Scotland's Brick Manufacturing Industry

Found by Eddie McLean in the Renfrewshire area. Darnley Fireclay Works, Nitshill, Glasgow (Allan Kirkwood). . . . . Below – The same stamp on a similar curved brick with a chamfered edge to the inner curve.  

These bricks were found by Guillaume Girard on the banks of the Ottawa River near to Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Canada. Other brickmarks found nearby were “T Carr” from the NE of England and a brick stamped “National” which may well have Canadian or American origins. Around the 1900s this area was heavily used in the…

The mine was owned by Alan Kirkwood Limited. 1896 – Upper Darnley Fireclay Mine had 5 workers underground and 1 above. 1903 – James Wilson (35) Drawer, died at the Upper Darnley Fireclay Mine owned by Allan Kirkwood, as a result of a ” fall of roof on road”. 1918 – Upper Darnley Fireclay Mine had…

Many thanks to Ibon Abuin, Alejandro Gandul and Jose Carlos Bernal for the information and photographs that follow. SS Canarias was a French nationality cargo ship. The Steam Ship ‘Canarias’ was built by Ateliers & Chantiers De La Loira in Nantes (France) in 1893. Length Over All: 104 Mts Beam: 12 Mts. Disp:  3.098 Tm. On…

The Kirkwood brick was found by Stephen Cann on the banks of the  Little Salmon River, New Brunswick Canada. There were several partial bricks in this area. At the turn of the last century, this area was used to load ships and barges with timber from the area. The bricks may have been ballast for vessels…

Photographs forwarded by Peter Simmonds. Peter works for Parks and Wildlife in the Margaret River Western Australia. He states ‘We are building a Camp site at an old Timber mill site that worked from the early 1890’s to 1913. We have found Darnley and Gartcraig bricks where the boilers would have been, We have also…

These fantastic Scottish bricks were found on the St. John River, Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada by Jamie Wong. Gartcraig St Rollox Calder G & A – Very likely of Scottish manufacture based on this example  – also found in Canada. Bonnybridge Caledonia Dougall Gairloch x 2 – Must surely be Scottish! Caledonia Thistle . . ….

Found by David Hopewell while scuba diving on the site of a flooded out mill of some kind in Bark Lake.  This lake begins at the village of Madawaska, Nippissing District, Ontario, Canada.  From what I’ve been told this lake was raised during the 2nd World War to provide hydropower.  I have no idea at…

Found Paisley. Darnley Fireclay Works, Nitshill, Glasgow (Allan Kirkwood). Note the large thumb print to top right. . . . Below – The same stamp on a slightly smaller brick also bearing a thumb print to top right. Found by Tucker Kennedy in the Ayrshire area.  

Found in the Brock Burn, Darnley along with many Kirkwood bricks. Darnley Fireclay Works, Nitshill, Glasgow (Allan Kirkwood). Lovely thumb print to top right. . . .