tarboat's photos with the keyword: firebrick

Disuse and dereliction at the Loxley refractory works near Sheffield. Storr’s Bridge Works was last occupied by Hepworth Refractories and was also home to Carblox in the 70s, part of the Marshalls group, who made carbon blocks of different sizes for steel furnaces.

Disuse and dereliction at the Loxley refractory works near Sheffield. Storr’s Bridge Works was last occupied by Hepworth Refractories and was also home to Carblox in the 70s, part of the Marshalls group, who made carbon blocks of different sizes for steel furnaces.

Corrugated accommodation within the Loxley refractory works near Sheffield.Storr’s Bridge Works was last occupied by Hepworth Refractories and was also home to Carblox in the 70s, part of the Marshalls group, who made carbon blocks of different sizes for steel furnaces.

James Duckett, the founder of this firm, was born in December, 1825, the son of John and Jenny, his father was mployed as a cotton spinner. After working in a cotton mill and he became a stonemason with his brother and by 1851 was employing 30 men. In the 1859 he turned his attention to brick manufacture and by 1871 was a brick manufacturer and stone merchant employing 25 men. As the business prospered, he turned his attention to the manufacture of sanitary ware. It was this side of the business that was to prove most successful, and the works developed into the firm James Duckett and Son, Sanitary Pipe Manufacturers on Blannel Street in Burnley with a large claypit close to Burnley Barracks Station. His son Alfred later became involved with the business, as did his grandson, George. Initially James Duckett manufactured bricks using a large Hoffmann kiln at what was originally known as the Mitre Works where in 1870 he was advertising Dressed and Common Bricks, Field and Draining Tiles. In 1892 this is shown on the OS map as a brick and tile works but by 1912 James Duckett & Son Ltd was operating a Sanitary Ware Works with five circular downdraught kilns on the site. The Hoffmann kiln was abandoned and eventually demolished as brickmaking ceased and the works then manufactured a wide range of salt glazed urinal slabs & stalls, closet pans, wash basins, sinks & channel pipes which were sold all over Britain, Europe & South America. The Hepworth Iron Company acquired Ducketts in 1961 but production continued until the early 1970s. This trademark is on the water tank above the Duckett urinals in the Ship Inn in Macclesfield.

John Dyson was manufacturing firebricks on this site by 1834 and in 1838 the business was listed as "John Dyson and Son - Black clay miners and firebrick manufacturers, Griffs House, Stannington". The business was supplied with some clay materials mined close to the works and there are adits at the back of the premises. In 2005 rising energy prices had made the gas-fired kilns uneconomic and the works was closed and manufacturing transferred to Tianjin in China. The site is very slowly being demolished.

Francis Rufford established collieries and brickworks at Hungary Hill and New Farm in Stourbridge by 1812 and the business continued right through the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. This ticket covers the supply and transport by canal of sixty firebricks manufactured to a pattern supplied by the customer, Messrs Kay and Blackwell of Wharton Salt Works, Winsford. Despatched on 9th June 1849 the bricks were delivered at Middlewich Wharf six days later. From the wharf they would have been carried by cart to the Winsford salt works which lies a few miles distant on the banks of the River Weaver.

The Furness Clough Colliery and associated firebrick works was purchased by Richard Knowles in 1905. The mine produced mainly fireclay but also yielded coal for the kilns. The mine closed in 1963 but the works continued into the 1980s. A significant market at the time of my visit was firebacks exported to Saudi Arabia and several of these can be seen in front of the fork lift outside the kiln.

Refractory firebrick works, kiln interior. The business was killed off by competition from China.

This broken firebrick was found at the site of Foul Clough Colliery high up on the moors to the east of Bacup. It appears to be a product of Ireland Buckley & Co. fire brick and sanitary tube manufacturers, Blackstone Edge Rd, Littleborough. The works was operating by 1879 when they were also running the nearby Swaindrod Colliery. It was closed and the site cleared before 1910.

A wander around a disused firebrick works revealed one kiln with bicycles lurking inside. I have no idea why. The four firebrick boxes are around the firing chambers which, in this case, used natural gas.

This may just be a humble firebrick, but it is rather special to me as it represents a product from one of our local yards that must have been made in the nineteenth century. James Hall made firebricks at Bakestonedale, Pott Shrigley, possibly having taken over the works from George Lambert who is listed there in 1857. The fireclay was obtained from the many coal mines under Bakestonedale Moor. Hall appears in the trade directories for 1878 and 1883, but is absent in that for 1896 as the business had by then been absorbed by neighbouring brickmaker William Hammond. I suspect that the Hall family went on to manage the firebrick works at Furness Vale after this. This is the only firebrick I have seen from the Hall era and I am grateful to Lance Bates at the Chimneypot Museum in Longton for letting me photograph this example from his collection.

Edward Parry, manager at the Ewloe Hall Colliery, established his brickworks in 1860 at Ewloe Wood, although production may not have commenced until 1863. The works was particularly noted fordark blue pavers and specialised products including their " Acidio " brick for chemical works. In 1902 the company became E Parry & Sons Ltd. The business struggled to remain viable for many years and was finally acquired by Castle Firebrick Co in 1944. The works finally closed in the 1960s. This particular brick is an example of their " Dragon brand " firebricks. Parrys specialised in producing lining bricks for cement kilns. This one was found at a limekiln at Flagstaff Quarry on Anglesey.

Eglinton Silica Brick Co. Ltd. produced firebricks from the 1860s at Dundyvan Silica Brick Works near Coatbridge.

A very large piece of firebrick seen at Jubilee Colliery coke ovens, in Shaw near Oldham, where it had formed part of the flue lining. David Sharratt was in business manufacturing firebricks at Elland by 1860. By 1917 the firm was David Sharratt & Sons Ltd. The company operated several fireclay mines in Elland. Storth was the longest lasting but there were also Tonge Royd and Ainley Grange which were being worked in 1940.

Production has ceased at the Loxley refractory works and the brickmaking sheds stand stripped and idle awaiting the coming of the housing estates.