Visited with drhowser,
Swillinton Bricks was built in 1962, with the surrounding quarry area surveyed for suitability around 4 years before, the Swillinton works was built after supplies of clay from a site in Woodlesford (George Armitage) was depleted.
Formally a family run business the brickworks was taken over by Marshall's in the late 1980s and most recently acquired by Hanson Aggregates at some point in 1997.
Hanson is part of the HeidelbergCement Group since 2007, which employs 57,000 people across five continents. HeidelbergCement is a global leader in aggregates and has leading positions in cement, concrete and heavy building products. Hanson’s UK business is split into three business lines – quarry products, building products and cement - which together operate over 350 manufacturing sites and employ more than 6,000 people.
With the help of their kiln's the swillinton branch was able to produce around 450,000 bricks per week in the final years of operations at the brickworks, but due to the recession and downturn in the housing markets, sales fell and the factory was closed down in October of 2008 with the loss of 45 jobs at the site, many bricks still remain unsold in the storage sheds.
Hanson are investing in a new state-of-the-art brick plant at Measham in Leicestershire which will be the most advanced in Europe and possibly looking to reopen the swillinton brickworks if demand increases in the future.
A BBC look north interview of some of the workers at the time of closure can be found here (See if you can spot the bloke in the hard hat flyers on site)
Love that rust, lovely colours
Thanks for looking
Swillinton Bricks was built in 1962, with the surrounding quarry area surveyed for suitability around 4 years before, the Swillinton works was built after supplies of clay from a site in Woodlesford (George Armitage) was depleted.
Formally a family run business the brickworks was taken over by Marshall's in the late 1980s and most recently acquired by Hanson Aggregates at some point in 1997.
Hanson is part of the HeidelbergCement Group since 2007, which employs 57,000 people across five continents. HeidelbergCement is a global leader in aggregates and has leading positions in cement, concrete and heavy building products. Hanson’s UK business is split into three business lines – quarry products, building products and cement - which together operate over 350 manufacturing sites and employ more than 6,000 people.
With the help of their kiln's the swillinton branch was able to produce around 450,000 bricks per week in the final years of operations at the brickworks, but due to the recession and downturn in the housing markets, sales fell and the factory was closed down in October of 2008 with the loss of 45 jobs at the site, many bricks still remain unsold in the storage sheds.
Hanson are investing in a new state-of-the-art brick plant at Measham in Leicestershire which will be the most advanced in Europe and possibly looking to reopen the swillinton brickworks if demand increases in the future.
A BBC look north interview of some of the workers at the time of closure can be found here (See if you can spot the bloke in the hard hat flyers on site)
Love that rust, lovely colours
Thanks for looking
