Many thanks to Lindsay Smith and Ian Roy for assisting in the finding and recovery of this brick from the Newpark Estate in Bellsquarry, Livingston area.
Shotts Sand-Lime Brickworks, Shotts, North Lanarkshire aka locally as the ‘White Brickworks’.
06/05/1924 – The Scotsman – Electrical engineer’s visit to Shotts Works – Members of the West of Scotland branch of the Association of Mining Electrical Engineers to the number of 174 visited Shotts Works on Saturday at the invitation of the Shotts Iron Company (Ltd). The visit was instructive from the point of view of the application of electricity to the manufacture of iron, production of coal and the manufacture of bricks. The various sections of the works visited were the furnaces, the powerhouse, Northfield Colliery where all power including winding, is electric, the ore briquette works where fine ore is made into briquettes for feeding into the furnaces and the slag brickwork where a composite brick of slag and lime is made. At the luncheon, which was later provided by the board of directors, Mr Brown presided.
The following refractory castable test samples were found during ground works at the Manuel Brickworks, Whitecross by Ian Suddaby and myself. These laboratory test samples are cement-based and have been marked with a marker type pen. Below – The cut edge of each sample. Below – some close up photographs of the cut edge. ….
Found at the Alloa Tileworks, Forthbank. These roof tiles appear to have been pressed or moulded using a cement mix. Alloa Tileworks, Forthbank, Alloa, Stirlingshire. . . . .
Alloa Tileworks, Forthbank, Alloa, Stirlingshire. 1913 – Works not present on this map. Below – 1946 – Alloa Tileworks, Forthbank (At B.M. – 20.28) Below – 1951 – Alloa Tileworks, Forthbank. Below – 1967 – Alloa Tileworks, Forthbank. Below – An assemblage of ‘Alloa’ roof tiles found on site. These look as if they are…
Found by Ian Suddaby in the Dumbarton area. This example is not in my possession. Scottish Dunbrik Ltd, Stannergate, Dundee. . . . .
Russell Roof Tiles Below – 20/09/1990 – Galloway News – Russell Roof Tiles Ltd wish to recruit an Assistant Production Manager for their production facility at Lochmaben Nr Lockerbie The Company which is a member of the Alexander Russell Group of Companies manufactures quality roof tiles slates together with accessories in a highly competitive market…
Russell Roof Tiles 11/06/1987 – Galloway News – The Annandale Tile Co (1986) Ltd manufacturers of quality concrete roof tiles is a recently acquired subsidiary of the Alexander Russell group of companies. Their plans for business development have created an opportunity for an additional sales executive to represent their product range throughout North Cumbria, Borders…
Found by Ian Suddaby. These examples are not in my possession. They are made from cement/concrete, not clay. Ian states – These roof tiles were made by Russell Roof Tiles, possibly at Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire. The company was started near Glasgow by Alexander Russell in 1892. They’re made of a type of concrete, not clay. Nice though, and…
In ‘The British Clay Worker’ magazine dated 15/12/1952 there is an article entitled ‘Recent patents. An improvement hollow building brick or block. Stanislaw Sulich, 35 Grampian Road, Torry, Aberdeen. No 682,010’. This invention relates to an improvement in or modification of the building brick or block claimed and described in Patent No 607,557. This invention…
(Note – SBH – I have added some mention of Siporex here as a matter of interest only. It was a purely cement-based brick – no clay of any description used). Below – 12/06/1959 – Wishaw Press – Costain Concrete Co Ltd will manufacture Siporex in Scotland from early 1960. Siporex is a lightweight autoclaved…
20/12/1955 – Aberdeen Evening Express – Two ‘decent men’ fined for theft and reset. A former brickworks foreman who stole 6 tons 6 cwt 3 qr, of scrap metal and 3 tons of cement from his employers was fined £2o to-day by Sheriff McDonald at Aberdeen. For resetting the cement another man was fined £10….
