Found by Ian Suddaby.
Ian states – Down and dirty at low tide in the bed of the River Carron at Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth. Even though I’m very close to the wharf where many Grangemouth bricks were shipped out in the years before WWI, I never expected to find three foreign bricks. All three have the same name but all are different. I think these are Russian as they clearly include at least one symbol that was discontinued in their alphabet before 1918. The symbol ѣ, the third one along. It’s nice to see what I’m assuming was brick ship ballast coming into Scotland for once.
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With regards to the above finds, Vladimir Smirnov, St Petersburg, Russia states – It is fantastic the merchant in the first guild Peter Abramovich Belyaev from St.Petersburg has reached Grangemouth!!! He had several brick factories located on the right bank of the Neva River dated from 1861. He used brickmarks П.БѣЛЯЕВА (with variations) and ПБ. After his death in 1884, the business was owned by his widow and later operated by nephews under the firm “P. Belyaev’s Successors”. The story ended in 1917 and Belyaev’s bricks are regarded as one of the most frequent finds in our area due to the long term of work and production capacities.
The above bricks are stamped with different numerics, 105, 108, 120. Vladimir states – This is the internal factory number assigned to the particular worker responsible for the production of the certain set. These numbers were fixed for the workers and one worker used the same stamp during his years at the factory. New workers received new numbers or new stamps were ordered when getting broken. In principle, high numbers indicate that the factory worked for a long period of time and had many workers. It is only in theory and if these notes were really kept from year to year, revolution, Stalin’s times and WWII make this far from reality.
Below – Some examples I found on my visit. Nos 188, 96 and 26.
Below – there is a mark to the top right of this brick that resembles a bird’s footprint or some other 3 toed beast – it may, of course, be simply a vivid imagination as it is not clear.
Below – This broken brick was found at the same location. Vladimir Smirnov states – Perhaps, АП -Alexander Petrov, 1860th, or later his daughter-in-law Alexandra Pertova, 1890-1910th. St.Petersburg left bank of Neva River.
Below – This is possibly the full stamp.
Below – Ian Suddaby also found these two bits of broken brick at the same location. Vladimir Smirnov has confirmed these are of Russian origins too. Vladimir states- “The full mark is K.K.З. – State-owned. Brick. Plant. The brick was made between 1840-60. In the early 1860th with the appearance of small private businesses state-owned brickyards gradually became unprofitable and were sold to private hands. They had 4 production sites on the bank of Neva River in St.Petersburg, Russia.
Below – The full stamp. KK3
Found at Manuel Works, Whitecross by Ian Suddaby. This example is not in my possession The manufacturer of this checker is unknown although the find site would suggest it was made at the Manuel Works, Whitecross’ Scotland. Stein, Castlecary Fireclay Works, Castlecary, Stirlingshire. Stein, Manuel Firebrick and Refractory Works, Whitecross, Stirlingshire. Stein & Co, Anchor…
Thank you to Alexander Kosenkov for the following information. Alexander is an architect and restorer of wooden architectural monuments. Alexander states – “We are restoring the Zakharov house in Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia. The house was built in 1915. Two Dutch ovens have been preserved in it to this day. The stoves used a refractory brick…
Many thanks to Vladimir Smirnov for the following information. This Sankey BM Scotch brick was found as part of a furnace structure in St Petersburg, Russia. It was found alongside a mystery brick stamped ‘Shire‘. J H Sankey & Son, Essex Wharf, Canning Town, London. This may be a Scottish product. A collaboration between Castlecary…
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,…
Found at the old Bonnyside Brickworks, Bonnybridge. This was in a pile of ash and waste that contained many test samples from the Bonnyside Brickworks laboratory. The letters of the stamp are all raised. UCB = Union Chimique Belge S.A. Belref is a distributor in Mons (Saint-Ghislain). https://www.belref.com/ They are now specialized in preshaped products…
This brick was found in St Petersburg, Russia by Vladimir Smirnov. The manufacturer is unknown. The ‘look’ and fabric of the brick does suggest Scottish origins but … In particular, the brick has a ‘look’ of a P & M Hurll, Glenboig product. Ian Suddaby has suggested one possibility – The Lanarkshire Steelworks, Motherwell, Scotland…
The brick was found in the territory of an old sugar factory near Belgorod (close to the Ukrainian border) together with bricks from the Ukrainian region. Many thanks to Vladimir Smirnov for sending the photo and details. The stamp reads ‘ALA GLENBOIG’. Note the elongated letter ‘I’. “ALA” is French for ‘ in the manner…
Many thanks to Vladimir Smirnov for sending the photograph. 2 Glenboig. This brick is an exhibit in the Samara Museum, Samara, SW Russia. The ‘L’ is upside down. The ‘N’ is either upside down or back to front. The two x ‘G’s are odd too. They look more like ‘C’s or indeed they could be…
Many thanks to Vladimir Smirnov for forwarding this photograph. The brick was found in St Petersburg, Russia. 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. .
Many thanks to Vladimir Smirnov for forwarding the following photograph and the find location. Found in Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia. Dykehead Fire Clay Works, Bonnybridge, Falkirk. . . .
