Leicestershire Brickworks - part 2

In this post I cover brickmakers who operated in Burton Bandalls, Heather, Loughborough, Whitwick,

Henry Dickens, Burton Bandalls & Rempstone

Henry Dickens (in some documents & records it's spelt as Dickins) was born in 1840 in Loughborough & the 1861 census records him as a brickmaker aged 21 living on Bridge Road, Loughborough together with his wife Elizabeth & 2 year old son, John Henry b. 1st February 1859. In 1861 Henry will have been working for another brickmaker. An advertisement in the Loughborough Monitor dated 5th of September 1867 reports Henry Dickens had re-opened the Burton Bandall's brickworks on the 28th of August & was willing to sell bricks & pipes at much lower prices than normally charged. The 1871 census records Henry was living & running his own brickworks at Burton Baudill. During my research I have found several ways of spelling Baudill, in Bandals & on the brick above Bandalls. One web reference states Bandalls is in the Parish of Burton on the Wolds on land running down to the River Soar. This spelling is used today for Bandalls Lane. Another son Thomas was born in 1865. Kelly's 1876 edition is the first trade directory for Henry Dickens at Burton Bandalls. I have coloured Henry's brickworks yellow on the 1879 OS map below.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1898.

We next find in the 1881 census that Henry & Elizabeth had moved to Rempstone, Notts., living on Main Street with Henry taking over the brickworks which was just south of the village on Loughborough Road. This census records Henry was employing 3 men & 3 boys. I have to note the village of Rempstone, Notts is situated very close to the border with Leicestershire & some trade directory entries do list it as Rempstone, Loughborough.

Meanwhile son John Henry is listed in the 1881 census as a brickmaker, unmarried & living at The Brickyard, Burton Bandalls. With Henry Dickens still listed in Leicestershire trade directories up to & including Kelly's 1900 edition at Burton Bandalls, son John Henry was running this Burton Bandalls works for his father during this time. The 1881 census records Henry's other son Thomas became an Agricultural Engine Driver & later a Coal Merchant. 

The two Dickens, Bandals bricks below will more than likely been made by John Henry. 

John Henry Dickens, b.1859 in Thrussington is recorded in the 1891 census aged 32, a foreman brickmaker & now married to Elizabeth, living at the Brickyard House, Burton Bandalls. Their son Charles Harold was born on the 3rd of May 1888. As wrote John Henry continued to run this brickworks for his father to at least the early 1900's. The 1901 census records John Henry, a brick manufacturer (worker) was now living at 40 Glebe Street, Loughborough. I have come to the conclusion with there being no more trade directory entries for the Burton Bandall's works after 1900 that the good quality clay on this site had been worked out, hence the brickworks closing. I write more about John Henry & his son later.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1899.

Back to Henry Dickens at Rempstone & the 1891 census records Henry, aged 51, a Brick Manufacturer & living with his wife Elizabeth at The Old Manor House, Rempstone, so it appears Henry was making good money from brickmaking. I have coloured this brickworks green on the 1899 OS map above & the Old Manor House red. At this moment in time no bricks stamped Henry Dickens, Rempstone have turned up. So if you have got one please get in touch via email, the address of which can be found on the Contacts Tab at the top of this page. Thanks.

Still living at the Old Manor House in the 1901 census Henry is also listed as a Farmer as well as a Brick Master in Rempstone. Kelly's 1904 edition is the last trade directory recording Henry brickmaking at Rempstone. Henry died on the 10th of May 1909 leaving effects of £3610 19s & 3d to his son John Henry Dickens, brickworks manager & Henry Lovett, tailor. This probate notice records Henry had been a Coal Merchant at the time of his death.

I now digress & take you out of the East Midlands with me returning to John Henry Dickens & the 1911 census now records John Henry Dickens, wife Elizabeth & son Charles Harold were now living at 192, Charles Road, Small Heath, Birmingham. John Henry, 52 is listed as a brickmaker (worker) & 22 year old Charles Harold is listed as a Traveller - Brick Trade (salesman). Although there had been a brickworks on Charles Road up to 1900, John Henry was more than likely working at the Little Bromwich Brick Co's works which just around the corner from where he lived on Bordesley Green road. Charles Harold may have also worked for the Little Bromwich Brick Co. which was owned by the Winterton family. An old newspaper article reveals that the Winterton family lived in Cadby, Leicestershire & were also co-owners of the Gypsy Lane Brickworks in Leicester, so I am assuming John Henry Dickens knew the Winterton's hence his move to Birmingham & working at their Little Bromwich Brickworks.

The 1939 Register lists John Henry as a Brick Manager, aged 80 living at 51, Elmdon Lane, Marston Green, Birmingham & son Charles Harold is listed as a Brick Manufacturer living on Bordesley Green road, so from this Register it appears father & son were running their own brickworks, but where ? With me writing about the Little Bromwich Brick Co. on my UK brick site my findings are that the Winterton family owned their Little Bromwich brickworks up to 1951. There are no trade directory entries for Dickens owning a brickworks around 1939, so were the Dicken's running the Little Bromwich Brick for the Winterton Family ? I do know Mr. Winterton's son-in-law G.H. Major was Managing Director when LBBC was wound up in 1951. 

I do have a second option to were father & son were working in the late 1930's. With the help of Mark Cranston who has tracked down some newspaper articles & me studying old maps, I am putting forward a brickworks at Bickenhill which may have been owned & run by Charles Harold & John Henry Dickens. This works was only 4 miles from John's house & 7 miles from Charles'. Although the Dicken's are not named as such in this article which appeared in the Birmingham Daily Gazette dated 1st November, 1927, I think they were the owners of the Bickenhill Brickworks Limited. This Company with a capital of £5,000 pounds had been formed to purchase the "Bickenhill Brickworks" from it's directors Mr & Mrs Sutton of "Bora", Broad Lane near Coventry, who were also builders. This new company would then continue to operate the works, making brick, tiles, drain pipes & other clay goods. Bickenhill Brickworks Limited is listed in Kelly's 1928 & 1936 editions on Birmingham Road, Bickenhill. I have to note that today this former brickworks site is on Coventry Road & Birmingham Road does not start until the junction with the A452.

So had the Dicken's owned this Bickenhill Brickworks between 1927 & 1939 ? I have two bits of info which indicates this. First a Coventry Evening Telegraph newspaper article dated April 1936 reports Charles Harold Dickens was standing down as a Vicar's Warden at St. Peters Church, Bickenhill after 12 years of service, with him planning to leave the district shortly. Then second the Dicken's certainly made money from brickmaking because when John Henry Dickens died on the 24th January 1942 he left effects of £24,323 2s 8d to his son Charles Harold Dickens, brickmaker & daughter Mrs. Alice Barker. Then when Charles died in June 1957, while living in Manor Road, Solihull, he left effects of £19,565 9s & 8d to his wife Constance. If I do get concrete evidence of the Dickens owning the Bickenhill Brickworks, I will update the post. 

If my research is correct the next owner of this works was Mr. Jackson who was advertising large quantities of bricks for sale in September 1939 from Jacksons Brickworks, Bickenhill. Also a second brickworks owned by the Bridge Brick Co. (red) had been established on the left hand side of the Bickenhill works (yellow) & both are shown on the 1937 OS map below. From a Brick Association advert both The Bridge Brick Co. & Jacksons were still trading in 1961. I think I am correct in saying that the Bridge Brick Co.'s works was taken over by Redland. Today industrial units now occupy these former brickworks sites, situated between the M42 & A452 on the A45.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1937.

Horace Rendall Mansfield, Whitwick

Horace Rendall Mansfield (1863-1914) is listed as owning the Hermitage Brickworks, Whitwick in Kelly's 1899 to 1912 editions. Mansfield's works was renowned for manufacturing terra cotta bricks & mouldings. I have coloured this works green on the 1920 OS map below. The Hermitage works had it's own railway siding coming into the yard from the Charnwood Forest Branch Line. Horace also owned the Railway Works, Church Gresley, producing salt-glazed pipes & fittings there.  

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1920.

Horace Mansfield was a devout Methodist, a Justice of the Peace in Derbyshire & the Member of Parliament for Spalding between 1900 & 1910. In 1908 Horace purchased Broom Ley's House in Coalville, this large Victorian house had been built in the 1840's for brick manufacturer William Whetstone who I have written about in Leicestershire Brickmakers - part 1. 

With the death of Horace & the First World War in 1914, I am assuming the works then stood idle. The next record of this Hermitage Works as being in production again is in Kelly's 1925 edition when it lists the National Brick Co. situated in Heather were now operating this works. 

Photo by Frank Lawson, found in Leicestershire.

Photo by Frank Lawson.

This next shaped brick is stamped Mansfield on one side & Hermitage Brickworks on the other. Bricks just stamped Hermitage Brickworks have also turned up, but until I found this brick below the previous Hermitage bricks were in a folder marked unknown maker with there being three more brickworks in the country called Hermitage, with one being fairly local in Mansfield & both works using the same band of clay which runs from Leicestershire to Nottinghamshire.

Heather Colliery Brickworks

Heather Brick & Terra Cotta Co.

Coronet, Heather

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1901.

This entry covers the four companies which operated the Pisca Lane brickworks in Heather, which I have coloured red on the 1901 OS map above.

The 1881 OS map shows Heather Colliery & it's associated brickworks was accessed off Pisca Lane (brickworks coloured red on the 1901 map above - colliery a little further north), but there are no trade directory entries for this brickworks at this date. It is not until 1891 when the colliery & brickworks was re-opened as the New Heather Colliery Co. that this company is listed in the Brick Manufacturers section of Kelly’s 1891 edition with Henry Slater Wooley recorded as proprietor. Henry Wooley lived at Highfield House on Station Road (coloured blue). This house still stands today. I suspect the brick below will have been made by the New Heather Colliery Co.

Photo by Peter Harris.

Heather Colliery closed in 1896 due to flooding & low coal reserves, but we find the brickworks had been sold off before then with Kelly’s 1895 recording the Heather Brick & Terra Cotta Co. proprietor, Henry J. Ford now owned this brickworks. 

The Contractors Merchants & Estate Managers Compendium 1901.

This Heather Brick & Terra Cotta Co. entry continues in trade directories until Kelly's 1922 edition when the entry now records Ford had purchased Wains Brick & Terra Cotta Works (coloured yellow) after Wains had closed down. I cover Andrew Wain's works next. Ford continues to run both works up to c1930 with Kellys 1928 edition being the last entry for the Heather Brick & Terra Cotta & Wains Co. (red & yellow works). We next find the Coronet Brick & Terra Cotta Co. in Measham, purchased both these works around 1930. Kelly's 1932 edition is the first directory listing Coronet's Heather works.

Photo by Mike Chapman.

This BCM Heather brick will have been made at the Pisca Lane works when owned by Coronet. The Coronet 1937 advert below records Coronet's three works & that BCM stands for British Commercial Monomarks, a company established in 1925 to provide manufacturers with a London address & mail forwarding services. It was an early form of the Post Code we use today, but companies & individuals back then had to pay for this service. It was with this advert being forwarded to me by Paul & Cynthia that I was able to reveal to the brick fraternity that BCM stood for British Commercial Monomarks & not British Clay/Ceramic Manufacturers as thought for many years without any written evidence turning up for this explanation of the initials. So another thumbs up to me for bring this evidence to the brick fraternity. If you would like to learn more about BCM please visit Mark Cranston's article. It is unknown in which year this Pisca Lane Works closed under Coronet.  

The Architects Compendium 1937.

Andrew Wain, Heather

Wain's Ltd.

Coronet, Heather

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1901.

Andrew Wain (b.1843) established his brickworks around 1880 with Kelly’s 1881 to 1891 editions recording him at Mill Lane, Heather (coloured yellow on the 1901 OS map above). 

Andrew died in January 1894 & the entries in trade directories for this works are then Andrew Wain "exors of the late” in Kellys 1895, 99 & 1900 editions. Andrew had three young sons, Arthur b.1876, Walter Andrew b.1878 & Thomas Bertram b.1881. Whether Arthur was one of the exors with him being 18 is unknown & I have not been able to find later census for him to see if he took over the running of the company. However the 1901 census for Walter Andrew Wain records him aged 22 & a Brick Manufacturer, so it appears Walter was running the brickworks. The 1911 census records Walter now aged 32 as a retired brick manufacturer & that explains Kelly's 1908 entry for the Mill Lane works with it being operated by Wain's Limited. I am assuming Walter had sold the works to this new Limited Company. Walter's younger brother, Thomas became an Architect & appears not to have been involved with the brickworks. 

This is a 2 inch smooth faced paver.

 

Photo by Carwyn Tywyn.

Photo by George Denny.

I then found in Kelly's 1922 edition that Henry Ford owner of the Heather Brick & Terra Cotta Co. was now operating this Mill Lane works as well & the entry reads Heather Brick, Terra Cotta & Wains Co. Heather. This entry is repeated in Kelly's 1925 edition. Kelly's 1928 entry is the last for Ford's company at this works. Around 1930 Ford sold his two Heather works to the Coronet Brick & Terra Cotta Co. based in Measham. Kelly's 1932 is the first directory listing Coronet at Heather, but it only lists one works, this being the Mill Lane works & now listed as being on Station Road. After checking maps they reveal Mill Lane & Station Road met at the entrance of this brickworks, even today Google Maps record this section of road as Station Road, but factories on this part of the road give their address as Mill Lane. Kelly's 1936 & 1941 editions also only list the Station Road works, but we know from the 1937 Coronet advert shown earlier that Coronet were operating two brickworks in Heather, this one & the one on Pisca Lane. The year Coronet closed this Mill Lane/ Station Road works is unknown.  

John French Neal

National Brick Co.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1901.

The first reference found relating to this green coloured brickworks appears in the London Gazette dated 9th of July 1897, in which John French Neal & John Thomas Jacques were dissolving their partnership on the 5th of July 1897 & had operated as Neal & Jacques, Brickmakers, in Heather, Leicestershire. All debts due to & owing by the said company would be received & paid by John F. Neal. It is unknown in which year Neal & Jacques had established their brickworks, but they are not listed in Kelly's 1895 edition & this works is not shown on the 1881 OS map. John French Neal then went on to run this works on his own with Kelly's 1899 & 1900 editions recording John French Neal at 2a, Halford Street, Leicester, offices; works, Heather. 

As you can see on the 1900 OS map above this works had road access from Newton Road & footpath access from Mill Lane, both are coloured green. It's not until the 1927 map that it shows this works had road access via Station Terrace (blue dotted line) from Mill Lane. Again I found some anomalies because later company's operating this works give their address of Station Road when it was actually off Mill Lane. I then found in the 1970's after the disused railway line had been removed, a new road was built to access this works, coloured purple. This road is still there today & it will give access to whatever they build on this former brickworks site. As I have digressed I now return to John French Neal & after finding two badly damaged bricks made by Neal I came across this mint example at 4 Oaks Reclamation. 

John French Neal b.1860 is listed in the 1901 census as a Brick Manufacturer, aged 41, wife, Clavender (nee Pearson m. 1882) & with one son John P. Neal, aged 18, living at Bardon Hill House, Bardon. The 1901 edition of the Directory of Clayworkers records Neal was making Red hand-pressed bricks, facing bricks, tiles & terra cotta. I next found Bennett's 1901 trade directory records the partnership of Neal & Jacques, Brick Manufacturers in Heather once more & this find is followed by a Derbyshire Records Office reference from the web which reveals that in 1901 Neal's business had been incorporated as Neal & Co. Limited. So from this info it appears Neal & Jacques joined forces again & then started a new company called Neal & Co. This Derbyshire Records Office article then states in 1903 the company changed it's name to the National Brick Company Limited. 

I next found three London Gazette Notices which record John French Neal had declared himself bankrupt on the 25th of March 1904 or had a bankruptcy petitioned declared against him on the 24th May 1906. Neal is listed as Brick & Tile Manufacture & a Builders Merchant's Traveller with him having a second home in Kilburn, London. Now I do not know how this affected the National Brick Co. as this notice does not name this company. My only thought's are that Neal himself was declaring himself bankrupt rather than the Company. The notice dated 30th of April 1907 which records Neal had declared himself bankrupt also tells you that he is now deceased, so John died some time between May 1906 & April 1907. I can only assume other directors/shareholders were running the National Brick Co. which may have included John Thomas Jacques as you will next read next was still associated with the company.

Kelly's 1908 edition records The National Brick Co. Heather, Ashby-de-la-Zouch with John T. Jacques as manager. This entry is repeated in Kelly's 1912 & 16 editions.

After WW1 we find Kelly's 1922 & 25 editions now record John T. Jacques as Managing Director of the National Brick Co. Heather. Kelly's 1925 edition also records National were now operating the Hermitage Brickworks in Whitwick as well, previously owned by H.R. Mansfield. The 1932 to 41 directories list both brickworks with the address for the Heather Works is given as Station Road & as previously wrote this works was actually accessed off Mill Lane.

My next find is the 1959 advert below in which it states the Star Brick & Tile Company of Ponthir, Newport, South Wales was an Associated Company. Star was a large concern & owned several brickworks in South Wales. We then find at a date unknown National & Star amalgamated forming the National Star Brick Co. 

The next change at the National Star Brick Co. is when Butterley/Hanson Group purchased it in 1971. It appears Butterley continued to operate this new Group in it's own name with the Brickworks of Wales website stating National Star Limited of Newport, South Wales were still operating under this name in 1978. Whether the Heather & Whitwick works were still operating under the National Star name is unknown, but I suspect these two works changed their name to Butterley with them being close to Butterley's headquarters in Ripley, Derbyshire. Butterley's Heather Works closed in 2012 & the site is awaiting to be redeveloped, but it is unknown when the Hermitage Brickworks in Whitwick closed.   

John Stanley Brown, Loughborough

Photo by Richard Thorpe.

John Stanley Brown, is listed as brickmaker on Park Lane, Loughborough; & grocer in White's 1877 edition. This is the only entry for John as a brickmaker, so how long he was making bricks for, is unknown. He does not appear in Kelly's 1881 edition. The earliest map that I have for Park Lane is 1883 & this map only shows Tucker's yard, therefore I cannot give you the exact location of Brown's yard.

I then found in Barker's 1875 edition that John is only listed as a grocer at 26, High Street, Loughborough & then in Kelly's 1876 & White's 1877 editions John is listed as being in the partnership of Brown & Jarratt as grocers & provision dealers, High Street, Loughborough. It appears William Wright Jarratt was only a partner in the grocer side of the business.  

John Smith, Loughborough

John Smith is listed as brickmaker on Park Lane, Loughborough in White's 1863 edition. I can only assume that this was the same yard that John Brown took over around 1877, as we next find that John Smith is listed as brick merchant at 5, Derby Road, Loughborough in White's 1877 & Brown is listed as brickmaker on Park Lane in this same directory. 

Henry Ebenezer Harrold, Diseworth

Photo by Steve Follows.

Henry Ebenezer Harrold is listed in Kelly's 1876 edition as residing at Bedford Square, Loughborough & brickworks at Diseworth. Harrold owned the brickworks which I have coloured yellow on the 1882 OS map (below) & is marked as disused, so we know Harrold had finished brickmaking by 1882. 

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

Charles Moore

Charles Moore is listed as brickmaker at Clements Gate, Diseworth in Kelly's 1876 & 1881 editions. I have coloured this brickworks green in the Harrold entry above.

More brickmakers will be added to this post, when time allows, so please call back. Thanks.