The London Brick Company
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| The London Brick Company | |
| Type | Private (subsidiary of Hanson plc) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1900 |
| Headquarters | Stewartby, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom |
| Industry | Brickmaking |
| Products | Bricks and paviors |
| Parent | Hanson plc |
| Website | http://www.hanson.co.uk/ |
The London Brick Company is reputed to be the largest brick makers in the [United Kingdom]]. Although now part of Hanson plc London Brick is still in existence. It has been estimated that a third of all brick built houses in England are built from London brick[citation needed].
The company founded the workers model village of Stewartby which took its name from the Stewart family name.
[edit] History
The London Brick Company was founded in 1900 by Sir Malcolm Stewart in the Marston Vale, The London Brick Company started making London bricks in the 1920s and demand peaked in the 1950s and 1960s with the rebuilding after World War II.
It has been estimated that the production of London bricks hit a peak of 16 million per day. During the 1950's a lack of local workforce forced the company to look overseas. Many of the Italian families in Bedfordshire came over to England at that time to work in the brickworks of the Marston Vale.
Towards the end of the 1960s demand for bricks fell and the company had to look to other means of making profits. London Brick Land Fill was formed and began the tipping of household and industrial refuse into the old clay pits that littered the area.
In the 1970s The London Brick Company bought out several competitors including Marston Valley Brick Company and Redland Brick Ltd. But the decline in demand for bricks forced the first set of redundancies at the company in 1974. Some of the works were closed and the rest were modernised. The closure of the Ridgmont pit in 1983 enabled the company to stay profitable, with 1,100 workers being made redundant, however, the company was then taken over by Hanson in 1984.
Today there are 230 people employed at the Stewartby brickworks, and only 2 kilns and 3 chimneys in use, making approximately 135 millions bricks a year. The site is still home to the headquarters of Hanson's brick division.
The company name lives on and the Hanson website states that there are currently 34 different types of London Brick being produced in their range today, many of which are still made in Stewartby.
