(Note – SBH – There is some confusion regarding bricks stamped AFTON with regards their exact origins. There was the Afton Brick and Tile Works at New Cumnock, the owners of which opened a brickworks at Sanquhar in 1852 and then much later there was the Afton Brick Company Limited which operated the brickworks at New Cumnock and is possibly the same company that opened the brickworks at Avonbridge. Any assistance to clarify matters for me will be gratefully received.)
Dr Jimmy Begg states – There is a hand-drawn map of the turnpike roads of New Cumnock parish of 1851 (which show the new railway). On the west side of the turnpike road to Dalmellington, opposite Straid farm is clearly marked “Afton Tileworks”. Around 1850, the struggling Nithsdale Iron Company (1847-59), having run out of local ironstone, had built a tramway to Beoch to a new source of ironstone, and probably this tramway may also have used to carry clay from the Auchingee clay pit to the Afton Tileworks and certainly would have taken the finished bricks and tiles from Straid down to the furnaces for transport onwards by cart to New Cumnock Station. This ties beautifully in with one of the adverts in 1850-51, stating that the Iron Company was looking
to form a branch line to export its iron, bricks, tiles, etc
Below – 29/05/1850 – Dumfries and Galloway Standard and Advertiser – Article regarding Mr Clannell’s (Clennell) Afton Brick and Tile Works. The quality of the bricks and also that they are now transported by railway.
1851 – Map of New Cumnock turnpike roads, beautifully hand-drawn in 1851 by James McDerment & Sons. Afton Tileworks just to the north of Straid Farm.
Below – 30/07/1851 – Dumfries & Galloway Standard – Advert Dickenson & Co, Afton, New Cumnock.
Below – 19/11/1851 – Dumfries & Galloway Standard – Drain pipe tiles, fire bricks and fire clay). The subscriber has been appointed agent to Messrs Dickenson & Co., Afton, New Cumnock, for the sale of their superior drain pipe tiles, fire bricks and fire clay, which may be obtained on moderate terms, at any station along the line of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway, on application to J.Bell, 10, Bank Street, Dumfries. 15th November 1851.
Below – 17/12/1851 – Drain pipe tiles, fire bricks and fire clay. The subscriber has been appointed agent to Messrs Dickson & Co., Afton, New Cumnock, for the sale of their superior drain pipe tiles, fire bricks and fire clay, which may be obtained on moderate terms, at any station along the line of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway, on application to J.Bell, 10, Bank Street, Dumfries. 15th November 1851.
Below – 27/10/1852 – Dumfries and Galloway Standard – Messrs Dickinson announce that in addition to their Afton Brickworks, New Cumnock they are now opening an extensive brick and tile works at Sanquhar. (Dickson or Dickinson or Dickenson!
Below – 20/07/1855 – Glasgow Herald – Afton Brickworks, Straid for sale.
Below – This salt-glazed paver was found on the site of the Afton Tileworks/Straid Brickworks by Ian Suddaby and is very likely to be a product manufactured there. It is not stamped.
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Found by Eddie Mclean in the Glasgow area. Buccleuch Terra Cotta Works, Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire. (N.B – stands for North Britain – postal abbreviation of the day). This is believed to be an electric cable cover or a land surface gulley for directing water flow. , , . . .
Found in the Dumfries area. Buccleuch Terra Cotta Works, Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire. The lettering is raised on this stamp. . . .
Found by Ginger Benn at an unknown location in England. Edward VII Coronation June 1902. This paver will have been manufactured at an unidentified brickworks in England. . . . .
Found by Ian Suddaby in the Dunfermline area. This example is not in my possession. This is a paver or byre block. Lochhead Fireclay Works, Dunfermline, Fife. . .
Found in the Sanquhar area. Buccleuch Terra Cotta Works, Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire. Note the ‘G’ is a different size and style from the other letters. Note the 2nd ‘R’ in ‘Terra’ is a different shape from the first ‘R’. Note the ‘CO’ has a raised ‘O’. This brick appears to be a reshaped standard brick as…
Found by Simon Scott in the Kilmarnock area. This is a byre or stable paver. J & M Craig, Perceton Fireclay Works, Dreghorn, Ayrshire. . . . .
Found by Mike Chapman in Woodborough, Nottinghamshire. The brick was found in a pile of hardcore and rubble used to fill holes in a golf course road so its provenance is unknown. This example is not in my possession. Appin Brickworks, Townhill, Dunfermline. . . . .
Found in the Leadhills area. This is a firebrick and as such may have been manufactured by Messrs Dickson or Dickenson, Afton Brickworks, New Cumnock. . . . .
This trough is in the possession of Ian Suddaby and was found in Dumfriesshire. Ian states “This one is 33″ long, 18″ wide and 9″ deep and was made by George Clennell at Sanquhar Brick & Tile Works in Dumfriesshire. The long sides of the trough have four stamps, two each side, one with G….
This stamp is on a salt-glazed saddle back wall cope. It was photographed in the Kilmarnock area by Martin Sneddon. Buccleuch Terra Cotta Works, Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire. (N.B – stands for North Britain – postal abbreviation of the day). . . Below – The same stamp on a chimney as photographed by Robert Reid in the…
