Many thanks to Jacky Brookes from Wester Ross for the following information.
Jacky states – I found a fat ball on 21/03/2017 on my local beach, Melvaig in Wester Ross. It was large, about the size of my border collie dog. We brought the very heavy fat ball to our home which is local to the beach, and it eventually began to soften. We broke it up on 05/07/2017 and this brick piece was in the very centre of it. The brick is stamped ‘EL’. We wondered if it had come across the Atlantic/Minch/off a ship/ships oven? Perhaps a whaling ship? Or from a coastal whaling station like the one on Harris (across the Minch from our beach). Is it a small kiln brick? The fat is not ambergris (we checked with Ambergris society) and they say it’s mineral fat of some kind.
Found by Ian Suddaby at the old Bonnyside Brickworks, Bonnybridge. This was found in a pile of debris that contained large quantities of test samples that were marked for use in the brickworks laboratory. AL – 80 = 80% Alumina content. Höganäs Borgestad, brick manufacturers, Sweden. At Höganäs Borgestad, we started producing refractory bricks in 1825,…
Canmore – Whaling Station, 1904 Gaunt remains of a long-defunct industry, with a lone, tapering red brick chimney rising from the foundations of the boiling house/desiccator. Little else but the carcass ramp survives. Founded by a Norwegian, Karl Herlofsen, the factory was acquired by Lever Bros in 1922 when the market was declining but was…
Found by Kjell Myran on a beach at Hommelvik, Norway. Stein, Castlecary Fireclay Works, Castlecary, Stirlingshire. Stein, Manuel Firebrick and Refractory Works, Whitecross, Stirlingshire. Stein & Co, Anchor Brickworks, Denny, Stirlingshire. Milnquarter Fireclay & Gannister Works, Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire. .
Found by Tucker Kennedy in Glencoe. Höganäs Borgestad, brick manufacturers, Sweden. At Höganäs Borgestad, we started producing refractory bricks in 1825, almost at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Our production unit is still based in Bjuv, Sweden. We are a modern company with strong roots in Swedish industrial traditions, committed to exceptional quality, ongoing innovation and…
. . . . . Below – The Village of Figget (Portobello) 1783. 1898 – William Baird’s Annals of Duddingston & Portobello – … About the year 1763, a new settlement began to be formed in the parish at the mouth of the Figgate Burn, consequent upon the finding of a valuable bed of clay,…
