Shiremoor, Backworth Colliery Brickworks (Blue Bell Brickwork

HER Number:
8496

District:
N Tyneside

Site Name:
Shiremoor, Backworth Colliery Brickworks (Blue Bell Brickwork

Place:
Shiremoor

Map Sheet:
NZ37SW

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Brick and Tilemaking Site

Site Type: Specific:
Brickworks

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
A brickworks was established beside the Blue Bell mine in 1937 by Backworth Collieries. It comprised a 16-chamber Hoffman kiln with a 124 feet high chimney. Shale from Holywell was used, producing a red-coloured brick. A Bradley and craven machine press made mostly common bricks, firstly marked BLUE BELL but later stamped BACKWORTH, to avoid confusion with another firm using the same name. Production in the 1950s averaged 120,000 bricks per week. The works closed in 1965. Dates: 1937 – 1965 20th Century brickworks Source: Davison, P J, 1986. Brickworks of the North East, 56 site 5, 61.

Easting:
3137

Northing:
7120

Grid Reference:
NZ31377120

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
P.J. Davison, 1986, Brickworks of the North East, p 56, site 5 and p 61