1877 leaving Evatt as the sole owner.
Photo by Dennis Gamble, courtesy of the "Old Bricks" website.
We next find the Whitwick Road Works was next operated by the Tamar & Coalville Terra Cotta & Tile Works Limited & I write about them next.
With the departure of the very short lived Tamar & Coalville Company from the Whitwick Road works we next find in Kelly's 1899 edition it now lists it's new owners as the Coalville, Sandford & Alston Limited, Coalville, Leicester.
The name of this Company is derived from the three places it operated in. The Sandford works was in Sandford near Wareham, Dorset & was originally a pottery works which changed over to produce salt-glazed sanitary pipes & fittings. The Alston works was in Oldbury & was situated next to the disused Alston Colliery, producing blue & red bricks & salt-glazed sanitary pipes & fittings. As far as I can find the Coalville works only produced bricks. As no named bricks have turn up made by this company, it's one to look out for. Further investigations have revealed the Coalville, Sandford & Alston Ltd. was owned by Managing Director John Howard Shaw, M.I.C.E. (Member of Institution of Civil Engineers) & he had established the Sandford works in 1895, operating as Sandford & Co. I am assuming it was nearer to 1899 that he acquired the Alston & Coalville works & then changed the Company's name. Kelly's 1900 edition is the next trade directory entry for this Company & this is followed by the entry in the 1901 Directory of Clayworkers book, but this is also the last.
A Notice in the London Gazette dated 12th of June 1903 records that on the 5th of June at an Extraordinary General Meeting, Members of Company voted to place the Company into Liqidation. Another London Gazette Notice dated 21st of June 1904 records the Coalville, Sandford & Alston Limited would have it's accounts laid before the Company's Members before it was wound up on the 29th of July 1904.
So I am assuming the Whitwick Road brick & tile works finally closed for good around 1903 with there being no more companies recorded as owning this works in trade directories. However a notice in the Derbyshire Advertiser dated 13th of August 1909 brings your attention to the sale of Coalville, Sandford & Alston's works as a going concern by the Trustees of the Debenture Holders. After listing what was for sale the notice ends with the premises could be viewed by contacting Thomas Pratt, Foreman of the Works, so this indicates to me the brickworks was still operational in 1909 & was being run by the Debenture Trustees. It then appears no one bought the works & it closed.
Whitwick Colliery was sunk in 1826 by William Stenson the elder (1771-1861) on land close to Coalville village & the first coal was brought to the surface in 1828. A web article records the colliery had an associated brickworks (coloured yellow on the 1881 OS map above) which had 10 circular kilns, producing 100,000 bricks per week, but it is unknown in what year this account of the works relates to. However another article records George Smith became the Manager of the brickworks in 1859, this was after Smith had thought he had signed a contract with the owners of Whitwick Colliery to take full control of the brickworks & be it's owner, but this turned out not to be & his job only entailed him being the Works Manager. More details were then found in an 1877 newspaper article which reports George Smith started with one kiln in 1860 then built more, one at a time until he had twenty or more, producing an annual income of £12,000 pounds per year. So the 10 kilns account of the works will refer to after 1860. George Smith is famous for introducing better working conditions for children working at the brickworks & a comprehensive account of his work can be read here. Bricks stamped G. Smith, Manager have turned up & one is shown below. I have also got an image of another brick which has had the G. Smith removed from the die-plate, so I expect this brick will have been made shortly after Smith had left the company in 1873 with newspaper articles revealing George Smith was now running the brickworks owned by the Midland Brick & Terra Cotta Company & I write about this works later. Meanwhile the Whitwick Colliery Company placed this notice in the 4th of January 1873 edition of the Leicester Chronicle.
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
With having a photo of a brick stamped Stenson Collieries, this brick may pre-date Smith's time at Whitwick Colliery & could have been made as early as 1855.
As I have digressed I return to the late 1850's & Joseph Whetstone b.1800, a Wool-Stapler in Leicester joined William Stenson the elder as a partner in William Stenson & Co. owners of the Whitwick Colliery Company. Then in April 1860 as recorded in a London Gazette Notice dated July 1860, William Stenson left this partnership with him retiring & Joseph Whetstone became the main shareholder of the Whitwick Colliery Company. As wrote Joseph was the elder brother to William Whetstone, a mosaic tile maker & he comes into the picture shortly. Around this time William Stenson's grandson William Towndrow Stenson b.1834, a mining engineer became the Manager of Whitwick Colliery. I also found the 1841 census records William's son, William Stenson the younger b.1811 & William T's father also was a mining engineer & had been a Mining Agent at Whitwick Colliery in 1841.
The 1861 census records Joseph Whetstone was employing 400 men at his worsted works & 500 men at his colliery. Joseph Whetstone died in January 1868 leaving his whole estate of 50 thousand pounds including Whitwick Colliery to his brother William Whetstone, Tile Maker & the sole Executor. William Whetstone was then joined by Thomas Paget MP as a co-owner of Whitwick Colliery & this may have also been in 1868. The 1871 census records William Whetstone as a Landowner & Colliery Proprietor living at Broomleys House, Coalville. The London Gazette dated 3rd of June 1873 records Thomas Paget had left this partnership on the 28th of May 1873 & the business would then carry on under the sole control of William Whetstone.
It appears with the departure of Paget, William Whetstone decided to sell off all his businesses & the Freehold of Whitwick Colliery & it's brickworks was sold to George Thorp & Joseph Boam & this was completed in a matter of days before the month of May had finished. In September 1873 Thorp & Boam formed the Whitwick Colliery Co. Limited with others & the colliery & brickworks was sold to this new Company with shares being offered for sale. Other Directors included Joseph Whetstone, son of William Whetstone & William Towndrow Stenson, previously the Manager of Whitwick Colliery when owned by the Whetstones. As previously wrote William T. Stenson was involved with many companies & he also had shares in the South Leicestershire Colliery Company which also had a brickworks & I write about this brickworks soon.
Kelly's 1881 edition is the first trade directory found recording the Whitwick Colliery Co. Ltd. & it is listed as producing blue & white pressed bricks. Whitwick Colliery Co. Ltd. is again listed in Kelly's 1891 edition now with W.H. Gibbs as Manager & Secretary. Walter Lindley then became Manager of the brickworks, as listed in Kelly's 1899 edition. In Kelly's 1925 edition with Walter Lindley still at the helm, the works is listed as now producing wire-cut facing bricks as well as pressed bricks (red, white & buff), red sand stock bricks, moulded bricks & terra cotta. Hand made sand faced roofing tiles was added to the list in Kelly's 1928 edition & Walter Lindley is now listed as Director. So it appears from his charge the company expanded & excelled. I've just found a very interesting account of Walter Lindley when he was presented with a gold watch for 20 years of loyal service with the Company in 1915, which is worth a read. The account records every man contributed to his collection despite the works being temporary closed (WW1).
Kelly's 1932 edition records T.J. Sales was now the manager of the brickworks. 1947 sees the colliery & brickworks Nationalised & bricks stamped NCB Whitwick are shown later.
Ibstock Colliery was sunk in 1832 by William Thirby, a farmer, grazier & lacemaker on his land at Ibstock Lodge with brickmaking commencing soon afterwards using clay shale removed from the mine. After a bit of wrangling the colliery & brickworks then came into the hands of the Storer Brothers, after which they sold Ibstock Colliery to the Leicestershire Coal Co. in 1837. Ten years later the London Gazette reveals The Leicestershire Coal Co., owners of Ibstock Colliery was dissolved by mutual consent on the 18th of August 1847. I note at this point Edward Mortimer Green was one of it's partners. In 1853 E.M. Green is now recorded as the owner of Ibstock Colliery & it appears he had purchased the colliery after it had been put up for Auction in April 1852, when it did not sell.
At a date unknown E.M. Green then leased the colliery to Messrs. Edwin Bray of Ibstock Lodge (previously owned by William Thirby), John Roseby & John Childs who were to operate under the style of The Ibstock Colliery Co. I next found the London Gazette records Messrs. Bray, Roseby & Childs went bankrupt on the 1st October 1864. However a newspaper article in the Loughborough Monitor dated 2nd February 1865 reports "The colliery has been closed for some time in consequence of the bankruptcy of the Lessees, Messrs. Bray, Roseby & Childs, has now commenced working, with it being bought by Joseph Whetstone Esquire. So it appears Joseph Whetstone stepped in & purchased the colliery & brickworks from E.M. Green. I then found another reference to Joseph Whetstone owning Ibstock Colliery in a newspaper article dated October 1867. During his time at Ibstock Joseph Whetstone updated & greatly expanded the brickworks & in doing so was producing an extensive range of terra cotta & bricks. I also note Joseph Whetstone had also been the sole owner of Whitwick Colliery since 1860.
Joseph Whetstone died on the 2nd of January 1868 & he left both Ibstock & Whitwick Collieries & their brickworks to his brother William Whetstone, a Mosiac Tile Manufacturer in Coalville. As far as I can find, William Whetstone was only involved in the running of these two collieries after his brother's death.
In the summer of 1873 William Whetstone sold Ibstock Colliery & it's brickworks to the newly formed Ibstock Colliery Company Limited & a newspaper article dated 11th of September 1873 advertises the sale of this new Company's shares & listing it's Directors as Messrs. Wilkinson, Webb, Stalland & Standing. Now originally this colliery was being sold Freehold, but a 1884 newspaper article reveals this new Limited Company had only purchased the colliery & brickworks & not the land because this article reports William Whetstone as landowner was selling all of his remaining stock which consisted of over one million bricks, which had to sold with the premises now being leased.
Going back to 1874 & in September with the directors of Ibstock Colliery Co. Ltd. coming to the conclusion that the company was not on a financially sound footing as they first thought & with them requiring an injection of new cash, Dr. S.M. Thomson became a shareholder. Dr. Thomson & his family were owners of a colliery in Wishaw, Glasgow & according to the Ibstock plc website the Thomson family purchased Ibstock Colliery Co. Ltd from it's directors in 1875. Kelly's 1876 edition is the first directory to record Ibstock Colliery Co. Ltd., Ibstock with Robert Bland as secretary. In the early 1880's Dr. Thomson's son Robert D. Thomson was appointed Colliery Agent with William P. Sheppard becoming Colliery Manager. We then find in Kelly's 1895 edition that it records William Philpott Sheppard & Robert Donal Thomson were now managing partners at Ibstock Colliery, so I am assuming Dr. Thomson had stood down from the day to day running of the company.
South Leicestershire Colliery Co.
South Leicestershire Colliery, Hugglescote was sunk in 1876 & White's 1877 edition records George Lewis as manager & engineer of this colliery, so I am assuming it was Lewis who oversaw the sinking of the pit. As previously wrote William Towndrow Stenson was also involved in this colliery with White's 1877 edition recording him as a director of the South Leicestershire Colliery Company & also as a director of the Whitwick Colliery Company. Mining engineer William T. Stenson had been the Manager of Whitwick Colliery & it's brickworks between 1860 & 1873.
The first reference to a brickworks at South Leicestershire Colliery is the 1881 OS map, but I think I can safely say the brickworks was established around 1876 to provide the bricks needed for the lining of the pit shafts & roadways. Kelly's 1891 edition is the first directory recording a brickworks at the colliery & John Puxley White is listed as chairman & managing director, Wiliam Mellings as certified works manager & William Hurst as secretary. Kelly's 1899 edition lists William Eames as the certified manager along with White & Hurst. We then find Kelly's 1908 edition just lists William Hurst as Manager & Secretary. Then Kelly's 1925 to 1941 lists the Leicestershire Colliery Co. Ltd. as producing hard common bricks with the addition of agricultural drain pipes in the 1936 edition.
The colliery & brickworks were Nationalised in 1947 & a NCB brick is shown below. The colliery closed in 1986, but it is unknown in which year the brickworks closed. The last reference to the brickworks that I have found comes from a railway signalling website which records rail traffic to the colliery & brickworks ceased in 1964.
John William Stableford, Coalville
The 1881 census still records John William Stableford as Railway Wagon Builder, but I have found his uncle William Stableford, also a railway wagon builder in Oldbury had purchased his business in 1879 & then ran the Mantle Lane works as Stableford & Co. William Stableford of Oldbury died in March 1887 & John William Stableford was one of the three Executors of his Will, so it appears Stableford & Co. was then run by John William Stableford.
The 1891 census now records John William Stableford as a colliery owner & employer, but it is unknown which colliery he owned. As wrote the last entry for John as a brick maker is Kelly's 1899 edition. The 1901 census now records John W. Stableford as a timber merchant & the 1900 OS map below still shows brick kilns at his works, but I am assuming by 1901 John had closed down the brickworks & with the words saw mills being added to the map, I am taking it John had converted the brickworks to a saw mill. The 1911 census still records him as a timber merchant aged 71.
A couple of footnotes, first, John William's son William was also a brickmaker & he is listed in Kelly's 1899 to 1908 editions as operating a brickworks in Shepshed. Bricks stamped William Stableford, Shepshed have still to turn up. Second, found that Thomas Porter Stableford & his son John Thomas Stableford, both brickmakers in Chellaston, Derby were also related to this Stableford family with Thomas Porter Stableford being John William's uncle.
James Hewes, Coalville
Hewes Brothers, Coalville
Scotland Brick & Tile Co.
Midland Brick & Terra Cotta Co.
It appears the Midland Brick & Terra Cotta Co. with their Head Office in Coalville was established in the early 1870's. A February 1873 advert in the Leicester Daily Post reports the company was in the process of erecting extensive works at Coalville & at Polesworth near Tamworth to produce their celebrated Glypto-Terra-Cotta, Metallic Tiles & Sewage Pipes. This advert also records George Smith was Managing Director of the company which had a capital of £30,000 in 3,000 shares at £10 each, all of which had been allotted. Now Smith had been the Manager of Whitwick Colliery's brickworks up to 1873 & it was through a disagreement with the owners of Whitwick Colliery over his involvement in campaigning against the Canal companies to provide better conditions for their child labour, that Smith was asked to either concentrate on his job or leave & he chose the later. So by February 1873 we know he was working for the Midland Brick & Terra Cotta Co. & it appears he had invested his own money in this company with him being made Managing Director. Now a web article records that Smith had signed an agreement that when the works were up & running, the Company could then make him redundant & this happened two years later. Whether Smith had read the small print or not is open to speculation as we find in an article in the Leicester Daily Mercury dated 19th of October 1875, that Smith was taking the Company to Court & claiming £5,000 pounds for wrongful dismissal. This figure may have been the amount that he had invested in the Company in 1873. Now this report goes on to say that there would be another meeting a week later, but I have been unable to find another newspaper article reporting on it's outcome. However the early web article says Smith after working for two years fell on hard times & was destitute, so I can only assume Smith did not win his case. Don't worry Smith did later find his feet & carried on to win improvements in the conditions for the children working on the canals.
So with the Midland Brick & Terra Cotta Co. operating works at Coalville & Polesworth as listed in Kelly's Leicestershire 1876 edition, this directory also records the company had added a third works at Market Bosworth. Below are three maps of the three works plus bricks made at two of them. A Market Bosworth brick has still to turn up.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1884.
Polesworth works, the town is just to the right.
Kelly's 1881 Leicestershire edition again records the company with three brick/pipe works. Kelly's 1884 Worcestershire edition lists the Polesworth works, however this is the last trade directory entry for this works as it is not listed in the 1888 edition. It is unknown what happened to the Polesworth works, however the 1900 OS map only records this site as being a pipe works.
Then a September 1887 notice in the Hinckley News reports the Midland Brick & Terra Cotta Co. were auctioning all stock at it's Market Bosworth works, so I am assuming this brickworks was closing especially with Kelly's 1891 to 1912 editions only recording the company as operating the Coalville Works. Kelly's 1895 edition reveals that the Market Bosworth works had been taken over by Hextall & Sons who were operating it as the Market Bosworth Brick & Tile Co.
Wright's 1894 edition lists the Midland Brick & Terra Cotta Co. at Coalville with John Roberts as Managing Director & James Leech as foreman.
The London Gazette dated 14th of April 1899 records that on the 7th of April the company was being restructured, after which the old company would be liquidated by secretary James Hewitt & a new company called THE Midland Brick & Terra Cotta Co. Ltd. would then be registered by James Hewitt to carry on the same business. My only thoughts on this restructure was a change of directors, but this article mentions no directors names.
With Kelly's 1912 edition being the last entry for Midland's Coalville works, I can only assume the company had ceased trading by the start of WW1.
Coalville Brick Co.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1938.
From information received from Coalville Library, the Coalville Brick Co. was established by eight local businessmen in 1927 & these were D. Sitdown, Fish, Game & Poultry Dealer; C.H. March, Plumber, Painter & Decorator; A.B. Moss, Builder; T. Robinson, Milliner & Brickyard Manager; J.G. Lidwell, Builder; C.K. Deeming, Cinema Proprietor; G.S. Taylor, Builders Merchant & C.E. Crane, Solicitor. However a May 1926 newspaper article reveals the Coalvile Brick Co. had recently been formed to exploit the rich & extensive bed of red clay which had been discovered behind All Saints School on land owned by Mr. Dan Sitdown. Trial holes revealed the clay was 40 to 50 feet deep over the 26 acres site. Plans were then drawn up & permission was granted to erect the works. With the works being next to the London Midland & Scottish railway line plans were to be made to the railway company to provide a railway siding.
The Nottingham Journal dated 15th of September 1927 reports the building of a new brickworks at Coalville owned by the newly formed Coalville Brick Co. was progressing satisfactorily & would start brick making in three weeks time. Then the Birmingham Gazette dated 15th of September 1928 reports with the proposed building of a Co-operative bakery at Coalville which required one & half million bricks the Coalville Brick Co. who had won the contract to supply the bricks was to then build two more kilns & another drying shed to meet this & other orders. The bakery was to be built two fields from this brickworks.
I then found Kelly's 1931, 36 & 41 editions lists the Coalville Brick Co. Ltd. (grey & red facing brick) on Ashby Road, Coalville. I have coloured this works green & Ashby Road red on the 1938 OS map above. Built next to the Burton to Ashby railway line this works had it's own railway siding & a site plan in Dennis Baker's book shows the coal storage area was next to this siding. Next to the coal area was the boiler house, engine house & two chimneys. This plan also shows there were five down-draught circular kilns, a drying shed & stockyard.
A Leicester Evening Mail article dated 7th of February 1938 tells you that the company's Portland Grey Facing bricks were used to build the newly opened Rex Cinema in Coalville. A search on the web has revealed Charles K. Deeming was the Managing Director of Coalville Theatres Ltd. owners of the Rex, Grand & Regal Cinemas in Coalville plus the Empire in Loughborough, so there's a good chance CB Co's bricks may have been used in the construction or alterations to these other cinemas as well. The 1943 Ministry of Defence Directory records that this brickworks was not in production & was under their care & maintenance, so more than likely as with other brickworks during this period of time, armaments were being stored at the works. An April 1946 article in the Leicester Evening Mail reports after six years production at the brickworks was to restart & the hope was in a short time to produce 20,000 bricks per day. Managing Director, Mr. G. Taylor said with men coming back from the forces he was able to re-engage them & the plan was to concentrate on making facing bricks.
In September 1970 the works was converted from coal to butane gas to power their downdraught kilns which improved air quality at the works & which also met the requirements of the Government's Clean Air Act. It also improved the quality of bricks by burning them for less time. Mr. Ken Nicholls, General Manager of the brickworks said a previous kiln firing burnt 30 tons of coal against the new use of 9 tons of butane with an increase of 40% of thermal efficiency.
It appears from a newspaper article that by August 1972 Proctor & Lavender Ltd. had taken over the running of the Coalville Brick Co., another company who only manufactured hand-made bricks. In this article P & L's Managing Director Mr. Jack P. Clift was commenting on securing several contracts to supply one million hand-made bricks from their three works, Shepshed, Coalville & Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. If this take over date of the Coalville works surfaces I will update the post.
In late 1973 Proctor & Lavender decided to restructure their company & in this move the companies three brickworks came under the control Jack Clift who had been P & L's Chairman & Managing Director up to that date. How financially this split took place is unknown. Clift's Charnwood Holdings Ltd. now operated the Coalville Brick Co., the Charnwood Brick & Tile Co. in Shepshed & the Coleford Brick & Tile Co. in Gloucestershire. Proctor & Lavender after this split proceeded to be Brick Factors only.
The Leicester Daily Mercury in it's 5th of December 1974 edition reports Charnwood Holdings Ltd. director John Clift (son of Jack Clift now retired) revealed the uncertainties of the hand-made brick market & how the company had to half it's workforce in the last few months to survive & there were thoughts that one of their plants may have to close. There are 14 workers at the Shepshed works & 13 at the Coalville works. This was certainly a different story now to when the company was enjoying the pleasures of receiving orders for one million bricks two years earlier. John goes on to say "Business is diabolical due to general economic conditions & the budget didn't help. We make a high-class hand made facing brick which costs about two-thirds more than those made by machine."
The Leicester Daily Mercury reported on the 19th of September 1975 that Coalville's last brickworks run by the Coalville Brick Co. was to cease production & then to close in early November with the loss of 12 jobs. Twelve months earlier the company had a workforce of 50. Company director Ken Nicholls said, the closure of the works is mainly due to the cut back in public expenditure & with local authorities scaling back their building programs. The company had plenty of stock to fulfil existing contracts. I note that Ken Nicholls had been the General Manager at the Coalville Brick Co. in 1970, so had seen all the highs & lows of the company & the changes in ownership. I have a brick friend who knew John Clift, but sadly John has passed away & answers to some of my questions I am sure John would have been able to answer.
Another bit of information received from the library records there were ten kins in total with the last two kilns, numbers nine & ten being photographed as still standing in 1990 by Marilyn Palmer. This grainy black & white photograph shows that there were bushes growing on the roofs, so I am assuming these will have been buddleia or birch as they can establish themselves in any nook or cranny in a derelict building which has been neglected over a long period of time.
Many Thanks to -
John Martin, Coalville Library
Dennis Gamble - photo
Darren Haywood - photo
Mike Chapman
Paul & Cynthia - adverts
Mark Cranston
NLS/Ordnance Survey - maps
Kelly's & White's Directories
London Gazette
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