James Oakes, Pipe & Brickworks, Jacksdale

I have covered Riddings bricks in my Riddings Wall post, but after finding different Ridings bricks from different periods, I decided to show these different designs & expand the history of the company started by James Oakes, born 1788. The company continued with many changes under the Oakes family until 1972, when the pipe & brickworks were purchased by Hepworth, which then closed in 1987. As there were a number of James in the Oakes family, please see the family tree at the end of this post.

We first find James Oakes (born 1788) was working for Thomas Saxelbye, Richard Forrester, Nathaniel Edwards, all of Derby & William Whylde of Southwell & these gentlemen were all partners in Thos. Saxelby & Co. Ironfounders at the Derwent Foundry in Derby, who in 1802 established the Alfreton Iron Works in Riddings. The name of Alfreton was used rather than Riddings with the town of Alfreton being known more nationally. The Alfreton Ironworks was situated at Pye Bridge next to the Cromford Canal & lay within the 300 acre Riddings Estate, Somercotes belonging to Lancelot & Christopher Rolleston. In 1804 Joshua Lomas replaced William Whylde on the board, but left the partnership the following year. At the beginning of 1805 the board took the decision to transfer all of Saxelbye & Co. iron production from it's Derwent Foundry in Derby to their Alfreton Works & George Mushet was appointed manager.  In 1808 the company purchased the Riddings Estate at auction which included Riddings House from the Rolleston family. 1808 sees David Mushet leave the company, selling his shares to James Oakes, who is then appointed manager of the Works. In that same year Thomas Saxelbye also sells his shares to James. James then becomes a full partner in Saxelbye & Co. in 1810.  

1817 sees James purchasing the whole company & estates at auction. He also purchased Richard Forrester's shares to become the sole owner of the Riddings Ironworks. James then proceeds to expand his company in opening several collieries.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1877.    

James then moved his family to Riddings House (coloured green) which came with the purchase of the Alfreton Iron Works. The house & pleasure grounds were set in 80 acres of land in Riddings, Derbyshire, which then became the family home for future generations. James Oakes passed away in 1845. 

In 1846 a brickworks was built next to the Ironworks & is coloured yellow on the map above. This brickworks is no longer shown on the 1899 OS map & new buildings now occupy the site. I then found a new brickworks had been established at Selston Colliery which was sunk in 1874 by James Oakes. I have therefore come to the conclusion that the brickworks at Alfreton Works closed in the 1880's or early 1890's & brick production was moved to the Selston Colliery yard. Today recycling companies, scrap metal yards & a variety of other industries occupy this site now called the Pye Bridge Industrial Estate.

In 1847 James Oakes (born 1816) noticed a black oily substance coming from the walls of his coal mine, which with the help of his brother-in-law, Lyon Playfair who was a chemist, sent a sample to his friend James Young for testing. Then Playfair with the assistance of Edward Meldrum set up a refinery next to James pit to refine the crude oil into paraffin for lamps, yielding 300 gallons per day. Thus creating the World's 1st oil refinery. This only lasted two years as the crude oil dried up.

As wrote James Oakes sank Selston Colliery in 1874 at nearby Pye Hill which is just over the Derbyshire border in Nottinghamshire & the 1880 OS map below shows the associated brick yard, which I have coloured purple. Riddings House & The Alfreton Ironworks are just to the left of this map.

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

We then find by 1900 a larger brick & pipeworks had been built next to Selston Colliery which had now been renamed Pye Hill No. 2 Colliery & I have coloured this larger Pye Hill brickworks purple on the 1913 OS below. It's at a later date that Pye Hill Colliery together with it's brick & pipe works fall within the boundaries of Jacksdale village, Notts. All of the Company's bricks made at this larger works continue to be stamped Riddings. 

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1913.   

We find later members of the Oakes family expanded the company with a joint venture with the Butterley Company in forming the Riddings & District Gas Co. in 1888. By 1914 the company also owned sand & iron ore quarries, manufactured gas & water pipes, cylinders, did specialist work for power stations & produced tar macadam for roads. In 1920 Stanton Iron Works Co. purchased the company's foundries & ironstone works, leaving the coal & clay works to continue under the Oakes Family. In 1947 with the pits being nationalised, the clay works changed its name to Oanco. The company was then purchased by Hepworth Ceramics in 1972. The pipe & brickworks finally closed in 1987. Today green fields with newly planted trees now cover the site of James's pipe & brickworks in Jacksdale & only finding his Riddings bricks reminds us of his rich industrial past & this blog of course !

 Photo supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne

View of one of the round kilns & pipe yard at Pye Hill.

  Photo supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne

Workers loading or unloading the rectangular kiln at Pye Hill.

Photo from the Frank Lawson collection. 

Photo supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne

Front cover of Oakes catalogue around 1903/4.

  Photo supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne

Please note the truck has the address of Jacksdale, Notts. on it's door, so we know the brickworks was classed as being in Jackdale by 1937.

View of the pipe & brickworks from the south east in 1946.

View of the pipe & brickworks from the north west in 1946.

This is probably the newest brick made of the ones shown.

A variation found in Mansfield.

I acquired this wall coping brick in August 2021. 

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1959.            Image supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne.

1959 map showing the pipe & brickworks, a rectangular brick kiln is marked next to the railway line & it maybe the one in the photo shown above being loaded/unloaded by the men. This map also shows the works had many down-draft round kilns. 

In March 2018 Will Moss found me this Riddings "Blue" brick in Brinsley & it came from the footings of a demolished building. I say blue brick, but it's not a true blue brick made with Etruria marl clay as found in the West Midlands because where this brick is chipped you can see the red clay underneath & this bluish effect is only on the surface. These blue bricks would have been made with local clay & fired at a higher temperature to achieve this bluish effect. The weight of this brick is also heavier that it's red counterpart & may well have been suitable for the underground footings of buildings & been impermeable to water. Will also found a Eastwood blue brick on the same piece of land & this brick also shows where it is chipped that it is red under the surface. Other local bluish bricks that I have found are by Sherwood Colliery, Butterley Brick Co. Kirkby, Shipley & Brinsley. Needless to say that these East Midlands "Blues" did not match their West Midlands counterparts for quality & therefore did not capture a share of the blue brick market.

I have found on the web three possible entries for James & his descendants, as the information does not quite add up, it may not be accurate. Fortunately today we are more accurate with our information.

James Oakes' Family Tree 

James Oakes married Sarah Haden 19 May 1814 at the Church of Saint Michael, Derby.

James & Sarah's children.

Sarah Anne christened 3-5-1815 in Alfreton

James junior christened 6-4-1816 in Alfreton

Mary christened 3-3-1818 in Alfreton

Richard Haden christened 29-11-1819 in Alfreton

Margaret christened 23-8-1821 in Alfreton

Charles Henry christened 7-1-1826 in Alfreton

1841 Census for Alfreton

Living at Riddings House - James 50, wife Sarah 50,

Children - Sarah 25, James 25, Thomas 20, 

Margaret 15 & 6 servants.

The ages of the children match up, but is Richard now known  as Thomas ?

In this next entry from Kelly's Trade Directory 1891, Richard Haden Oakes / Thomas Oakes is now Thomas Haden Oakes esq. J.P., Lord of the Manor & living at Riddings House.

Charles Henry & James jnr. Oakes living at Holly Hurst.

Charles Henry Oakes together with John Wales Laverack are managers at Riddings Colliery & Robert Knowles is the manager at the Iron Works.

An accurate family tree supplied by Martyn Taylor-Cockayne.

James's descendants no longer live at Ridding House, which is now a nursing home.

Many Thanks to Martyn Taylor-Cockayne for supplying me with photos, maps & information of James's Iron & Brickworks.

Jacksdale's history past & present can be read on Martyn's website.

http://www.jacksdale.org.uk/about-us 

Messrs Barke, Brickmakers, Sutton in Ashfield

With the help of Marg at Sutton Library, I can now present the information from the Census about the brickworks owned by the Barke family on Mansfield Road as well as the trade directory information previously found.

In the 1871 Census Aaron Barke from Selston is recorded as living at the Beer House, Mansfield Road working as a brickmaker aged 48.
In the 1881 Census, Aaron, 58, son George, 23, also brickmaker, both living at the Beer House. 
In the 1891 Census, Aaron 68 is now Publican & living at the Potmakers Arms. George 33, is now joined by another son John 31, Pan Tile Maker, both living with Aaron.
The 1901 Census shows George, 43 as the Publican of the Potmakers Arms. Aaron is no longer recorded.
George in the 1911 Census is recorded as Brickmaker & living with his wife at 11 Apollo Road, which was just across the road from the Potmakers Arms, aged 54. 

The Mansfield Road brickworks (field 178), where they all worked was behind the Potmakers Arms (Beer House) & is recorded on the 1877 map below. This works is shown again on the 1899 map, but on the 1917 map the brick yard has gone & been replaced by a football field, to be later followed by the town's dog track, then houses.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey 1877.

This advert appeared in the Nottingham Evening Post, 11th April 1872 - Brickmakers wanted - Apply Aaron Barke, Sutton Forest Side Brick & Tile Works near Mansfield.

Aaron Barke is listed as brickmaker in Kelly's & White's Trade Directories from 1876 to 1908 editions. From 1876 to 1900 the Mansfield Road works is listed as Eastfield Road, Forest Side Brick Works & Forest Side, Nottm. Then in the 1904 edition Aaron is recorded at Skegby, Mansfield & then on the next line underneath, Mrs Louisa Barke, Aaron's wife (brick & tile maker) Mansfield Road, S-in-A. The 1908 entry just lists Aaron at Skegby. 

We next find in the 1912 & 1916 editions the brickworks at Skegby is now recorded as Barke Brothers, so sons George & John are now in charge. I do not have any bricks made by any of the Barke family at the moment, so they may not have stamped their bricks ?

Although I do not know the location of the family's Skegby Works, the one which I have coloured green on 1913 OS map below appears to be the main contender with it being available during the period of time the family are recorded as brickmaking in Skegby.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1913.

Butterley / NCB Kirkby Brickworks, Kirkby in Ashfield

In 1887 the Butterley Company of Ripley, Derbyshire, purchased land in Kirkby in Ashfield & the Summit Pit was sunk. In 1890 a brickworks was built next to the colliery, situated towards Kirkby town centre, as shown on this 1900 map below, but by the 1921 map the brickworks is no longer shown in this location.There is a plaque of the Colliery in 1960 set on a large stone in nearby West Park, showing the brickworks new location which was on the Sutton side of the pit, next to the spoil heap. The date of the relocation is unknown, but it was before 1921. More railway sidings are then built on the original brickworks site. The pit was also known as Kirkby Colliery & became one of the largest collieries in the country, even generating its own electricity. Both the brickworks & the pit closed in 1968.

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

The brickworks in 1900 (centre of map) located towards Kirkby town centre. The other brickworks shown on this map on Portland Street was owned by Benjamin Holmes, which I have wrote about in a previous post. 

Plaque in nearby West Park.

1960 plaque showing the brickworks new location.

A blue type brick made by Butterley which the company experimented with & it appears that this venture was not successful. This works is listed in Kelly's 1922 & 25 editions as Butterley Co. Ltd. Kirkby Works, East Kirkby, Nottm. Then in 1928, 32, 36 & 41 editions it is listed together with the nearby Ollerton works.

The pit & brickworks were nationalised by the government in 1947. Below are examples from that date to its closure in 1968.

Life at the brickworks by Henry Simms.

Many Thanks to Henry for giving me permission to reproduce his work and Chris Kidger, secretary, at the Kirkby and District Conservation Society in Kirkby in Ashfield for supplying me with information about the brickworks and Henry's story. 

Contact details for K.D.C.S please click link.

http://www.kirkbytowncentre.co.uk/EZ/ktc/ktc/index.php?thispage=page06&xurl=page06

Annesley & Bentinck Brickworks, Kirkby in Ashfield

Bentinck

Bentinck Colliery was on Park Lane, Kirkby in Ashfield & was owned by the New Hucknall Colliery Company based in Hucknall Huthwaite (Sutton in Ashfield). It was opened in 1895, with the first coal production in 1896. The Nottinghamshire Guardian dated 29th February 1896 reports that Bentinck's three shafts were either completed or nearing completion with the bricks to line these shafts coming from the colliery's own brickworks which had three Newcastle Kilns which could bake 33,000 bricks in one firing. The press machine was capable of turning out 30 bricks per minute. With the near completion of the pits shafts the article goes on to say that bricks were then to be made & stored ready to build the colliery's village which was going to be erected between the Pinxton road & the Midland Railway Line. The brickworks is first recorded in Kelly's 1900 edition as the Bentinck Colliery & Brick & Coke Works, Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottingham with Simeon Watson as Manager. Then in the 1904 edition there are two entries for this works, one same as the 1900 edition, then this entry for the New Hucknall Colliery Co. Simeon Watson Manager, Bentinck Mine, Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottm. This 1901 map shows the location of the Colliery & Brickworks on Park Lane, Kirkby. I then have mining references of brick making at the works in 1933 & 1940. There does not appear to be any Bentinck bricks made with NCB on them, so brick making must have finished by 1947 at the time of Nationalisation.  

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey 1901.

This no named brick came from a house being renovated in the row of houses which is called Bentinck Town & I strongly believe this was one of the bricks made for the Town after the sinking & lining of the shafts were completed & will have been made in 1896.

Annesley

Photo from the David Kitching Collection.

Photo by John Musty.

Annesley Colliery was sunk in 1860 by the Annesley Colliery Company, with first coal production in 1865. In 1925 the pit was sold to the New Hucknall Colliery Company & thus began its long association with Bentinck pit. I have mining records for brick production in 1933 & 1940. With Nationalisation in 1947, the majority of bricks found have had  NCB stamped on them & were made of clay shale. Martin Hammond records the Annesley brickworks which had a 20 chamber modified Hoffmann kiln closed in 1969.  Under the NCB the two pits were joined together, with Annesley & its famous A on its winding stocks moving the men & supplies to the coal face, the coal was brought to the surface & washed at Bentinck. Both pits closed around 2000. 

I have found in a British Brick Society article dated January 1975 that the Annesley brickworks is listed in an undated list of brickworks owned by NCB. I then have been sent an image of a Midland Brick Co. pamphlet dated August 1968 by Mike Chapman which lists Annesley brickworks as being owned by the company. Now the Midland Brick Co. was set up by NCB in 1967 as a wholly owned subsidiary to prepare twelve National Coal Board brickworks for future sale. This sale took place in 1973 when Butterley Brick purchased the Midland Brick Co. So with Annesley brickworks closing in 1969 this works did not pass over to Butterley in this Midland Brick Co. purchase.

Nottingham Journal - Friday 27 March 1936 Image © Reach PLC. 

Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Sherwood, Welbeck, Thoresby, Bilsthorpe & Ollerton Brickworks

Sherwood

Sherwood Colliery was in Mansfield Woodhouse, with its pit shaft being sunk in 1902. 1st production of bricks - date unknown. Nationalised in 1947, this brickworks closed on 19th April 1958 with the pit closing in 1992. A large housing estate now occupies the site.

Update 18.3.16.
This information is from an uncredited article at Angel Row Library, Nottingham which may have been produced by the National Coal Board.
Adjacent to the colliery this brickworks was owned by Sherwood Colliery Co. Ltd. & brickmaking started in the early 1900's. In 1912 the works consisted of two Manchester 18 chamber type kilns producing 10 million bricks per year using clay shale from the colliery & the stiff plastic method. Two more kilns were added in 1922/3. Production in the 1930's reached 7.75 million bricks per year. During WW2 (1939 to 1945) one kiln was closed. The colliery & brickworks were then Nationalised in 1947 & production reached 6.75 million bricks in that year. Then the article then confirms the date when the brickworks closed in 1958.

Nottingham Journal - Tuesday 01 January 1935 Image © Reach PLC. 

Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Added 4.5.22.

The 1911 census records Francis Newman Ellis (1855-1934), second son of William Henry Ellis (owner of Ellis Partridge & Co., brick manufacturers in Woodville & Leicester), was the Managing Director of Sherwood Colliery Co. Ltd. & he lived with his family at Debdale Hall, Mansfield, which was a short distance from the colliery. The 1901 census records Francis was living in Nottingham & a Colliery Director & from the web this was at the Hucknall Torkard Colliery Co., so Francis had moved to Mansfield by 1911. I am assuming Francis remained Sherwood's Managing Director until he retired. 

Photo of brickworks & pit on ebay.

Two 1925 OS maps showing Sherwood Colliery & it's brickworks (yellow), with the first showing Debdale Hall.   

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of Nottingham Insight/Ordnance Survey 1925.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of Nottingham Insight/Ordnance Survey 1925.

Updated 26.3.17.

Just photographed this "blue" Sherwood Colliery brick in Mansfield. I use the term "blue" very lightly as you can see from the second photo that it is red underneath the surface. The brickworks must have experimented in burning bricks at a higher temperature in an attempt to produce blue bricks. As we know true blue bricks are made from Etruria clay which is mostly found in the West Midlands. The Butterley Brick Co. in Kirkby also attempted to produce blue bricks from the local clay & they ended up with the same results. As this is the very first Sherwood Colliery "blue" brick that I have come across, I expect this venture was not successful.

Welbeck

Meden Vale near Warsop was the location for this pit & brickworks (coloured yellow on the 1952 map below). Sunk in 1912, the colliery was owned by the New Hucknall Colliery Company based in Hucknall under Huthwaite (now part of Sutton in Ashfield & just known as Huthwaite). I have mining references to the Welbeck brickworks being in operation in 1933 & 1940. The brickworks was Nationalised in 1947 along with the pit, but I do not have the date when it closed. The pit closed in May 2010. The site is now in the process of being transformed into a country park & industrial units are to be built in the future.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1952.

Updated 18.3.16.
This information is from an uncredited article at Angel Row Library, Nottingham which may have been produced by the National Coal Board.
Welbeck Brickworks was originally owned by the New Hucknall & Blackwell Collieries Ltd. & was located at the side of the colliery. Coal & clay shale was used from the colliery with the pit also supplying electricity, steam & water to the brickworks. 
1926/7 saw the start of brick production at Welbeck using a Hoffmann 20 chamber type kiln which produced 4,600 bricks per hour. A second 18 chamber Hoffmann kiln was added in 1934 & production rose to 12 million bricks per year with 85% of the works bricks being made using the colliery's clay shale & the stiff plastic method. The colliery & brickworks became part of NCB in 1947 through Nationalisation. The brickworks was then transferred to the Midland Brick Co. in 1967/8 with production reaching 10.4 million bricks in 1968. Further reorganisation of NCB's brickmaking activities in 1970/1 resulted in the brickworks at Welbeck being transferred to the new wholly owned NCB subsidiary, NCB (Ancillaries) Ltd. The brickworks then passed out of the control of the NCB in November 1973 with it being sold to Butterley Building Materials Ltd. The brickworks closed in November 1974 with the loss of 34 jobs.
Just to note, it appears from the information in this article that the Midland Brick Co. may have been part owned by NCB with the brickworks then coming back under the full control of NCB in 1970/1, but I cannot confirm this fact.

Photo by Simon Patterson.

Nottingham Journal - Friday 27 March 1936 Image © Reach PLC. 

Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Update 21.9.17.
Mike Chapman has sent me an image of a Midland Brick Co. pamphlet (below) which is dated August 1968 & the following info.
This pamphlet is dated 1968 & coincides with the NCB forming the Midland Brick Co. as a wholly owned subsidiary, getting twelve brickworks ready for a future sell off. As far as I’m aware the only works from this group which still is going is Desford, now owned by Forterra.

As a recap The Midland Brick Co. was sold to Butterley Brick in November 1973 with the Welbeck brickworks then closing in November 1974. So it looks like it was not viable to keep this brickworks open. 
I have to note from the information about the Welbeck brickworks in the Library article as being transferred to NCB Ancillaries Ltd in 1970/1 may now be incorrect as it was through Butterley's acquisition of the Midland Brick Co. in November 1973 that resulted in this works being owned by Butterley. Mike also confirms that the Midland Brick Company was wholly owned by the National Coal Board. 

Also to note is that Annesley is in this list of brickworks owned by the Midland Brick Co. I have a date of 2000 for the colliery closing under NCB, but no date when the brickworks closed. So the brickworks at Annesley may have experienced the same fate as Welbeck around 1974 under Butterley ? There is the option that the Annesley brickworks did not get sold to Butterley, as I have not found any info relating to this happening other than the works being listed in this pamphlet.

I have added this link which explains how Butterley/Hanson became Forterra. 
http://forterra.co.uk/resources/news/article/2015/10/hanson-building-products-announces-name-change-to-forterra

Thoresby

Photo by MF courtesy of the Frank Lawson collection.

Thoresby Colliery at Edwinstowe near Mansfield was sunk in 1925 & was owned by the Bolsover Colliery Company. Nationalised in 1947, it is still in production today & is owned by UK Coal Ltd. This is the last working pit in Nottinghamshire. 

Update - Thoresby Colliery closed in July 2015 - NOW ALL OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE PITS ARE GONE & LOST FOREVER !

I have not been able to find any information about a brickworks at the pit, so with Frank finding this brick in nearby Ollerton it could have been made in Thoresby village or on the Thoresby Hall Estate. 

Bilsthorpe

Photo by David Penney.

Bilsthorpe Colliery was sunk between 1925 & 1928 by the Stanton Ironworks Co. The brickyard which was adjacent to the colliery had been established a few years before the sinking of the shaft to produce the vast amount of bricks needed to construct the shaft & many buildings. To accommodate the men who sank the shaft, 60 bungalows for family's & 9 communal bungalows for single men were erected, more than likely using bricks made at the works.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1955.

1955 OS map of Bilsthorpe Colliery & it's brickworks which I have coloured green.

Photo reproduced with the permission of Robert Bradley & Fionn Taylor at healeyhero.co.uk

It looks like this photo of the kiln was taken after the brickworks had closed possibly around 1980 & was in the process of being demolished. It originally cost £5,300 to build this 20 chamber kiln & £1,456 was spent on erecting the building to house the two brickmaking machines which had been supplied by Bradley & Crane of Wakfield at a cost of £4,250. These brick making machines used the stiff plastic method process & the works produced 120,000 bricks per week. The chimney was demolished in 1983 & a photo of the chimney falling can be seen at the link. 
http://northnottsnewspapers.newsprints.co.uk/view/25315526/bilsthorpe%20brickwork%20chimney%20demolition%201983_1_jpg

Photo reproduced with the permission of Robert Bradley & Fionn Taylor at healeyhero.co.uk

Bricks made at this brickworks cost 17s 0d (old money) per thousand to produce & were used to line the roadways at the colliery as shown above. Many bricks were used as they were cheaper to produce than pouring concrete to form the roadways. 

The colliery closed on 27th March 1997 after 70 years of coal production.

More can be read about Bilsthorpe Colliery, Bilsthorpe village & it's workers at this link, from which I have gathered the information for this post. Many thanks to Fionn & Bob for the use of their photos & info. 
http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-7/B7-1997-P1.html

Ollerton

Photo by MF courtesy of the Simon Patterson Collection.

This Ollerton double pressed brick is a bit of a mystery in who made it. The only company that I know about operating in Ollerton is the Butterley Brick Co. & from bricks found the Butterley name has always been stamped in them. Butterley first opened their brickworks at Ollerton in 1919 & was fully operational by 1925 using a Hoffman type kiln. So my only conclusion is that this was an early example made by Butterley. 

This 1936 photo shows Ollerton Brickworks in the foreground with the housing of New Ollerton in the centre of the photo. The site of the former brickworks & it's surrounding area has now been restored as a green space with the planting of trees & is called Ollerton Pit Wood. Ollerton Colliery to the left of the village is now the home to a Tesco store, head offices of Centre Parcs & an eco industrial estate.

Butterley then relocated to a new site at Kirton in 1956. This Kirton works is still in production today operating under Hanson Brick. As no bricks have been found stamped Butterley Kirton, I am taking it that they continued to stamp their bricks Ollerton or they had moved over to produce wire cut bricks as Hanson's do today. In March 2015 this works along with Hanson/Heidelberg's other brickworks was purchased by Lone Star Funds which re-branded as Forterra in October 2015. As of 2017 the Kirton plant is still in production.

An example of a Butterley Ollerton made brick. Variations of the company stamp mark made at Ollerton can be seen in my Butterley Post.
http://eastmidlandsnamedbricks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/butterley-brick-company.html 


Update 30.11.16.
I have just been sent these two photos of Butterley's Kirton works by Marg who told me that the photos were taken by Nancy Hepworth, but she had no details about them & Nancy has sadly passed away. So possibly taken in the 1970/80's, the people in the photos may be ramblers or it may have been an organised tour of the works which I am favouring. 
I then sent the photos off to Tony who I knew had worked at the works & this was his reply :- I worked at the works from the late 1970's to 1982 driving the lorries which took the clay from the quarry down to the kibbler machine which broke the clay up. The top picture is of the quarry looking towards Laxton and the bottom picture is the works & looking towards Boughton, Walesby and beyond, towards the Thoresby estate.