Dockra Brickworks, Old Mill Quarry, Beith, North Ayrshire

Dockra or Dokra Brickworks, Old Mill Quarry, Beith.

Canmore

1893 – 1896 – Dockra Limeworks, Robert Anderson, Lime Master, Beith. Station Barrmill.

1901 – 1904 – Dockra Limeworks, Robert Anderson, Lime Master, Beith. Station Barrmill.

The Dockra Lime Company started a brick making venture at the Old Mill Quarry, Beith.

1953 – The 1985 publication ‘A survey of Scottish brickmarks’ suggests the Dockra Brickworks, Old Mill (Limestone Quarry), Highgate near Beith commenced in 1953.

They made cement / concrete bricks. Initially, they had a frog and then this was removed and a flat block was manufactured.

They were then taken over by Edenhall Concrete Products, Edenhall, Penrith …

c. 1955PD Edenhall Ltd have been manufacturers of concrete products since 1955.

Below – 25/06/1970 – The Glasgow Herald – Makers of composition bricks at Avonbridge and Brucefield Works and sole distributors of Dockra, Cults and Fort William bricks.

Taylor Brothers Avonbridge

1986 – Edenhall Concrete Products were in turn bought over by Boral an Australian Company – … In 1986, the Edenhall site and others across the UK were sold for almost £8 million to Australian company Boral, which ran it until the mid-1990s when the whole of what had become Boral Edenhall was acquired by Hanson for around £12 million.

Boral History – … There was also an ironworks, a single quarry and a cable manufacturing business. The foundry had operated from the same site for 160 years. Boral promptly sold the quarry and later the foundry and the cable manufacturing business and concentrated on improving the management of both Pozzolanic and Lytag. The ironworks were sold at a handsome profit in 1986 and this money was then used to purchase Edenhall Concrete Products. This company was owned by a larger UK company that was anxious to quit the building products industry. Neal comments, ‘There were about fifteen concrete products plants ranging from Cumbria in the north, down to London. It wasn’t making any money but we recognised that it was the sort of business that Boral understood, in that it was similar to our Australian concrete product operations.’ Once Edenhall was bought, Neal sent over a team of Australians to manage and streamline the operations. This proved very successful and the business was operating at a profit within a year …

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