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 Brickworks, which was then owned by Priestman Collieries. Known locally as ‘Ottovale’, a reference to the project appears in a 1902 edition of the ‘Pottery Trades Gazette’, bemoaning the fact that despite Tyneside had an abundance of quality firebrick manufacturers, the contract stipulated that some 500,000 bricks would be imported from the Netherlands for all it’s refractory requirements. It would appear to be another case of Coals to Newcastle!
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Below – A fellow collector has evidence of a similar brick being found at St. Petersburg. This appears to suggest that the name may be Ceipel and Co as the 2 x ‘C’s look alike.
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06/03/2020 – Update. I am now believing that this stamp is Geipel and not Ceipel for the following reasons.
These bricks are either found in and about the NE of England, especially the Newcastle area. At least one has been found abroad in the St Petersburg area.
I believe these are bricks manufactured in the Newcastle/Durham area for a firm or merchants called Geipel and Co and the bricks were stamped with the merchant’s name. They appear to have operated from the NE England area and were merchants in coal and timber as well as fire bricks, lead, rosin, copperas, bleaching powder, alkali, linen, anchors and chains, tar, iron and potatoes etc. They seem to have been prolific exporters, in particular, to Europe and the Baltic Ports.
14/01/1873 – The London Gazette – Notice is hereby given, that the partnership heretofore subsisting between George Geipel, of Sheriffhill, in the county of Durham, Broder William Geipel, (Note – SBH – I suspect this should be William Broder Geipel) of Old Hartlepool, in the same county, and Adolph Mau, of Gateshead in the same county, carrying on business at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and at West Hartlepool, in the county of Durham, as Merchants and Brokers, under the style or firm of Geipel and Co., has this day been dissolved by mutual consent.—Dated this 7th day of January 1873. Geo. Geipel. Br. Wm. Geipel. Adolph Mau.
15/01/1873 – Lloyds List – Partnerships dissolved. George Geipel, Br William Geipel, and Adolph Mau, merchants and brokers, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and West Hartlepool.
(Note – SBH – I believe this is the same family, some of whom moved from the NE and set up business in London. Graces Guide).
11/01/1918 – The London Gazette – I William Guy-Pell, of Vulcan Works, St., Thomas-street, in the county of London (trading as W. Geipel & Co.), and of No. 4, Morpeth-mansions, Westminster, in the same county, Engineer, heretofore called and known by the name of William Geipel, give, public notice that, on the tenth day of December, 1917,1 formally and absolutely renounced, relinquished and abandoned the use of my said name of William Geipel, and then assumed, adopted and determined thenceforth on all occasions -whatsoever to use and subscribe the name of William Guy-Pell instead of the (said name oi William Geipel and I further give notice that, by a deed poll dated the tenth day of December 1917, duly executed and attested and enrolled in the Central Office of the Supreme Court on the 8th day of January 1918, I formally and absolutely renounced and abandoned the said name of William Geipel, and declared that I had assumed and adopted, and intended thenceforth on all occasions whatsoever to use and subscribe the name of William Guy-Pell instead of William Geipel, and so as to be at all times thereafter called, known and described by the names of William Guy-Pell exclusively.— Dated this 11th day of December 1917. W. Guy-Pell.
Found at Manuel Works, Whitecross by Ian Suddaby. This example is not in my possession The manufacturer of this checker is unknown although the find site would suggest it was made at the Manuel Works, Whitecross’ Scotland. Stein, Castlecary Fireclay Works, Castlecary, Stirlingshire. Stein, Manuel Firebrick and Refractory Works, Whitecross, Stirlingshire. Stein & Co, Anchor…
Found by Rob van den Engel at Groene Punt, Rockanje, The Netherlands. Gartcraig Fire Clay Co, Millerston, Glasgow. . . . .
Found by Ian Suddaby at the old Bonnyside Brickworks, Bonnybridge. This was found in a pile of debris that contained large quantities of test samples that were marked for use in the brickworks laboratory. AL – 80 = 80% Alumina content. Höganäs Borgestad, brick manufacturers, Sweden. At Höganäs Borgestad, we started producing refractory bricks in 1825,…
Found at the old Bonnyside Brickworks, Bonnybridge. This was in a pile of ash and waste that contained many test samples from the Bonnyside Brickworks laboratory. The letters of the stamp are all raised. UCB = Union Chimique Belge S.A. Belref is a distributor in Mons (Saint-Ghislain). https://www.belref.com/ They are now specialized in preshaped products…
Canmore – Whaling Station, 1904 Gaunt remains of a long-defunct industry, with a lone, tapering red brick chimney rising from the foundations of the boiling house/desiccator. Little else but the carcass ramp survives. Founded by a Norwegian, Karl Herlofsen, the factory was acquired by Lever Bros in 1922 when the market was declining but was…
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 by Ian Suddaby. Ian states – Down and dirty at low tide in the bed of the River Carron at Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth. Even though I’m very close to the wharf where many Grangemouth bricks were shipped out in the years before WWI, I never expected to find three foreign bricks….
Found in Avonbridge by Joe Pason. Unidentified manufacturer. ‘RESCO’ or ‘RESGO’? The find location would suggest Scottish origins but … The stamp has the look of a Craigend Refractory, Falkirk stamp and it is of note it was found alongside a ‘Craigend Falcon’ fire brick.( Craigend Refractories also manufactured fire bricks stamped ‘Falcon A’. It…
This fire brick was found by Francis Caven on the Brassie Shore, north shore heading towards Irvine, Ayrshire. AP Green, Missouri, USA bought the Douglas Fire Brick Company, Ayrshire from the Morgan Crucible Group in 1970. (Note – SBH – So was this brick an import or was it made in Ayrshire after the takeover…
This brick was found on the site of the old Jenny Lind Brickworks, Near Motherwell, Lanarkshire adjacent to the old site of the Ravenscraig Steel Works. It is a dense heavy brick and is believed to have been manufactured by Harbison Walker, USA. History – Harbison-Walker Refractories Company (Harbison) is the world’s leading supplier of refractory…
