Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry

Carsehead Brickworks, Dalry, North Ayrshire.

Dalry Brick Company, Kersland and Carsehead Brickworks, Dalry, Ayrshire.

Canmore – Carsehead Brickworks, Beith Road, Dalry, North Ayrshire. Ayrshire Brick & Fireclay Company established Carsehead Brickworks in 1907 and operated the business until at least 1928. The works had several owners from then with the Scottish Brick Corporation becoming the last owner in 1969. The works closed in 1977 and were mainly demolished c.1981

Ayrshire Brick & Fireclay Company Ltd, Carsehead – The brickworks lay on the outskirts of Dalry and was started about 1838 when the Blair Ironworks was built nearby.  Blair did not flourish and in 1856 passed into the hands of the Eglinton Iron company, which had just been bought by William Baird & Co.  Hunt’s Mineral Statistics of 1858 record the brickworks producing 2,700 tons a year of taphole clay for blast-furnaces.  Firebricks were also made.  The fireclay came from Blair Colliery, and later from No. 5 and No. 7 Pits to the south, which were connected to the brickworks with a mineral railway.  The ironworks closed in 1870, and the brickworks passed into the hands of Arthur Logan, Coalmaster, of Ellieston, Paisley.  Logan incorporated the company in 1901, with a capital of £4,000, which was almost all held by James Coats, the thread manufacturer of Paisley.  The company was managed by Logan but it did not prosper, and in 1915, Logan took over the Coats shareholding.  Losses continued and brick making stopped in 1924, but the Company was not liquidated until 1945.  Source –  The Scottish Refractory Industry 1830 – 1890 Kenneth W Sanderson. (Note – SBH – Apart from this entry I am unable to find any supporting evidence that the brickworks operated prior to 1898. If anyone has such information then please get in touch).

1858 – Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for 1858 – Dalry, clay of coal measures. Name of freeholder – Eglinton Iron company. Manufacturer – Eglinton Iron company. Manufacture – stopping clay for blast furnaces and bricks, annual estimation of 2,700 tons.

24/08/1898 – Kirkintilloch Herald – We notice that Messrs D Logan & Son, Limited of Glasgow and London, have completed arrangements with Messrs William Baird & Co., Limited, for the utilisation of the large bing known as Carsehead No. 2, situated about yards east of Dalry Station, for the purpose of commencing the making of brick from pit refuse. The firm have already begun to put down the plant, and as soon as the necessary ovens are erected brickmaking will be commenced. If this industry means the gradual vanishing of the unsightly bings, this firm, or a similar one, would have a cordial welcome in the vicinity Kirkintilloch.

19/07/1901 – Edinburgh Evening News – New Scottish joint-stock company. Ayrshire Brickwork at Carsehead and Wester Kersland, Dalry Ayrshire. Capital £4000 in £1 shares.

20/01/1901 – The Scotsman – New Scottish joint-stock company. Ayrshire Brick and Fire Clay Company Limited, Dalry, Ayrshire to acquire the brickwork partly on the lands of Carsehead and partly on the lands of Wester Kersland, Dalry, Ayrshire and to carry on the business. Capital £4000 divided into 4000 shares of £1 each. The company does not issue any invitation to the public to subscribe for its shares. Subscribers – John Faill, 52 Robertson Street, Glasgow, contractor; John Forbes Baird, Denewood, Greenock Roa, Paisley, brick manufacturer; Robert Baird, Meadowbank, Greenock Road, Paisley, traveller; John Bilsland Watt, 10 Townhead Terrace, Paisley, cashier; James Adie, 25 Caledonia Street, Paisley, cashier; William Jack, Riggend, Orchard Street, Motherwell, law apprentice; David Hastings Kay, 4 Radnor Terrace, Glasgow, law apprentice.

1903 – Ayrshire Brick & Fireclay Company Ltd, Carsehead & Kersland Works, Dalry.

21/08/1903 – Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald – JP Court  Joseph Harper and Wm. McMaster both labourers for contravention of the Trespass Act lodging in the brick-kiln situated at Dalry Brickworks, occupied by the Ayrshire Brick and Fire Clay Company, were each fined in the modified penalty of 5s or 3 days.

Below – 1909 – Carsehead Brickworks.

12/01/1911 – The Scotsman – The Ayrshire Brick and Fireclay Company, Dalry have become proprietors of Highfield Pit. New pithead and screening arrangements are being erected and it is expected that the work will be in full swing in the course of another week or so. It is the company’s intention, it is understood, to manufacture lime for building and agricultural purposes and thus supply a want in the district.

1912 – 1913 – Ayrshire Brick & Fireclay Company Ltd, 86 St Vincent Street, Glasgow.

07/01/1921 – Bellshill Speaker – Scottish housing. Brickworks for Glasgow. The Director of Housing for Glasgow has been instructed to report as to brickworks in the neighbourhood of the city which might be acquired. Messrs Harland and Wolff (Limited), having agreed to carry out certain proposed buildings with other than brick have offered their stock of bricks, amounting to 120,000 to the Corporation of Glasgow at 110s per thousand. The Corporation Housing Committee have accepted the offer. The minutes of the Glasgow Corporation Sub-Committee on Building Materials states that the brickworks at Dalry which the committee offer to purchase are those of Mr Arthur Logan at Kersland and Carsehead. It is proposed to acquire both works for £45,000. Mr Logan was induced to reduce his price from £60,000. A tender by Messrs P. and R. Fleming, amounting to £1328 15s, for the erection of the necessary sheds in connection with the proposed concrete brickmaking, has been recommended for acceptance by Glasgow Corporation.

18/01/1921 – Aberdeen Press ad Journal – The Scottish Board of Health have approved of the purchase by Glasgow Corporation of the brickworks at Dalry, Ayrshire, which the Corporation provisionally agreed to buy for £45,000. The brickworks are situated at Kersland and Carsehead, and they are each capable of producing 11,000 bricks per day, which works out at, something like 5,000,000 bricks annually. As something like 20,000 bricks are used in the construction of the average house under the Corporation schemes, the production from the newly-acquired brickworks will enable about 250 houses to be erected annually. A gratifying feature of the purchase is that Dalry bricks will be immediately available. During tile Town Council discussion with regard to the purchase, Baillie Wheatley mentioned that the bricks could be delivered in Glasgow on the day following the completion of the purchase. The Scottish Board of Health’s approval of the purchase was made yesterday afternoon at a meeting of’ the Sub- Committee Building Materials, by Mr Mae- Intyre, the clerk.

Below – 21/01/1921 – Motherwell Times – Glasgow Councils purchase brickworks at Dalry and Carfin.

Below – 11/10/1921 – Evening Telegraph –

Below – 05/02/1925 – The Scotsman – Glasgow Corporation considers selling its Dalry Brickworks. (Note – SBH – I am not 100% certain which of the Dalry Brickworks this article refers to)

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Below – 19/02/1926 – Glasgow Corporation and Dalry Brickworks. (Note – SBH – I am not 100% certain which of the Dalry Brickworks this article refers to)

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Below – 25/05/1928 – The Scotsman – Dalry Brickworks – Glasgow’s white elephant. The Glasgow corporation discuss selling the Dalry Brickworks to Messrs Leslie Kirk (Ltd). (Note – SBH – I am not 100% certain which of the Dalry Brickworks this article refers to)

07/09/1929 – The Scotsman – New Company – Dalry Brick Co Ltd, Carsehead, Dalry, Ayrshire. Private company to carry on the business of manufacturers and dealers in bricks, tiles and pottery. Capital £6000 in £1 shares.

1935 – 37  – Dalry Brick Company Limited,  Manufacturers of Composition Brick Bull Nose – Coping Kersland and Carsehead.

Below – 1935 – 1937  – Advert Dalry Brick Company.

Below – c. 1944 -1967 – Carsehead Brickworks.

12/06/1945 – Edinburgh Gazette – The Ayrshire Brick and Fireclay Company Limited. Members voluntary winding up. At an extraordinary general meeting of the members of
the above company, duly convened and held at 121 West George Street, Glasgow, on Thursday the seventh day of June 1945, at 12 o’clock noon, the following resolution was duly passed as a special resolution, viz. :— ” That the Company be wound up voluntarily, and that John Donald Kelly, Chartered Accountant, 34 West George Street, Glasgow, C.2, be and he is hereby appointed  liquidator of the company for the purposes of such winding up.” E. D. Logan, Chairman. Registered Office, 44 West George Street, Glasgow, C.2

11/02/1949 – Kilmarnock Herald – Double theft from brickwork. Beith JP Court. Frederick Boles Jackson, 20 Sharon Street, Dalry was charged with theft of tools on 2 occasions from Carshead Brickworks. 10s fine imposed on both charges.

1960s – 1969 – The 1985 publication ‘A survey of Scottish brickmarks’ suggests that the Alexandra Transport Co were the owners.

1961 – 1962 – A directory of British clay products and manufacturers – Dalry Brickworks (see Alexandra Transport), Dalry, Ayrshire. Composition bricks.

1969 – 1977 – The 1985 publication ‘A survey of Scottish brickmarks’ suggests that the Scottish Brick Corporation were the owners.

1977 – Works closed?

1981 – The 1985 publication ‘A survey of Scottish brickmarks’ suggests that the works were demolished by late 1981.

Below – 2018 – Carsehead Brickworks.