Blantyreferme Brickworks, Blantyre, South Lanarkshire

(Much more research required in order to reduce my confusion over the Blantyreferme Brick Works!)

Canmore

22/02/1924 – Bellshill Speaker – …we learn that a considerable number of men in the district will be employed at the new brickworks which Messrs A and J Moore are presently building. It is said that the refuse on the bing at Blantyre Colliery will be used in the brick making process.

12/12/1924 – Motherwell Times –  A. G. Moore & Co Ltd beg to intimate that they intend to commence making composition bricks at their Blantyreferme Brickworks, Uddingston in December and shall be pleased to receive enquiries. 142 St Vincent Street, Glasgow.

23/07/1926 – Motherwell Times – Reference to Mr John Gibb being the manager of the Blantyre Ferme Brick Works ( Previously a manager of the Carfin Brickworks).

Below – 1934 –  Blantyreferme Brickworks.

1934 Blantyreferme brickworks

1936 – 1937 –  Moore, A. G., & Co., Ltd., coalmasters, 142 St. Vincent St. C.2; Blantyreferme Collieries, Uddingston and Newton; Shieldmains Collieries, Drongan, by Ayr; Dalkeith Collieries, near Edinburgh; Blantyreferme Brickworks, Uddingston.

19/03/1937 – The Scotsman – Brickworkers wages dispute – There was a further development last night in connection wages dispute at Blantyre Ferme Brickworks. Officials of the Transport and General Workers Union met representatives of the brickworks employers on Wednesday and yesterday when a proposed agreement was drawn up. This introduced uniform rates of wages covering ten brickworks in Glasgow and Lanarkshire, on the understanding that where higher rates of wages are at present in operation these are to remain without being interfered with. The agreement provides for an increase in wages to a large number of workers, and it also provides for a further, conference between the employers and the officials of the Union in June. These proposals were put before a meeting last night of the brickworkers employed at Blantyre Ferme Brickworks and were unanimously rejected. Union officials advised the workers to remain at work pending negotiations, but they decided to stop work at once. The men demand an 8-hour shift on night-shift work, with an increase of wages.

25/11/1938 – The Scotsman – Workman who was suffocated in a hopper – After inquiring into the death of a young brickworker who was suffocated in several feet of blaes in a large hopper, a jury at a Hamilton Fatal Accident Inquiry yesterday delivered a formal verdict, and added a rider that if possible, means should be devised to make it unnecessary for brickworkers to enter hoppers in the course of their employment. The inquiry was into the death of Peter McGuire McDermott ( 21), of 169 Stonefield Road, Blantyre and the accident occurred at the brickworks at Blantyreferme Colliery, Cambuslang on October 10th.  John Gibb, manager of the brickwork, said this was the first accident of its kind there. The accident was a mystery and it looked as if McDermott had gone into the hopper and slipped down into the blaes. Precautions had since been taken to prevent a recurrence of this type of accident, and safety belts had been introduced. In answer to Sheriff Brown, the witness admitted that employees had to go into the hopper in the course of their duties. His Lordship commented that this was a dangerous operation, and suggested to the jury the rider already given.

12/05/1939 – Daily Record – Returning to Work – The 400 men employed at Newton Colliery, Cambuslang owned by Messr’s Moore and Co, who were on strike yesterday owing to a dispute concerning the reinstatement of 2 employees, are returning to work today. It had been alleged that the 2 men had been constantly ignored by the management when it came to reinstating the men on the waiting list in jobs in the colliery, despite the fact that they held a priority claim over others who had secured employment.

The 48 hours notice given by the workers to the management at the Blantyreferme Brickworks of Messr’s A G Moore and Co following a dispute on Wednesday terminates at 5 o’clock tonight and it is almost certain that the 120 workers will again come out on strike.

1947 1969 – The 1985 publication ‘A survey of Scottish brickmarks’ states the National Coal Board were owners.

01/01/1955 – Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser – … Among the Ancillary Works in Central West Area, the manufacture of bricks from pit redd was carried on at a high rate of production and with a steady demand for the product. A start has been made with the erection of a new brickworks at Blantyreferme for the production of facing bricks. The new works is expected to give employment to 50 men. Briquettes also enjoyed a steady demand throughout the whole year. This is a feature peculiar to Central West Area where the demand throughout the summer continues to absorb the full capacity of the works.

1955 – Pictured here in 1955, courtesy of Alex Rochead are the large machines that were located inside the Haughhead (Blantyreferme) Brickworks. I’ve been looking into the machinery, what it was used for and whom it came from. In these photos, the machines are relatively new. The large engineering machinery was located in a brick-built part of the building to crush stone, form the bricks and transport the clay. This was a state of the art mechanisation, removing the need to hand-make bricks. Machinery was procured from Inglis and also from Thomas Fawcett of Leeds. These photos of the kilns and the machinery are held in the National Library of Scotland. It is thought the brickworks existed until 1974 and demolished shortly after. In 1972 Bradley & Craven, amalgamated with a rival Leeds company, Thomas C. Fawcett, forming Craven Fawcett Limited, which existed up until 2002, when it was dissolved.

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