Directory of the

Brickmakers of St Albans

I am currently collecting information on the history of Bernards Heath, St Albans, and have already included the booklet A Short History of Bernards Heath and the talk The Brickmakers of St Albans on this web site. I am particularly interested in the Brick Works and the aim is to have working notes on each of the brickmakers for which I known more than just the name and a single reference. I have decided to post these notes here for the following reasons:

• While I am concentrating on the individuals, rather than their genealogy, it is quite possible that people working on the relevant family history will be able to fill in details - such as birth and death places and dates, other relatives who were brickmakers or who worked in associated occupations, etc.

• I am very interested in tracing any marked bricks, details of buildings which were built of identifiable bricks, documents which related to St Albans brickfields, photographs of brick working/workers, etc. By posting details of what I have I hope that people with relevant information will contact me.

• By putting the information on this site it demonstrates the kinds of information that can be collected if you are interested in Family or Local History, and how you might chose to record it. Because the work is "live" it will serve as a practical demonstration of how a historian works.

It should be noted that normally I work with word documents (using footnotes, indexing facilities, etc.) so I am giving up some degree of flexibility in putting the information on a web site. Over the next few months I will be converting existing word files, as time allows, and initially the following principle brickmakers will be included are:

• Arnold, George Farr Under construction

• Ball, John (died 1515)

• Barford, Frederick Under construction

• Bennett, William George (1850-1937+?)

• Bennett, William (1800-1862)

• Dickson, James (c1844-1927)

• Dixon, William A (1860-????)

• Fowler, Benjamin (died c 1826) and family

• Higden, Thomas (died 1686)

• Miskin, Christopher Under construction

• Owen, Joseph Fenwick (1857-19??)

• Pearson, Thomas (1821-1876) (Owner of St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Reynolds, Jacob (1835-1926)

• Sanders, Joseph (fl 1700)

• Vass, James (1805-1872)

• Veyse, William (15th century)

and the following staff/workmen

• Alexander, Charles (Foreman brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Atkins, Henry

• Bacon, Richard (Foreman to Jacob Reynolds)

• Bates, Henry (Brickmaker's labourer at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Bourne, George (Made bricks for Frederick Barford and Christopher Miskin)

• Broom, Henry (Brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Burgess, William (Brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Butcher, Charles (Brickmaker for Miskin and at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Butcher, Joseph (Moulder for Jacob Reynolds)

• Chapman, George (brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Datron, William (Brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Dixon, James (1838-????) and relatives

• Emerton, Percy (Brickmaker for ? Jacob Reynolds)

• Fensome, William (Moulder for Jacob Reynolds)

• Harris, George (Brickmaker's labourer at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Harris, Thomas (Brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Howard, William (Foreman to James Dickson)

• Hunt, John (Brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Kilby, Frederick (Potter for ? Jacob Reynolds)

• Oldring, Mr (Foreman brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Maskell, William (Foreman brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Sergeant, --- (Moulder for Jacob Reynolds)

• Smith, William (Carter to James Dickson & brickmaker to ? Jacob Reynolds)

• Wells, George (Brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

• Wiles, Edward (Brickmaker at St Stephen's Brickworks)

Very many new entries to be added, including information from the 1901 and 1911 censuses.  Under construction

For an overview see the talk
The Brickmakers of St Albans

There is also a page on the Blanks & Lefebure Brickmaking Machine