Fenn’s Bank Brick and Tile Co. Ltd.
Chas. Edmondson Williams, secretary and managing director.
It is thought that small-scale local brick production started in the mid-17th Century supplying bricks for a small number of gentry houses such as Halghton Hall (Hanmer); which was built in 1662. It was not until the 19th Century that small scale commercial works became established to supply the increasing demand for bricks and pipes (for land drainage), copings and windowsills. Local works arising during this period included: Lightwood Green (Overton), Fenn’s Hall, Fenn’s Bank, Tilstock Lane near Brickwalls (Bronington), and at Pandy (Hanmer).
(Image from National Library of Scotland OS 6inch 1888-1913)
The Fenn’s Bank works opened in 1860 and was strategically placed – with its own sidings – on the Ellesmere-Whitchurch line of the (former) Cambrian mainline railway. Clay was dug from deposits immediately to the south-west of the works, reaching eventually to a depth of 40 feet. The works themselves consisted of a circular 14-chamber Hoffman kiln and a tall chimney, 175 feet high. All works were demolished when the works were abandoned in the early 1960s and only the flooded clay pit remains.
We have been unable to find an image of the original Fenn’s Works but the image above we feel is a reasonable representation.
A Fenn’s brick – was the letter reversal for N and S deliberate?