Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry

(Note – SBH – The references below indicate the continued occupation of the Hamiltonhill Brickworks by the Allan family for some considerable time. There are a couple of grey areas with regards to the 2 newspaper articles dated 1873 and 1891 in that they are for the sale of Hamiltonhill Brickworks. I am assuming these are the same brickworks and if they are it appears they may have been sold with the Allan’s as sitting tenants and it appears that after the sales they were permitted to continue occupancy. Unless they refer to 2 different brickworks, Hamilton Hill is often referenced below as being in Springburn whereas the old OS maps suggest that the Possil Brickworks were in the Springburn area).

(Note – SBH – Both Robert McAlpine and William Allan appear to have been working the Hamilton Hill Brickworks at the same point. Wilson and Co and William Allan are also at the works at the same time. I am not sure that this is the case and I suspect they may have operated individually and been owner/lessee but until I can clarify and confirm I will leave them ‘doubled up’ here).

Extracts from Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons: The Early Years by Iain Russell – While building in Stonefield (1872 – 1874), Robert discovered not only how great a saving he could make on his costs by manufacturing his own bricks, but that he could get a good price from other builders working in the area for any surplus he produced. He continued to lease the Stonefield works for the rest of the decade and he took leases out on Hamiltonhill and the Kelvinside Brickworks, both in Glasgow, in 1873 and 1877 respectively. As he does not seem to have tendered for contracts in the Glasgow area at this time, it is likely that the bricks he made there were sold to other builders …

1858 – John Arthur & Co, patent brick manufacturers, Hamilton Hill Brickworks, Possil Road, Glasgow.

1858 – Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for 1858 – Hamilton, clay of coal measures. Name of freeholder – Duke of Hamilton. Manufacture – Bricks and tiles.

11/07/1864 – Glasgow Herald – Bricks – Machine made composition bricks of first-class quality are now selling at Hamilton Hill Brickworks at 16 shillings per thousand, net cash. Orders left with Mr Guthrie, Possil Colliery, Springbank will receive prompt attention. 08/07/1864.

1867 – 1868 – William Allan & Co. brickmakers, Hamiltonhill Brickworks, Springburn.

1867 – 1868 – William Allan & Sons, brickmakers, Hamilton Hill, Springburn.

1869 – 1870 – William Allan & Co. brickmakers, Hamiltonhill Brickworks.

1870 – 1871 – William Allan & Co. brickmakers, Hamiltonhill Brickworks.

1870 – 1871 – Wilsons and Co, brickmakers, Hamilton Hill Brickworks, off Possil Road, Springbank, Glasgow. (Note – SBH – I am confused with Wilson and Co apparently being associated with the Hamilton Hill Brickworks at this time as it appears that William Allan were operating at the same time. Perhaps Wilson and Co, owned the works and leased them to William Allan. Wilson and Co were also coal masters working the Possil Colliery, Springbank at this time).

1871 – 1872 – William Allan & Co, brickmakers, Hamiltonhill Brickworks, Glasgow.

1872 – 1873 – William Allan & Co, brickmakers, Hamilton Hill Brickworks; residence, Old Basin House.

Below – 17/02/1873 – Glasgow Herald – Advert for the sale of the sequestrated Estate of Robert Taylor including the “brickworks, Hamilton Hill, Possil Road, Glasgow”… (Note – SBH – So was Robert Taylor the owner and were William Allan and Co leasing the site? Or is this a totally different enterprise. Hamilton Hill Brickworks is very confusing!)

1873 – 1874 – William Allan & Co, Brickmakers, Hamilton Hill Brickworks; residence, Old Basin House.

1873 – 1874 – William Allan & Sons, Brickmakers, Hamilton Hill, Springburn.

1873 – 1874 – Robert McAlpine, brickmaker and brick builder, Hamilton Hill, Possil Road, Springburn. House Bothwell Road, Hamilton

1873 – 1874 – Robert McAlpine, brick builder and brickmaker, Hamilton Hill Brickwork, Possil St., and Stonefield Brickwork, Blantyre.

1874 – 1875 – Wm Allan & Sons, brickmakers, Hamilton Hill.

1875 – Hamilton Hill Brickworks, Possil (Maryhill) was operating in 1875.  It was owned by The Caledonian Railway Company and Robert McAlpline was leasing it that year for £55 a year, occupying the land also as a business. This is confirmed in the 1875 valuation roll.

1877 – 1878 – Robert McAlpine brickmaker and brick builder, Hamilton Hill, Possil Rd.; ho. Bothwell road, Hamilton.

1877 – 1878 – William Allan & Sons, Brickmakers, Hamilton Hill, Springburn.

1878 – 1879 – Robert McAlpine, builder and brickmaker, Hamilton hill Brickworks, Possil Road; Kelvinside Brickworks, Great Western Road; and Stonefield Brickworks, Low Blantyre.

15/03/1877 – Glasgow Herald – Engineman wanted for a brickwork. Must be strictly sober. Apply at Hamilton Hill Brickworks, Possil Road.

21/06/1879 – Dundee Evening Telegraph – Sad death of a boy in Glasgow – Yesterday a labourer was passing near an unoccupied brickfield at Hamilton Hill when he noticed that an old chimney stalk had fallen. Going nearer he saw the body of a boy lying below some of the fallen bricks. He at once removed the debris but found that the hoy was quite dead. It has been ascertained that the boy, along with two others, was playing in the brickfield on the previous night, and it is stated that the deceased took a brick out of the base of the stalk, causing the whole to fall. A great cloud of dust was raised, and the other boys, not seeing their companion after it cleared, supposed that had gone away himself and, frightened at what had occurred, they did not say anything about it, anybody. Dr Sloan, who examined the body, is of opinion that death must have been instantaneous.

1879 – 1880 – William Allan, Jun., Brickmaker, Hamiltonhill Brickworks, off Possil Road; res. Old Basin House.

1881 – 1882 – William Allan, Jun, Brickmaker, Hamiltonhill Brickworks, off Fossil Road; res. Old Basin House.

1882 – 1883 – William Allan, Jun, Brickmaker, Hamiltonhill Brickworks, off Possil Road; res. Old Basin House.

1884 – 1885 – William Allan, Jun, Brickmaker, Hamiltonhill Brickworks, off Possil road; res., Old Basin House.

1886 – Strone Colliery Company, brick and tile makers, Hamilton Hill Collieries, Possil Road, Glasgow.

1890 – 1891 – William Allan, Jun,  Brickmaker, Hamilton Hill, Possil Rd, Glasgow. Res Old Basin House, Possil Rd, Glasgow.

01/04/1891 – Glasgow Herald – Sale of Colliery and Brick Work Plant at Hamiltonhill Collieries, Rockville, Glasgow – 16/04/1891 12 o’clock. Shirlaw, Allan & Co beg to intimate instructions from Dugald McAlister Esq, Liquidator of the Hamiltonhill and Cowlairs Colliery Company Limited to sell by auction as above the whole colliery and brickworks plant there comprising:- pumping, winding, grinding and haulage engines, pan mills, boilers, pithead frames, cart and hutch weighing machines, pit pump flues, pit rails, smithy tools, also the whole buildings of offices, boiler seats, kilns, engine stalk, coke ovens and mountings. The material of which is suitable for re-erection. Catalogues in preparation and may be had from the auctioneers. Cars from Union Street to colliery every few minutes. Hamilton 26/03/1891

1891 – 1892 – William Allan Jun, Brickmaker, Hamiltonhill Brickworks, off Possil Road; res., 19 Windsor St.

14/07/1893 – Fatal accident enquiry at William Allan, Brickmaker. Court of session. First division – Thursday 13th July. Before the Lord – President, Lords Adam, McLaren and Kinnear.

1893 – 1894 – William Allan Jun, Brickmaker, Hamiltonhill Brickworks, off Possil Road; res, 19 Windsor St.

Below – 1894 – Hamiltonhill Brickworks.

Below – 1894 – Hamiltonhill Brickworks. The brickworks appear to have gone by 1909.

07/09/1895 – London Evening Standard – Scotch Bankrupts – William Allan Jun, Brick Manufacturer, Hamilton-hill, Possil Road, Glasgow.

1896 – 1897 – William Allan & Co,  Brickmaker, Hamilton Hill off Possil Road, Glasgow.

1898 – 1899 – William Allan & Co., Brickmakers, Hamiltonhill Brick Works, off Possil Road; res., Hamiltonhill.

1899 – 1900 – William Allan & Co., Brickmakers, Hamiltonhill Brick Works, off Possil Road; res., Hamiltonhill.

1900 – 1901 – William Allan & Co., Brickmakers, Hamiltonhill Brick Works, off Possil Road; res., Hamiltonhill.