Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry

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…

These two bricks were found in the tidal muds at Grangemouth, Scotland and in the same location as a number of confirmed Russian stamped bricks. Their ‘yellow’ colour, size (narrow) and visual composition suggest they may be early Dutch bricks. One would appear to have the imprint of an anchor or perhaps it is a…

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….

This fire brick was found by Francis Caven on the Brassie Shore, north shore heading towards Irvine, Ayrshire. AP Green, Missouri, USA bought the Douglas Fire Brick Company, Ayrshire from the Morgan Crucible Group in 1970. (Note – SBH – So was this brick an import or was it made in Ayrshire after the takeover…

This brick was found on the site of the old Jenny Lind Brickworks, Near Motherwell, Lanarkshire adjacent to the old site of the Ravenscraig Steel Works. It is a dense heavy brick and is believed to have been manufactured by Harbison Walker, USA. History –  Harbison-Walker Refractories Company (Harbison) is the world’s leading supplier of refractory…

Found by Drew Mitchell in the Dalgetty Bay area of Fife. Unidentified manufacturer. Find location would suggest Scottish origins but … This fire brick is most likely to have American origins as per the Monarch Fire Clay Co, Portland, Oregon. Jean Bear states “Sometimes it is quite hard to determine where US firebricks were made,…

Found on the old site previously occupied by the Etna Brick Works, Bathville. Unidentified maker. Find location would suggest Scottish origins but … There is however a distinct possibility that this fire brick is of American origins. Trojan is a brand name for bricks produced by Gladding, McBean and Co, Southgate, Los Angeles County, California….

These large open-ended fire clay liners appear to be designed to stack up and form a continuous column and are possibly some sort of chimney liner. They measure approx. 662mm high x 558mm square and are lying in a Salvage Yard in Glasgow, Scotland. The reference to 485 / 485 is possibly associated with the…

Both the roof tile and the unmarked brick were found in France. Kindly donated by a visitor to France. Terracotta roof tile. . . . . .

Found by Andrew Wood in Dunfermline. Unidentified manufacturer. It is marked with 2 stars and the words Refractaire Superieur which translates to ‘refractory superior’ = first-class fire brick. When subjected to oblique sunlight the middle mark looks like a ‘6’ but this could well be wrong. It may have been manufactured in France and exported…