Found by Richard Comish in Barrow in Furness.
Danger LBC Phorpres Electricity.
London Brick Company – It has been estimated that a third of all the brick houses in England are built from London Brick Company bricks. The London Brick Company started production just over a century ago and usage peaked in the Post-War rebuilding period up to the Nineteen Sixties. Maximum production rose, at one point, to an amazing 16,000,000 bricks per day.
The early brick presses only applied two presses to the powdered clay in the brick moulds. The trade-name Phorpres came about because Fletton Bricks made in Bedfordshire are pressed twice in each direction so that they are literally ‘four pressed’ if the phrase is pronounced quickly it becomes Phorpres – DS
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 Barlinnie, Glasgow area. This appears to be an cover to lay over electricty cables inorder to protect them and identify their existence to anyone digging on top of them at a future dtae. The manufacturer is unknown. The find location would suggest Scottish origins but … . . . . .
Found by Eddie McLean in the Glasgow area. Southhook Fireclay Works, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Ian Suddaby states – Electricity cable covers are almost always interlocking in one way or another and are usually slightly convex on top and flat on the base. 9″ x 4½” x 2½”. The channel is 3″ wide and 1½” deep. It…
Found by Eddie McLean in the Glasgow area. This is an electric cable cover. The cover is virtually complete with the lettering starting right on the very edge of the cover. It is not broken at the ends – just slightly nibbled! Unidentified maker. The find location would suggest Scottish origins but … .
Found by Eddie McLean in the Glasgow area. This is a very small example of an electric cable cover and measures 7 inches by 4½ inches. Electric Cables RD O 80456 – it probably should read RD NO 80456. The manufacturer is unknown. The find location would suggest Scottish origins but … . .
Found by Ian Suddaby at Gateside Colliery near Sanquhar. Ian states – In my experience cable covers are always standalone items but this one is clearly a modified brick. It’s 8½” long, 4¼” wide and 2½” thick. The top shows that the word ELECTRICITY was clearly added later as it has dragged through the edge of the…
John Cathles Hill (1857–1915), builder and brickmaker, was born in Anderson’s Entry, Hawkhill, Dundee, on 12 December 1857, the eldest son of Robert Hill and his wife Eliza, née Cathles. There were six children, three boys (including John) and three girls, one of whom died in infancy. The elder Hill was a wheelwright and joiner, and in 1860 succeeded his father and grandfather as tollhouse…
Found in the Glasgow area by Eddie McLean. Electric cable cover. Southhook Fireclay Works, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Alternative brickworks include: Southhook Potteries, Bonnyton, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Southhook Fireclay Works, Dreghorn, Ayrshire.
Found by Ian Watt in the Dechmont, West Lothian area. Callender Cable and Construction Co Ltd, Erith, London. Terracotta electric cable cover. Electric CC Regd no 804561 Danger Note the unexplained ‘pimpling’ .
Found by Nick Shaw in the Dingwall area. These appear to have been manufactured from a concrete /cement mix. The manufacturer is unknown but find the location would suggest Scottish origins but … Due to the find location, it is possible they were made at the Lairg Quarry and Brick Company Ltd, Lairg, Sutherland. ….
