Update re Brickmaking nr Cinderford = Hawkwell & Broadmoor. (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, February 05, 2016, 18:17 (3223 days ago) @ Jefff

Further to my above post which I'm afraid I hijacked from quarrying to brickmaking, I've asked my niece and can confirm her partner works at the aforementioned Hawkwell brickworks, in the woods near Northern colliery, as shown on the aerial photos. This company is still known as Coleford Brick & Tile, as it was when they built the works in 1936, on the site of the old Hawkwell Brickworks. This works was in addition to their original home at Marion Brickworks near Coleford which they acquired in 1925.
Like so many companies their business suffered under Government intervention during WW2, and the Marion works were closed in 1950 after all work transferred to Hawkwell.
After a recent lull their business is now on the upturn again, their hand-thrown bespoke bricks are in demand for upper-end niche projects across the UK, their website is here http://www.colefordbrick.co.uk/about-us/

More about their methods here http://www.penmorfa.com/bricks/coleford_brick.htm

Some photos of the process http://www.brocross.com/Bricks/Penmorfa/Pages/coleford_brick.htm

One of their recent prestigious orders was for the recently rebuilt RSC Theatre in Stratford, much of their bricks go to restoring older buildings.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/gloucestershire/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsi...

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As stated in the British History site
"Brickmaking continued into the later 20th century, particularly in the Cinderford area where the Hawkwell and Broadmoor yards employed 62 people in 1959."

I'm pleased to say the Broadmoor yard is also still in business. I've struggled to find much about this company online, I think as they are part of a larger company. Once again Ian Pope's superb book "Forest of Dean Branch Volume 2" contains history and photos of the works, it seems odd to see it surrounded by green in photos as late as 1962, my birthyear, nowadays it's firmly within the Whimsey Industrial Estate, below Lower Cinderford. Bricks were possibly made here since 1915, to take advantage of the virtual closure of the original Hawkwell yard. The "modern" Broadmoor Brickworks was built in 1922 by Lydney & Crump Meadow Collieries Co, owner of nearby Crump Meadow pit. The Works was on the site of the old Duck pit, so next to Winning & Regulator pits, in an attempt by the Company to diversify as coal output fell, by making bricks from the old spoil heaps including from Crump Meadow which eventually closed in 1929. This photo graphically shows just how big these spoil heaps were, their remains are harder to spot nowadays under cover of conifers.
http://www.sungreen.co.uk/Cinderford/Cinderford-Crump-Meadow-Colliery.htm

For more history abt Crump Meadow Colliery, see
http://way-mark.co.uk/foresthaven/historic/crumpmdw.htm
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/fodmembers/index.php?id=37701

In 1938 Broadmoor Brickworks was updated to raise production from 2.5 to 6 million bricks per year. In 1946 it was thought the spoil would give another 30 years brick production. Perhaps ironically, coal to fire the kilns was brought from the same Company's Arthur & Edward pit at Lydbrook.
This 1953 map shows the brickworks, zoom to bottom L/H corner.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101453364

Nowadays the works use modern automated mass-production techniques, unlike Hawkwell's hand-thrown, for use by new-build customers. It's pleasing to see they name their products after local placenames.
http://admin.brickhunter.com/broadmoor-brickworks-profile
http://completelyindustrial.co.uk/trade-parks/scheme/Whimsey-Industrial-Estate-Gloucest...

This page's satellite photo ("behind" the Map, keep zooming) shows they are situated at the back of the old Engelhards factory, now BASF Recycling, next to St John's Cricket Club ground.
http://www.manta.com/cmap/mtz0nqp/broadmoor-brickworks-ltd