Littleborough from Cleggswood Hill
Brick, Tile and Pipe Works
Until the middle of the 19th Century local houses and factories were generally made out of stone largely due to the Brick Tax introduced in 1784 by William Pitt the Younger, to help raise funds for the wars against France. The many quarries required to meet the building requirements of the time still remain as scars on the landscape with the remains of quarries still showing on Blackstone Edge and Clegg Moors and around Calderbrook and Rock Nook. Although On the repeal repeal of the Brick Tax, there was a surge in the use of brick which resulted in numerous brick works being opened in Littleborough. Another factor was the requirement to provide improved drainage to counter disease - See General Historical Background below which led to new works which concentrated on making clay pipes for home and export markets. Not all not all of the brick and pipe operated at the same time but all have now closed with their scant remains, clay pit scars on the hillside in Summit, a flat site adjacent to the road into Whittaker and Timbercliffe. At other sites there were no pits as the clay came from underground workings.
In the Summit area numerous houses were built out of concrete/cinder blocks (an early type of Breeze block) for employees of Fothergill and Harveys. More recently, some houses have been built out of stone to be sympathetic with adjacent earlier buildings. One terrace even features both brick and stone in its wall facings.
On this page are details of the works in Dearnley and Stubley, Swaindrod, Whitelees, Rake, Smithy Bridge (Hall and Rodgers) and Summit Brickeorks
Dearnley & Stubley Brickworks
There were 2 small brickworks in the Stubley and Dearnley area which were operational at the same time but neither lasted that long, North of the ‘Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ some traces of the clay pits remain. some of the houses in the James Street area were built from local bricks
Swaindrod Brickworks
This was located just north of Halifax Road, east of Sladen Valley and West of the Moorcock Inn. Whilst the location of the brickworks is thought to be in the field behind Limefield Terrace (and above the Rochdale Canal Feeder Drain much of the site details are not but in continuous hot dry weather crop marks appear possibly indicating kiln sites.
It is understood that 1869 was the first year of the brickworks operation and during the 1870’s it was operated by Messrs Ireland Buckley & Co, manufacturers. In June 1879 they advertised there output as “all kinds of Fire Bricks, Boiler Blocks, Circle & Flat Tile, Furnace Blacks, Chimney Tops etc and also common types of Drainage Pipes 3", 4" & 6 inches". During November 1879 the Littleborough Local Board (having taken over responsibility of the road from the Turnpike Trust in late 1872) agreed to Messrs Ireland Buckley & Co making a tramway across Blackstone Edge Road to the satisfaction of the board and to be responsible for any accidents which resulted. It is unclear whether the tramway was ever built. Later, C & A Rogers, local quarrymen and stone merchants continued in the business until at least 1890. The Rochdale Observer 13th October. 1893 carried an advertisement headed “Declining Brick Making” for an auction of Brick Making Plant, Horses, and Carts etc. The brick making plant is listed as one kiln with about 60,000 bricks, Brick Shed, with a floor comprising 144 cast iron plates, Renshaw brick press, Brass and wood moulds.
Whitelees Brickworks
In 1875 a local brick making plant was set up for the manufacture of bricks for the Whitelees Estate, ie the older terraced housing behind the Dyers Arms. The actual location of the clay pit isn’t clear but it was probably near to Salts Drive/Petts Crescent. During 1878 complaints of nuisance were made by the occupier of Moorfield House on Shore Road. The complaints were about an open kiln, smoke and smell and affects on the garden. These were investigated by the Local Board’s Legal Advisor but he determined that it was a private matter. The date when the brickworks ceased operations is not known but it is likely to have ceased operations by 1880.
Rake Brickworks
The Rake Fire Brick Company was established between 1861 and 1864 under the chairmanship of W. Lloyd of Rochdale but it was auctioned off in 1871. In 1889 the Littleborough Fire Clay and Coal Company was formed and the Company prospectus describes the works and plant as including a 30 hp horizontal engine and boiler house with two boilers, blacksmiths shop, joiners shop, moulding rooms, drying rooms, brick and pipe making rooms, brick and tile machinery and pipe making machines for pipes from 2” to 24”. There was a wharf and store yard of 2,268 sq yards on the Rochdale Canal within 100 yards of the works. The coal and clay came from mines under the works and the entrance to the mines was a horse road “roomy and well constructed being lined with brick” . The works continued in business until 1896 when it was wound up. At a later date Rake Terrace was built on the site. The OS map for 1894 1:2500 shows 4 circular kilns on the site which may have been similar to those at Tetlow’s or Starring Pottery.
Smithy Bridge Brick and Pipe Works (Hall and Rodgers)
James Walmsley established a brickworks in Smithy Bridge in 1846. It was located alongside of the Rochdale Canal and was close to the Manchester and Leeds Railway. By 1858 the works occupied an area of 7,490 Sq yds and there were 5 intermittent down-draft kilns linked to a single chimney. In1860 James's sons leased the works to Hall and Rodgers who added two furth kilns around the time they bought the works out-right later in 1866.
Clay and Coal came by barge from Cleggswood Colliery located bear to Ben Healey Bridge and Littleborough Station. Hall and Rodgers produced salt-glazed ware in glazed bricks, sanitary popes and chimney pots. It is said the companies demise was due to the poor quality clay available locally and its end-date is unclear but the 1930 OS map, surveyed in 1928, shows the site clear of any kilns. The site was later used to build council housing.
Summit Brickworks
The longest surviving and most technically advanced brickworks in Littleborough was owned by the Rochdale Brick and Tile Company and its successors at Summit. The 1851 OS map surveyed around 1848 appears to show early signs of the works and there are references to it in 1858. The Rochdale Brick and Tile Company Ltd was formed in 1864 and appeared in Trade journals of 1869 and 1871 to advertise that bricks were burnt in the Patent Hoffman Kiln. The Hoffman kiln was invented in 1858 and became relatively common in England in the 1860's. According to Slater’s Directories of 1869 and 1871 the principle products of this works were red, white and blue bricks, heating blocks, flue linings and fireclay rather than sanitary pipes. The products were sold to a regional market and transported by barge from a wharf adjacent to the works and accessed by small tramways.
The works were offered for sale in 1889 but apparently continued to trade under the same name until the early 1900's when they were taken over by the Brighouse Brick Tile and Stone Co. In 1934 this company was taken over by a consortium of Rochdale companies who traded as the Rochdale Federated Brick Co Ltd, they built a smaller transverse arch kiln on the site.
Between 1939 and 1945 T.H.Halsall and Sons of Bury took over the works and continued to run it until it closed in 1973. The coal and clay came from the quarry on the site. The works at Summit was demolished shortly after it closed in 1973 and is now a country park, some landscaping has taken place but it is still possible to identify some parts of the site.
The largest single project known to have been built of Summit bricks was the Dunlop Spinning and Weaving Mills in Rochdale built in 1919. The mill was faced in Summit pressed rustics and the bricks were transported from the works to the site in company owned canal barges.
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