At one time there were 25 brickworks in and around Buckley in Flintshire, North Wales.  Most of them stretched in an arc through the north end of the town and all were served, or connected by tramway, to the Buckley Railway.  This provided a vital transport link, in particular to Connah's Quay and its port.  This export trade led to the introduction of a unique form of transport - the shipping box.  This was a narrow gauge vehicle with small wheels built to carry bricks.  The wagons were run onto special standard gauge vehicles at the nearest railhead or private siding and on arriving at Connah's Quay were unloaded from the transporter wagon and placed directly into the holds of waiting ships.  Subsequently the empty shipping boxes were returned from the customer and the cycle started again.  The Buckley Society is an active industrial history group specialising in the history of the Buckley brickworks.

Made at Knowl Lane brickworks.

Buckley Brick & Tile
Brookhill brickworks

Buckley Brick & Tile Co. Ltd was active from 1865 to 1963

Flintshire White

The Metalline brand was registered in 1885.

The original Castle Brickworks was established by William Malcolmson and George Alletson in 1866 with the Castle Firebrick and Coal Company being formed in 1875. In August 1925 the company put an additional new works into production at the former Elm Colliery site. This works concentrated exclusively on the production of building bricks and finally closed in August 1970 as investment in new plant was necessary and demand for bricks had been declining for some years.  In its later years it was owned by John Summers & sons.

Jonathan Catherall (1689-1761) played an important part in the development of the industry.  Catherall and Company survived in Buckley until the late 19th century, moving increasingly into brick and tile manufacture.

 Davison's specialised in refractory and acid resistant bricks. Charles Davison's Ewloe Barn Brick and Tile Works and Old Ewloe works was active from 1933 to 1951, and was later merged with General Refractories Ltd, and then taken over by the firm of G. R. Stein Ltd.  The site closed in 1967.

Gordon Hull found the above example during the demolition of buildings at Harehope Quarry and the Fluorspar Washing Plant at Frosterly in Weardale, County Durham.

Etna

The company of George Watkinson and Sons owned brickworks and collieries in Buckley in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the Etna brickworks.

Globe

Hancock's Lane End Brickworks

The last brickworks in Buckley was at Lane End: it had been established in 1792 by John Rigby and William Hancock.  In 1956 it became the property of the Castle Firebrick Company who also took over several of the other brickworks.  Butterley took it over in 1971 and at its closure, announced in February 2003, it was owned by Hanson’s. It had been one of the biggest and earliest in the area, and the last one to close in Buckley. The last chimney in Buckley was demolished at Lane End Brickworks on the morning of Friday 26^th November 2004.  It marked the end of a 250-year era for the town.

Although the location of the works stayed the same there was more prestige in using the name of the nearby town of Hawarden.  This was because of its connections with the Gladstone family.

Again a Buckley brick but this time pretending to be from Chester!

 This was one of a number of special ones made over the years and commemorates the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

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