Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry

Blackhill Brickworks, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow.

Canmore

1899 – 1900 – Blackhill Brickwork, near Maryhill; Office 172 West George Street.

1900 – 1901 – Blackhill Brickwork, near Maryhill; Office 172 West George Street.

1901 – 1902 – Blackhill Brickwork, near Maryhill; Office 172 West George Street.

1903 – 1904 – Blackhill Brickwork, near Maryhill; Office 172 West George Street.

1904 – 1905 – Blackhill Brickwork, near Maryhill; Office 172 West George Street.

1905 – 1906 – Blackhill Brickwork, near Maryhill; Office 172 West George Street.

1906 – 1907 – Blackhill Brickwork, near Maryhill; Office 172 West George Street.

1907 – 1908 – Blackhill Brickwork, near Maryhill; Office 172 West George Street.

1908 – 1909 – Blackhill Brickwork, near Maryhill; Office 172 West George Street.

Below – 21/11/1930 – Kirkintilloch Gazette – 11 men found sleeping at the Blackhill Brickworks. Arrested and walked the 4 miles to the Police Station at Bishopbriggs.

12/01/1933 – The Scotsman – Robert Clark, (51), single, residing in lodgings at 1 Celtic Street, Maryhill, Glasgow was found dead yesterday at the Summerlee Coal Company’s Blackhill Brickwork, Cadder, Bishopbriggs. Clark who was engaged as a brick worker had gone to prepare his tea and some time later was discovered lying outside a hut. Death was certified as natural causes.

18/12/1933 – The Scotsman – The new owners of Brickwork – Blackhill Brickwork, Cadder, Bishopbriggs which was formerly owned by the Summerlee Iron Co Ltd has been acquired by Messrs Keir and Cawder, Estate Offices, Bishopbriggs. Situated between Lambhill and Summerston Station of the L and N.E Railway, the brickfield which adjoins the Blackhill Colliery has been in existence for about 30 years and with the plant and kilns is presently producing 20,000 bricks per day. With the adjacent blaes bing, there is sufficient material to last for the next 50 years.

1936 – 1937 – Keir and Cawder, Ltd. (composition bricks), 12 Waterloo Street Glasgow C.2; Tel. No., Central.

29/09/1937 – Kirkintilloch Herald – New Brickfield – Messrs Keir & Cawder, Bishopbriggs have completed the establishment of a new brickfield at Blackhill, Cadder. The Kilns and machinery are capable of an output of 12,000 bricks per day. Excavators have also been introduced by the firm for removing blaes from bings in the district. Operations for the making of bricks are to begin today.

Below – 1938 – Blackhill Brickworks.

Below – 1944 – 1970 – Blackhill Brickworks

02/01/1946 – Kirkintilloch Herald – Brickworks re-opening – Preparations have commenced for the re-opening of Blackhill Brickworks, owned by Messrs Keir & Cawder, Ltd., Bishopbriggs. Started in September 1937, the work, which was taken over at the outbreak of war for Government purposes, has now been released. With the latest type of machinery and continuous kiln chambers, each chamber being capable of holding fully 10,000 bricks, kilns and machinery are capable of producing 12.000 bricks per day of eight hours.

Below – 25/03/1949 – Brick glut hits works – A million and a quarter bricks lying unwanted at a local brickwork and production held up through lack of a market is the sorry state of the brick trade in the West of Scotland. Blackhill Works, Glasgow has closed down. Lambhill Works have almost closed down and the Bishopbriggs Works has only one shift operating while in the Motherwell area, Holytown Brick Works with a working strength of 40 has been forced to pay off 15 workers.

04/02/1958 – The Glasgow Herald – The Blackhill Brickworks’ Glasgow, belonging to Keir and Calder, Ltd, are to close on Friday.  The works have an output, of 600,000 bricks a month and employ 27 men, most of whom are likely to be absorbed in other departments of the firm.    A spokesman for the company said yesterday that the closure had been made necessary by the cumulative effects of the normal seasonal fall in demand, the reduction in private and public authority building, the “dear money” policy of the Government, and the reluctance of builders to hold big stocks of bricks.  If the demand increased they would be prepared to reopen the works. The manager of another large firm of brick manufacturers confirmed that the industry was passing through an anxious period. “Not so long ago,” he said, “we could sell as many bricks as we could produce, but the position to-day is very different.  This is something much more serious than a seasonal fall in demand.” The fact that Glasgow Corporation had more or less exhausted building sites within the boundary was one obvious difficult and the position was not eased by the erection of timber houses at the new town of Cumbernauld.

c. 1960 – Works taken over by the Alexandra Transport Company. (Source Survey of Scottish Brickmarks).

1961 – 1962 – A directory of British clay products and manufacturers – Blackhill Brickworks (See Alexandra Transport Ltd), Glasgow N.W. – Composition bricks.

c. 1969 – Works taken over by the Scottish Brick Company. (Source Survey of Scottish Brickmarks).

c. 1980 – Works closed. (Source Survey of Scottish Brickmarks).