

INDUSTRIES 



stone, at Spring Close Quarry, Lenton, which 

 has supplied many partsV of the Midlands for 

 about twenty years ; at (Bobber's Mill in the 

 Leen Valley, and at a pit, now disused, at Two 

 Mile Houses, Basford. The Bestwood Iron- 

 works draw their sand from a pit in the Lower 

 Bunter Pebble Beds, at the Warren, Bestwood. 

 Moulding-sand of excellent quality is also dug at 

 Mansfield. 23 The raw material for bricks and 

 pottery is abundantly furnished by the Permian 

 and Keuper marls, the bright red variety of the 

 former being extensively quarried round Bulwell 

 for the manufacture of bricks and flower-pots. 

 It is claimed for the articles made from this clay 

 that they have a better colour, and are less liable 

 to the formation of a buff-coloured deposit when 

 burnt at a high temperature than the bricks 

 made from the Keuper marls. The centering of 

 the trade at Bulwell is owing to the pits being in 

 the vicinity of the railway, also to the fact of 

 the full thickness of the marls being available at 

 that point. Although covering a wide area, the 

 depth of the formation rarely exceeds 2O ft. 24 

 At Newark and Bowbridge the manufacture of 

 bricks from the Keuper marls is carried on in 

 connexion with the gypsum quarries. The 

 marls are also worked for bricks and drain-pipes 

 in an old-established yard at Harlequin, near 

 Radcliffe-on-Trent, also at Southwell, Lowdham, 

 and other places. At Bottesford, the Lower 

 Lias clay is similarly employed. 



The Lower Keuper sandstone or water- 

 stones is extensively worked for brick-making, 

 especially at the east end of Nottingham," 

 where the majority of the mediaeval tile-houses 

 were situated, Robin Hood Yard at Hockley 

 being on the site of one of these. 26 Like the 

 mediaeval potters, says Mr. Stevenson, the brick 

 and tile-makers of early times brought their clay 

 from the spot where it was dug to the tilehouse, 

 where the manufacture was actually carried out. 

 John Slater was carrying on his craft at Not- 

 tingham in 1397, when an action was brought 

 against him by William Huntston for having 

 put bad tiles on his house, which fell off, and 

 caused the timber to be damaged by divers 

 tempests of rain. The complainant claimed 401. 

 damages. 27 In 1482-3 John Howett was paid 



a Groves, Hist. Mansfield, 367. 



" S. Deri, and Notts. Coalfield, 1908, p. 177. 



K Midland Naturalist, v, 172 ; Aveline, Gcol. Notts. 



17- 



* Stapleton, Old Mapperley, 208. ' The Tilehouse ' 

 (ye Tylhusse) at Nottingham is first mentioned in the 

 Borough Records in 1435, a later allusion being to 

 the 'Tyle House ' ; Rec. Bora. Nott. ii, 358 ; iii, 358. 

 Mediaeval tiles, says Mr. Stevenson, were largely used 

 for the wide fireplaces and chimney stacks of the 

 wooden houses of the period. The same authority 

 cites an instance of a house thus constructed, now 

 pulled down, in St. Peter Gate ; Stapleton, Old Map- 

 perley, 208. 



17 Kec. Bora. Nott. i, 349. 



. for 200 tiles, Robert Ratcliff providing 100 

 at 3*. 4.d., also fourteen bricks at 4*/. 28 John 

 Wylford, tiler, was paid (>d. a day, and his ser- 

 vant 4^., for tiling in 15 1 1. 29 Eighty new tiles 

 and three ridge tiles for the Mercery at Notting- 

 ham cost nd. in 1484-5, Steven Tyler being 

 engaged to carry out the repairs there at bd. per 

 day, his servant being paid \d. William Grey, 

 another tiler, earned 4*/. 30 John Chrytchley, 

 ' teyler,' paid 2,000 tiles to the burgesses instead 

 of the usual 6s. 8d. in is8i. 31 



The Mapperley brick-making industry seems 

 to have been carried on during the 1 7th century 

 by numbers of vagrant brick-makers, for in 1682 

 we find the Nottingham Town Council taking 

 measures to discharge forthwith the several 

 persons that dig clay upon the wastes in or near 

 Nottingham plains, their kilns and hovels to be 

 pulled down the same day. 33 In 1689 the 

 Mickletorn jury presented Thomas Elliott, and 

 fined him 5*. for a brick kiln upon the plains. 33 

 The prices of bricks at the kilns near Notting- 

 ham, presumably those made at Mapperley, are 

 given in Deering's time as follows : Common 

 bricks, lOs. per I,OOO ; dressed, 17*.; flat tiles, 

 15;. ; and pan tiles, i n. 34 The yards were 

 closed in winter, as the primitive condition ot 

 the road did not permit of the carriage of coals 

 to the plains, and the plastic bricks could not 

 therefore be dried. The clay was ground by 

 horses going round and round in a mill. In 

 winter the brick-makers were working maltsters, 

 and found employment in the numerous malt- 

 kilns and malt-rooms of the neighbourhood. 36 

 In the middle of the last century thousands of 

 bricks of the old duty size (9 in. by 4^ in. by 

 2^ in.) were made by hand in the summer 

 every week. 36 Whole families, as for example 

 that of the Oaklands, were engaged in the 

 trade. 37 



Chalk, which is not common in the county, 

 has been dug however between Nottingham 

 and Aspley. 38 A particular variety of the Keuper 

 marl is used for the preparation of a loam for a 

 top-dressing for cricket-pitches and lawns, the 

 material being chiefly obtained from a pit in the 

 upper part of the marl at Cotgrave and from the 

 Harlequin Brick-works near Radcliffe, and is 

 exported to distant localities in small quantities. 

 Marl of excellent quality has been obtained from 

 pits near East Bridgeford. 



The numerous pits and spoil-heaps of open- 

 cast workings, 39 of which traces remain in several 



19 Ibid, iii, 325. 

 11 Ibid, iv, 167. 

 " Ibid. 356. 



3 2I 



18 Ibid, ii, 391. 

 * Ibid, iii, 230. 

 " Ibid, v, 323. 



34 Deering, op. cit. 88. 



35 Stapleton, Old Mapperley, 222. 



36 Dearden, Dir. 1834. 



37 Stapleton, op. cit. 216. 



M Deering, Nottinghamia, 88. 



" S. Deri/, and Notts. Coalfield, 1908, p. 85. 



41 



