Hall, Shrigley

This may just be a humble firebrick, but it is rather special to me as it represents a product from one of our local yards that must have been made in the nineteenth century. James Hall made firebricks at Bakestonedale, Pott Shrigley, possibly having taken over the works from George Lambert who is listed there in 1857. The fireclay was obtained from the many coal mines under Bakestonedale Moor. Hall appears in the trade directories for 1878 and 1883, but is absent in that for 1896 as the business had by then been absorbed by neighbouring brickmaker William Hammond. I suspect that the Hall family went on to manage the firebrick works at Furness Vale after this.

This is the only firebrick I have seen from the Hall era and I am grateful to Lance Bates at the Chimneypot Museum in Longton for letting me photograph this example from his collection.