Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry

Found by Rob van den Engel at Groene Punt, Rockanje, The Netherlands. Gartcraig Fire Clay Co, Millerston, Glasgow. . . . .  

These two bricks were found in the tidal muds at Grangemouth, Scotland and in the same location as a number of confirmed Russian stamped bricks. Their ‘yellow’ colour, size (narrow) and visual composition suggest they may be early Dutch bricks. One would appear to have the imprint of an anchor or perhaps it is a…

Found in Zaandam, Holland by Daniel Tomasi. This is a slight variation from the normal stamp as the Glenboig and A1 run together to form 1 word. There is normally a gap between the 2. Glenboig Union Fireclay Company, Glenboig, Lanarkshire. Alternative brickworks include: Glenboig Star Fireclay Works, Glenboig, Lanarkshire. Glenboig Fireclay Works, (Old Works)…

Kindly donated by Mark Buchannan, an ex-employee at the Manuel Works, Whitecross. This template is made from 3mm thick compressed board. It is marked BHHH 229. Many fire bricks and specials manufactured latterly at the Manuel Works were stamped by use of a stencil. This template BHHH 229 would be the exact size of a particular…

01/01/1824 – The Scots Magazine – Glasgow – There have been a great many additions built to the old cotton mills in Glasgow this summer besides the new ones erected in various parts of the city. One of the mills is calculated to cost £40,000. This has been altogether an unprecedented year of building. Masons,…

Some newspaper articles I find, are difficult to marry up with a relevant brickworks. In such cases, I record them here until I can confirm their relationship to a particular brickworks. Below – 09/05/1743 – Caledonian Mercury – James Sutherland, merchant at the Timber-bush in Leith stocking tyles made in Aberdeen. (Note – SBH –…

Found on River Tyne, Newcastle. (Is it Ceipel or Geipel). Arthur Brickman comments: Similar bricks appear on Tyneside and I believe them to be of Dutch manufacture. In the early 1900s, a German patented Coal to Oil plant with associated Coking Ovens was built at Blaydon on the Tyne, in the vicinity of the Cowen…