In this post I cover the brickworks which were situated in South Leicestershire.
Market Harborough Brick & Tile Co.
The first reference found to the Market Harborough Brick & Tile Co. at Little Bowden appears in the London Gazette dated 2nd January 1885 & this notice records the partnership which has for some time passed been carried on by John Benjamin Walker, Samuel Symington, William West, John Smith & Thomas Scarborough at the said works had been mutually dissolved on the 31st of December 1884. There are no trade directory entries for the company at this date & I have not been able to ascertain if one or more of these gentlemen carried on running the works afterwards. I have used the 1900 OS map below to show the location of the works which I have coloured yellow.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
I am undecided about the next bit of information from the Market Harborough Advertiser dated 9th June 1896 below as I have not been able to establish if Harry Hussey was owner of the brickworks or was just operating his chimney building business from a building situated at the brickworks. I favour the latter option. I next found the Market Harborough Brick & Tile Co. at Little Bowden is listed in Kelly's 1899 & 1908 editions.
Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail - Tuesday 09 June 1896
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The entry in Kelly's 1912 edition now reads Brick & Tile Co. Limited, Little Bowden, Market Harborough. It appears with the company being renamed as a Limited company, the works may have had new owners. I have also come to the conclusion that the brick below was made by this 1912 company.
Photo by Nigel Furniss.
Midland Mail - Friday 09 March 1917
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This March 1917 advert records the sale of surplus stock at the Little Bowden Brickyard by the Brick & Tile Co. Ltd. & I have come to the conclusion with WW1 still taking place & no men to run the works, the owners were preparing to close the works for good. The 1923 OS map only shows the remains of two clay pits & no buildings, so it appears it was the end of the works in 1917.
Croft Stone Quarry & Brick Co.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
The Croft Stone Quarry & Brick Co. at Croft near Hinckley was established by brothers Henry Davis Pochin & Samuel Davenport Pochin in 1872 on land they had purchased off the Pratt family in 1871. Then a forty year lease was taken out on Croft Hill to extract it's abundant granite & clay. Then after permission was granted from the London & North Western Railway Co. the brothers build a tramway connecting their works to the railway company's main line nearby. I have coloured the brickworks yellow & the extent of the quarry works in green on the 1900 OS map above.
The construction of a Patent Brick Kiln by Morand of Leeds was completed in 1873 & was capable of holding 100,000 bricks at one time. At the same time a machine house was built to accommodate a Murray's Patent Brickmaking machine which could handle 60 tons of clay per day. A boiler & engine by Messrs Grimson & Co. of Leicester had been ordered. The quarry by 1873 was already in production with the brothers employing 100 men. Plans were also afoot to build houses for their workmen in Croft Village.
The Croft Stone Quarry & Brick Co. is first listed in Kelly's 1876 edition with Samuel Davenport Pochin as Manager. A job advert in the Leicester Advertiser dated 18th May 1878 records the Croft Stone Quarry & Brick Co. were requiring two men to assist in the setting & burning of bricks. In Kelly's 1881 edition the company is now listed as the Croft Granite & Brick Co., with Henry Davis Pochin & Samuel Davenport Pochin listed as Proprietors. Brick output in February 1882 was 5,800 to 6,000 bricks per day. The next change is in Kelly's 1891 when the company is listed as the Croft Granite, Brick & Concrete Co. & this company name remains the same right up to the last available Kelly's in 1941, however there are changes in management & these are, Kelly's 1900 edition records Samuel D. Pochin as Managing Director, Kelly's 1908 to 1922 editions record Charles Henry Robottom as Secretary & Manager, Kelly's 1925 to 1932 editions record Norman Findlay Spence as Manager. In 1933 Spence is elevated to Director, then Managing Director in Kelly's 1936 & 1941 editions. The English China Clays Group took over the Croft Works in 1962.
Kelly's 1908 edition.
Photos by Robert Lane.
Although Croft is listed in the Brick Makers section in Kelly's right up to it's 1941 edition the last reference found to clay brick manufacture is 1918 when the company was paying bonuses to it's female workers & youths that it was employing at the brickworks, so I am slightly bemused why the company continues to be listed if clay brick production had ceased around 1918. The only option I can put forward is that they were producing concrete or reconstituted stone bricks after 1918 ? I did find a December 1916 job advert for the company requiring a Forman for a Common Brick Works, also brick setters, burners & drawers. So with many men at war & the company not being able to fill these positions the decision may have been made to close the brickworks around 1920 ? If I get the answer I will update the entry.
Jackson & Co.
Jackson & Co. are listed in Kelly's 1899 edition at Ashby Road, Hinckley. Only found two newspaper articles relating to this company. The first in the Hinckley Times dated March 1899 records Jackson's had turn out their first batch of bricks at their Ashby Road Works. Then the second in the Leicester Chronicle dated October 1899 reports on an accident at the works which records the brickworks as being on Barnwell Lane. With there being two brickworks near one another on Barnwell Lane I have found Jackson's owned the works which was on both Ashby Road & Barnwell Lane, coloured blue on the 1900 OS map below. How long Jackson's operated their works is unknown. The 1923 map no longer shows this works.
John Hudson / Hudsons Brick, Tile & Terra Cotta Co. is listed on Barnwell Lane, Hinckley in Kelly's 1895 through to 1936 editions, so Hudson owned the green brickworks. As of yet no bricks stamped Hudson have turned up. It also appears from my findings that John Hudson had been the Works Manager at the Hinckley Wharf Brick & Tile Co. around 1891 with him then establishing his own brickworks on Barnwell Lane by 1895.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
Hinckley Wharf Brick & Tile Co.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1886.
The Leicester Journal dated 25th of June 1875 reports the partnership of Charles Burrows, James Kirby & William Forrester Bramley trading as brick & tile manufacturers under the style of Burrows & Co. at Hinckley Wharf had been dissolved by mutual consent on the 24th of June 1875. Then from this day James Kirby & William Forrester Bramley would operate the Wharf Brickworks trading as the Hinckley Brick & Tile Co. This new company is first listed in Kelly's 1876 edition. White's 1877 edition records William F. Bramley as manager at the Coventry Road works. James Kirby left the partnership on the 8th of February 1883 leaving Bramley to carry on the business alone.
Nuneaton Chronicle - Friday 23 March 1883.
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Kelly's 1891 edition now records John Hudson as manager at the Hinckley Brick & Tile Co. The brick below will have been made by this company.
A goods for sale advert in the Hinckley Times dated 2nd of September 1893 reveals the brickworks was now being run by the Hinckley Wharf Brick, Tile & Pottery Co. & Kelly's 1895 edition records Alfred Wykes as the proprietor of this new company. In 1898 Alfred Wykes died & the company was acquired from his executors for £3000 by Mr. Benjamin Ryley, a Hinckley Property Agent who continued to run the company.
An article in the Hinckley Times dated August 1901 reports on the visit by one of it's reporters to the works which could produce on average 2 million bricks per year plus other pottery goods which were transport via canal by the company's own barges. Each barge could hold 9,000 bricks with orders going to Coventry, Nuneaton & Atherstone. On the barges return they called in at Moira to collect coal for the kiln. The thirteen chambered kiln could burn 150,000 bricks per session using four chambers at a time. The reporter writing this article was shown all the processes of making bricks & the making of clay pots & other pottery goods by Mr. Ryley. In August 1904 with the company being in financial trouble the works closed for good.
William Langton, Enderby
Photo by Frank Lawson.
William Langton & Son we primarily building contractors in Enderby as per 1888 newspaper reference. Found two trade directory entries for Langton as brick manufacturers. The first in White's 1877 lists William & George Langton at Enderby. The second in Bennett's 1901 edition lists William Langton & Son, Enderby. I have established the Langton's operated the brickworks which was on Mill Lane, coloured green on the 1901 map below. The 1914 map shows this works as disused.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1901.
Enderby Brick Co.
The Enderby Brick Co. Narborough is listed in Kelly's 1908 to 1932 editions. I have coloured the works yellow on the 1914 OS map below. Found a 1915 newspaper reference to the company which records the name of Mr. F.S. Haskard, but no position held, however a 1924 article records him as a Director.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1914.
It appears the works closed in 1932 with this December Notice advertising the sale of the works plant, bricks, etc etc. due to unpaid taxes & rent. This brickworks is no longer shown on the 1938 map. The London Gazette dated 4th December 1934 records the Enderby Brick Co. had been struck off the Joint Stocks Register & was dissolved. This normally happens when a company is not wound up by it's owners.
Leicester Daily Mercury - Saturday 10 December 1932 Image © Reach PLC.
Victoria Brickworks, Lutterworth
Photo by Dennis Gamble, courtesy of Brocross Old Bricks website.
The Victoria Brickworks, Lutterworth was owned by George Law & James King who were primarily builders & who in Kelly's 1876 & 1881 editions are listed in the Brickmakers Section with the address of Bitteswell Road, Lutterworth (Victoria Works) & three more brickworks at Monks Kirby, Ullesthorpe & South Kilworth. I have coloured their Victoria Works, Lutterworth green on the 1900 OS map below. The works was accessed via a tramway from Coventry Road (red), so the Bitteswell Road (yellow) address will have been the location of their builders yard.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
Kelly's 1891 edition only lists the Bitteswell Road address (Victoria Works) & two other brickworks at Ullesthorpe & South Kilworth. Only James King is listed in Kelly's 1895 edition at the Bitteswell Road address (Victoria Works) & Henry Bonser is listed as manager of the South Kilworth works & William Adams is listed as manager of the Ullesthorpe works. Kelly's 1899 edition now records the partnership of James King & Thomas L. Ridley at Bitteswell Road (Victoria Works) & the South Kilworth brickworks. A 1902 newspaper article records Thomas L. Ridley as the head of King & Ridley, so I am assuming James King had retired from the business by then. Kelly's 1912 edition only records Law & Ridley at Bitteswell Road (Victoria Works) & this is the last entry for the company as brick makers, so it appears the Victoria Works was operational from 1876 to at least 1912. However Law & Ridley are still listed as builders in Kelly's 1916 edition.
