The Display of Local Bricks
In the cart shed you will find three racks holding recovered building bricks originally produced within an area of approximately 30 miles (50 km) from central Birmingham.
Each rack can display 36 bricks, a total of 108 bricks. Wall mounted display boards list the bricks on each rack and, where possible, includes additional information on each of the bricks, diagrams on brick making and copies of old photographs of works and the workers.
The bricks displayed are examples from the very many brickworks that once existed throughout the country. Many were small and may not have worked for very long, also they may not have imprinted their names onto the bricks. Brickworks using machines extruding a long strip of clay that was then wire-cut to create separate bricks produced bricks without an imprinted name.
A backboard with a map shows the location of the brickworks of the displayed bricks and other information. There is also a Mystery Box containing two bricks to view on Open Days.
Rack 1
Bricks from Local areas and the Eastern Midlands
Hamstead
Shenstone
Erdington
Sutton Coldfield
Castle Bromwich
Burton-on-Trent
Coalville
Nuneaton
Tamworth
Coventry
Rack 2
Bricks from the Aldridge and Walsall areas
Walsall Wood
Aldridge
Bloxwich
Leamore
Bentley
Longmore
Walsall
Darlaston
Rack 3
Bricks from the Western Midlands
Wednesfield
Wolverhampton
Willenhall
Sedgeley
Dudley
West Bromwich
Oldbury
Cradley Heath
Stourbridge
The Brickmobile
This display unit is constructed on the bottom part of a scrapped shopping trolley. The top section holds six bricks, the middle section nine and the bottom six, a total of 21. By lifting the middle section, the bottom section, on slides, can be pushed underneath for storage.
The Brickmobile display unit contains bricks from the central Birmingham, Saltley, Bordesley Green and Washwood Heath areas that, after being cleaned, display the typical red colour produced from the local clay.
Imprints in the Brickmobile Bricks
The / indicates a new line of the imprint
J Bond / Patent / Birmingham
John Bond / Watery Lane / Birmingham
Globe Brick Co / Late Bond / Garrison Lane
Globe Brick Co / Garrison Lane
W W Riddell / Garrison Farm
W H Hancox / Late W Riddell / Garrison Farm
Adderley Park Brick Co / Birmingham
Midland Brick Co / Garrison Lane / Birmingham
Midland Brick Co / Garrison St / Birmingham
W Mansfield / Patent / Birmingham
Henry Chare / Crown Works / Birmingham
Atlas & Crown / Brick Company / Birmingham
G Payton / late Jelliffe
Geo Payton / Garrison Lane / Birmingham
J Loughton Jun / Paytons Brick Works / Garrison Lane
Bordesley Green / Brick Works / Charles Road
Parkfield Brick / Co. Saltley / Birmingham
John Lewis & Sons / Saltley / Birmingham
R Taylor / Washwood / Heath
Taylor & Hales/ Washwood / Heath
E Hales/ Washwood / Heath
Need more bricks?
Many more examples of named bricks can be seen on the Penmorfa website.