sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
We don't appear to have a general industrial section, so I'll stick this enquiry here.
Browsing my Alan Godfrey maps, I found that the Sparkhill & Greet 1903 map had two current brickworks and two disused brickworks on that one map. Burbary and Greet were current, and Tyseley and what appears to be another on the northern edge of the map were disused. In 1903, much of the area was still undeveloped open land and most of the houses in Knowle Road, where we moved in 1941, were not built until 1905. The land upon which they were built previously belonged to the Earl of Malmesbury. (Source: Deeds of the house when my parents sold it)
Obviously, with all the development to come and a plentiful supply of clay, there was plenty of work, if somewhat dirty and not well paid. Most probably our house was built with bricks from Burbury, which was one of my illegal childhood playgrounds with its numerous newts. Even the rumours of some watchman wandering around with a shotgun didn't put us off. More likely the anger of my mother when we arrived home with shoes covered in clay was a greater deterrent!
But to get to the point, did these brickworks sell to a wider area than the immediate vicinity, and where did the hard blue engineering bricks come from?
Maurice
Browsing my Alan Godfrey maps, I found that the Sparkhill & Greet 1903 map had two current brickworks and two disused brickworks on that one map. Burbary and Greet were current, and Tyseley and what appears to be another on the northern edge of the map were disused. In 1903, much of the area was still undeveloped open land and most of the houses in Knowle Road, where we moved in 1941, were not built until 1905. The land upon which they were built previously belonged to the Earl of Malmesbury. (Source: Deeds of the house when my parents sold it)
Obviously, with all the development to come and a plentiful supply of clay, there was plenty of work, if somewhat dirty and not well paid. Most probably our house was built with bricks from Burbury, which was one of my illegal childhood playgrounds with its numerous newts. Even the rumours of some watchman wandering around with a shotgun didn't put us off. More likely the anger of my mother when we arrived home with shoes covered in clay was a greater deterrent!
But to get to the point, did these brickworks sell to a wider area than the immediate vicinity, and where did the hard blue engineering bricks come from?
Maurice
