There was a tradition of brickmaking in the Peterborough area
from at least the eighteenth century, but these were small yards
operating seasonally and using the more superficial clays. From the
1880's onwards experimentation with the lower Oxford Clay allowed
the mass-production of bricks on an industrial scale. Hence the
rapid formation of several companies all competing to exploit the
new process. Most of these companies were acquired by the London
Brick Co Ltd before the end of the 1920's
The records held by Huntingdon Record Office of companies that
fall within the modern boundaries of the Peterborough unitary
authority include:
- Dogsthorpe Star Brick Co
- Farcet Brick Co
- Hicks and Co Ltd (Fletton)
- Itters Brick Co Ltd (Fletton)
- New Peterborough Brick Co Ltd
Records held by Huntingdon Record Office of companies that fall
outside the modern boundaries of Peterborough in neighbouring
Huntingdonshire include:
- Beebys Brick Co (Yaxley)
- Northam Brick Co Ltd
- Saxon Brick Co Ltd (Whittlesey)
- Warboys Brick Works Co
- Whittlesey Central Brick Co
Northamptonshire Record Office hold records the following brick
companies:
- Northam Brick Company Ltd
- United Brick Company Ltd
The catalogue for these collections has been made available for
searching online, as part of the Access to Archives (A2A) project
http://www.a2a.org.uk/.
For the history of the Fletton area brickyards see Richard
Hillier, Clay That Burns, (London Brick Co Ltd, 1981).
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