Embedded Files
Much of the text below is excepts, with thanks, from Martyn Fretwell/ GingerBenn's UK named Bricks
Much of the text below is excepts, with thanks, from Martyn Fretwell/ GingerBenn's UK named Bricks
There are three brickworks as shown on the 1882 map below in the California area of Birmingham.
Coloured in yellow is Garlick's Lappal Tunnel Works, in Birmingham Brickworks - part 2. Garlick went bankrupt in 1884, although the Lappal Tunnel Works was re-started by Smarts Brickworks Ltd. in the early 1900's. The purple coloured works was started by Isaac Flavel and then taken over James Smart, and John Barnes at the orange coloured works.
NLS/Ordnance Survey 1882 x2.
John Barnes
John Barnes
So on to the orange coloured brickworks as shown on the 1882 map above which was accessed off a lane which went to Weoley Castle & it's farm. Today this road is called Somery Road (pink) & it was named after Roger de Somery of Dudley Castle who built his moated Manor House (Weoley Castle) here in 1264. Before the orange coloured brickworks had been established, this wharf side site, locally known as Weoley Castle Yard had been used to load stone onto canal boats for distribution via the Dudley No.2 Canal. A tramway (orange/red) was built in 1840 to connect the stone quarry (red) to the wharf. This tramway was later re-routed to a claypit bringing the clay to the brickworks. A search of the web may have revealed the owner of the stone quarry with the stone required to build St. Marks Church in Birmingham in 1840 coming from quarries owned by J.F. Ledsam Esq. of Weoley Castle.
The exact date when the brickworks was built is unknown. Justine Halifax on the Birmingham Live website writes that local resident John Barnes who owned a wharf was one of the first to establish a small brickworks in California, but no date is given. With finding that Isaac Favell is recorded as starting the purple coloured brickworks, this Justine Halifax information connects Barnes to the orange coloured works. I then found that White's 1873 trade directory lists John Barnes as brickmaker in Northfield, again connecting Barnes to the orange coloured yard which he may have established in 1872. There are no more listings in directories for Barnes until Kelly's 1879 edition, when the entry records his brickworks as being at California, Northfield & this entry continues up to the 1883 edition. As there are no more brickmakers listed in trade directories at this California works after Barnes, I am taking it that Barnes closed his brickworks shortly after 1883. The 1900 OS map no longer shows this brickworks.
William Dargue on his website writes that Barnes Hill road coloured lime green on the map above was named after John Barnes, a Master Brickmaker who lived at Blakenell Corner. William continues to say that the 1851 Census records eleven households at Blackenell Corner. So I am taking it Barnes was listed in this census as living there in 1851.
California Claypit, photographed by W.J.Harrison, 1896, for British Geological Survey
Isaac Flavell
Isaac Flavell
Isaac Flavell was born in Gornal in 1792 & in 1842 he purchased Stonehouse Farm situated on Stonehouse Lane, establishing his brickworks there by 1845. I expect at this 1842 date Stonehouse Farm was classed as being in Weoley Castle village because it was only after Flavell had built himself the California Inn around 1850 next to the Lappal Tunnel portal in the Parish of Northfield that this area was named California after his Inn. The earliest reference I have found for this area being called California is in 1875. Although Flavell & his wife, Ann (nee Chinn) are recorded as living at the California Inn in 1851, the Inn was run by his brother-in-law, Henry Chinn & his niece Rebecca Flavell. I am taking it that the date for Flavell being at the California Inn came from the 1851 census as the writer of the article which this info comes from states that Flavell was employing 50 labourers, but this may have included men who worked on his farm as well as his brickworks. From reading several accounts about Flavell I have got the impression that he was a bit of an entrepreneur & he may have been persuaded to purchase Stonehouse Farm in 1842 as a result of a 1835 survey of the farms land which resulted in finding a good bed of brickmaking clay just below the surface. It has to be noted that after this 1835 survey there was no immediate take up of the land for brick making until Flavell purchased the farm & established his brickworks there which I have coloured purple on the 1882 map above. I also mention that more than likely Flavell's brickworks & claypit in the 1840's would have only been situated between Stonehouse Lane & the canal, next to the farmhouse. There is the option that Flavell started the claypit on the north side of Stonehouse Lane in the 1840's/50's, but it was the next owner of the works James Smart who expanded it to the size that is shown on this 1882 map.
Photo from Paganel Archives, 1941
Flavell transported his bricks & tiles via the Dudley, Worcester & Birmingham canals to his own wharf depot on Gas Street in the centre of Birmingham. It was from this depot that builders could purchase his bricks to build an ever expanding Birmingham, so I expect his bricks & tiles were in great demand. The first trade directory entry that I have found recording Isaac Flavell as brick & tile maker is in White's 1845 edition & this entry only lists his Gas Street depot & not his works address. Kelly's 1849 & 50 editions then records his works at Northfield & on the next line in these two directories it lists I. Flavell, 5, Gas Street & as we know this was his wharf side depot. Slater's 1852 edition only records his Gas Street depot in the Brick & Tile Makers section of this directory. White's 1855 edition again only lists Gas Street in the Brick & Tile Makers section, but there is the addition of Joseph Chinn, agent, so it appears that Isaac was now employing one of his wife's relatives to run the Gas Street depot.
Morris's 1862 edition now records Isaac Flavell only in the Brick Merchants section at the Brick Wharf, Gas Street & not as a brickmaker. I then found that a web article states that in the 1860's Flavell first leased his brickworks to James Smart & then completed the sale of the works to James Smart before his death. Another article states that Flavell is still recorded as a brickmaker, contractor, farmer & victualler at the California Inn when he was in his 70's, so this takes us to around 1862/3 & this ties in with the 1862 directory only recording him as Brick Merchant. We find in Kelly's 1867 edition that it lists James Smart as brickmaker in Northfield, so I am thinking that the lease of the works to Smart took place between 1862 & 1867. Smart had previously owned a brickworks at Harborne before taking over Flavell's California brickworks & I write about James Smart soon.
Back to Flavell & again he is listed as Brick Merchant at Gas Street in Kelly's 1867 edition & he would have been 75 in that year. It is also the last entry for him as he is not listed in Kelly's 1868 edition. The 1872 edition now lists James Smart as Brick Merchant at Gas Street. Isaac Flavell died in 1870 & as previously wrote Flavell completed the sale of his brickworks to Smart before his death & this transaction may have been in 1886/7 with Smart then taking over the Gas Street depot between 1867 & 1872. No bricks stamped Flavell have been found so far & there must be thousands upon thousands out there unless he did not stamp his bricks, but with him being the entrepreneur that he was, I think he will have stamped his bricks, so please keep a look out for Martyn Fretwell!
James Smart
James Smart
Before I write about James Smart brickmaking at his California Brickworks, Northfield, trade directories first record him at a brickworks on Mill Lane, Harborne & I have coloured this works yellow on the 1882 map below. Today Mill Lane (red) is called Harborne Park Road.
The first trade directory listing for James Smart as brickmaker at Harborne is in Kelly's 1849 edition & this entry is repeated in Kelly's 1850 edition. My next entry is the 1862 edition of the Corporation of Birmingham directory & this entry lists James Smart at Mill Lane, Harborne. There is the possibility that the J. Smart brick below may have been made at Harborne with the frog shape being very ornate, if not it will have been one his first bricks to be made at his California Works. We find that as time moves on, say after the 1880's, deep fancy crisp designed frogs & lettering are replaced by more simpler designs & lettering, & the frog is also not so deep.
We next find the Mill Lane works in Kelly's 1867 edition is now listed as J. Sadler & Sons, Mill Lane, Harborne, so James Smart had sold his Harborne works to Sadler sometime between 1862 & 1867, with Smart moving to his new California Works at Northfield by 1867 as per Kelly's 1867 directory for him.
It's in Kelly's 1867 edition that it now lists James Smart as brickmaking at Northfield which I am taking to be the California Works. We also find in this 1867 directory that it now records J. Sadler & Sons at the Mill Lane Works, Harborne. Therefore with Sadler taking over the Harborne works, Smart then completed the purchase of the California Works from Flavell in 1866/7, this was after initially leasing it since 1862. Then it was after 1867/8 that Smart took control of the Gas Street depot as Flavell was still listed as Brick Merchant at Gas Street in Kelly's 1867 edition.
Smart set about making improvements to his new California brickworks by building a narrow gauge railway which ran via a tunnel under Stonehouse Lane from his claypit opposite to the brickworks (see map above, both coloured purple). I have to note that this claypit may have been started by Isaac Flavell in the 1850's. With Smart adopting the all-year production method of making bricks, weathered clay was transported in tubs via this railway to be crushed, moulded into bricks & then partially dried in cooling kilns & drying sheds, before their final kiln firing. Smart's claypit is recorded as being 40 foot deep & this rich bed of clay lead to the Birmingham Patent Brick Co. setting up their brickworks in the next field to Smart's claypit & I write about this company shortly.
Kelly's 1868 edition again records Smart at Northfield, then Kelly's 1872 edition just records in the Brick & Tile Makers section J. Smart at 6, Gas Street which was the depot address in the centre of Birmingham. With the address of Gas Street changing from number 5 in Flavell's day to number 6 for Smart, I expect Smart had just moved to a large premises on the wharf. From 1880, directories record Smart at number 7, Gas Street, so another move.
Another bit of info from Mumbles article says that in the 1871 & 1881 census, James's son William is recorded as brickmaking along side his father. The 1871 census also records James as brickmaker & employing 24 men & 14 boys at California. White's 1873 edition again records James Smart at Northfield & Gas Street. We next find in White's 1875 edition the entry is now James Smart, The California Red Brick & Quarry Works, Northfield; Halesowen Blue Brick, Tile & Quarry Works; & The Wharf, Gas Street, Birmingham with John Randle as manager.
Image from Bartley Green & District Through Time by Wendy Pearson and Maureen Surman - Some of the men and children from the Brickworks, c. 1910
Also included in the purchase of the California Works from the Smart Family was the Lappel Brickworks last worked by John Garlick in 1884. The date when the Smart Family actually acquired or if they ever worked the Lappal Tunnel Works is unknown, but what is known is that Smarts Brickworks Ltd. had the Lappal Tunnel Works up & running again erecting new buildings & installing new machinery & plant by 1904. This newly installed machinery made bricks using the plastic & wire cut method. However this works appears to have had a short life closing again by the start of WW1, never to be reopened again, but I have to note that the Lappal Tunnel Works is still listed in Kelly's 1915 edition. The last of the derelict buildings at this former Lappal Tunnel Works were demolished in the 1960's & the site was used a municipal rubbish dump.
Stevenson writes in his 1933 book that this new company was the first to install a continuous kiln of Belgian type in the Birmingham District at the California Works. He also writes that the present directors of the Company were Messrs. Edward (Teddy) C. Blades, A. Guest & B.C. Ottey.
Going back to the trade directory entries for the company & the 1899 entry of Smarts Brickworks Ltd. continues up to Kelly's 1915 edition. For some unknown reason the Company is not listed in Kelly's 1921 edition (next available directory) unless the California Works had not been re-opened after the war at this 1921 date? My next directory is Kelly's 1932 edition & the entry is Smarts Brickworks Ltd, Barnes Hill, California, Quinton. This entry continues up to the last directory available in 1940. A web article records the California Works was the last to close in the area in the 1950's. Today the former California brickworks site has been grassed over & the former clay pit site on the opposite side of Stonehouse Lane has been levelled & a fire station has been built with the rest of the site being covered in trees & a grass area. The former Lappal Tunnel site is now the home of a Asda supermarket store.
More photos of a California brickworks can be seen at Paganel Archives, Weoley Castle Library and the link below. One photograph is showing a Hoffman type kiln, a similar photo is shown in the next link below.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/nostalgia/gallery/brickworks-california-bartley-green-9425223
In this link there are two photos of the Lappal Tunnel portals & the one of James Smart's brickworks.
https://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-c/california/
Google Sites
Report abuse