Name brands on fire bricks

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34107, 20 March 1976, Page 10

Name brands on fire bricks

Fire bricks in early Canterbury, although less common than building bricks, came from a wider range of localities than building bricks. It was important to know the source and quality of fire bricks because they are, of course, required to withstand high temperatures and chemical action. The TODD brand made by Thus. Todd and Sons, of Waikari, in Southland, was widely used in Canterbury. Others came from Kamo, in Northland, and Huntly, in the Waikato. The latter works were started in 1880. and when owned by William Collins supplied the firebricks used by the New Zealand Railways locomotives.

The great variety of fire clays used was apparent; although browns predominated, the BRUNNER brand from the Grey Valley was off-white. The Christchurch Gas Company had its own kiln and produced many different shapes and sizes for its special requirements. When the Waiau bakery was recently demolished CHRISTCHURCH GAS CO and TODD brands were found on the oven bricks. Quoins. or corner bricks, were branded Q. Wedge-shaped voussoirs, or arch bricks, were signified by W and a number sequence following the trade name. Some were made by N.Z. Insulators, Ltd, at Temtika. Those marked GLENBOIG were imported from a noted brickmaking district near Glasgow. DOCKEN and HEATHFIELD brands were probably also British. Company names are seldom encountered, an exception being fire bricks in an engineer’s forge at Springston. These were marked HICKMAN AND CO. STOURBRIDGE Stourbridge. outside Birmingham, is the centre of brickmaking industries. A number of local kilns made fire bricks but the output was small. Although those made by Luke Adams at Colombo Street, Sydenham, were not branded, the millions of miniature “kiddibricks” made by the firm

up to 1965 were identified by L. ADAMS tn the frog. Herbert Adams, a son, recalled that his father started work with William Neighbours who. in 1873, had a kiln in Nursery Road. Second-grade Neighbours bricks were used in 1882 lo build a kiln for Luke .Adams, whose firm occupied the site for 94 years. The Austin and Horsley families were associated with local companies specialising in the production and sale of fine bricks. Building bricks branded A and K were made before 1888 by a partnership formed by John and William Austin and Henry B. Kirk Earlier the last named had worked on his own account at Lyttelton and in 1890 started at Farnley works which had closed with the dissolving of the partnership. Fire bricks made by the Horsley companies — Christchurch Brick Co and Horsley and Good — were branded accordingly. The Farnley site at Huntsbury is now occupied by Murphs Bros, who for a short while made bricks carrying their name. From the demolition of the original Little River Hotel came bricks marked K and others DL.

Joseph Libean who came to Akaroa in 1840 on the Compte de Paris from Bordeaux in France was probably Canterbury’s first brickmaker. Donation and a younger, son, Alen, took over their father’s business till 1890 when they left to continue their trade in the United States where descendants are still engaged in brickmaking. Donation was a longdistance runner who raced the coach from Akaroa to the Hill Top. George, another son, was a brickmaker at Reefton for many years. J. E. Thacker durjng the 1870 s had two kilns at Okains Bay and in 1900 his son W. N. J. Thacker had the substantial Rowandale homestead built from bricks made on the site.

From the coal-fired kiln the brickmaker foreman named Francis, and Dave Bucket, a skilled craftsman. also supplied bricks to the Akaroa County Council. Clay from the Malvern Hills was brought to Christchurch brickworks. This clay was also used by the Homebush Brick

and Coal Co., Ltd, at Glentunnel. This firm, formed by the Deans family and Reese Bros, made both building and fire bricks brand, j HOMEBUSH NZ. Glentunnel has a number of brick buildings, the most interesting being the unusually constructed library which reflects the craftsmanship >f brickmakers and bricklayers. Nearby at South Mai vein bricks were made by Ford and Ogden and. neat the sue of the Whilecliffs Domain. Condliffe Bros had a kiln supplied from a horse-operated pug mill. Thomas Henry established a brickyard at Russells Flat in 1874 and later Henry and Philip Rollison started at Coal gate. The Springfield Coal and Fire Clay Co., 1 id, specialised in fire bricks and during the 1880 s employed up to 200 men At the Kqwai Pass kilns, the Banks Brothers — Alfred, Edward and Henry — were noted brickmakers. From Rangiora came the TH brand of Thomas Hills who began business in the 1850 s. After four years absence on an unsuccessful gold digging venture in Central Otago he returned to Fernside Road. Here in 1862 he built a kiln with a capacity of 15,000 bricks a burn. A Hoffman type kiln was built in 1877. It is difficult to confirm the makers of bricks which branded by initials such as JR, JO or C AND F. Locally made Brightling’s bricks were branded B with the numbers 1 to 4 either before or after the letter but the significance of this is not known. S o m e brickmakers favoured symbol type brands such as a heart, a cross or a star. 1 he latter were made by John Savage, of the brick and quarry partnership of Prisk and Savage. When the Glenmore Brick Co. was formed in 1901 and took over their workings, Savage was appointed manager. Changed methods of pressing are reflected in two varying GBC brands.

Today’s mass-produced red bricks, uniform in colour, size and weight offer no clue to their origin. Impressions made in the wet clay of last century form an interesting guide to the diversity of output from craftsmen’s kilns.