An old clay pit with a tramway and brickwork in or near the Newtown area.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Mon 22 Jul, 2013 9:24 pm

This 1933 map is taken from a 1:2500 map in the excellent Old-Maps UK (OMUK) website and shows a clay pit site with a tramway and brickworks in, or close to, the Newtown area of Leeds. Apart from a passing reference I found on SL there does not seem to be a thread on the site (apologies if there is and I did not find it). What seems likely to be at least the clay pit is marked on an OMUK map going back to 1891, but nothing seems to be there in an 1850 map. A tramway is still marked in a 1938 map but though the site seems to be still there no tramway is marked in a 1956/57 map and on a 1968/69 map. There seems to be no site marked in later maps.I had expected there to be photos in the Leodis website but despite trying advanced searches I have not found any. Searching under 'clay pit' produces far too many results but I got no results on trying the advanced searching using 'clay pit' and a location (I separately tried Burmantofts, Sheepscar, Newtown, Mabgate, Buslingthorpe, Little London and Harehills). I wonder if anyone knows any information and/or links to information on the clay pit, tramway and brickworks?PS. The map is smaller than I expected but clicking on it should bring up a larger version.

liits · Post by **liits** » Mon 22 Jul, 2013 9:50 pm

On the 1908 maps the same tramway is visible. Also shown - but not on the 1933 map are two additional tramways in the brickworks at the other side of Dolly Lane. One where the Copper Works is located [n the 1933 map] the other from where the Longclose Engineering Works are located [1933].

Brunel · Post by **Brunel** » Mon 22 Jul, 2013 10:00 pm

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... SPLAY=FULL

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Mon 22 Jul, 2013 10:06 pm

Thanks liits and Brunel for your help, which is appreciated.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Mon 22 Jul, 2013 11:47 pm

Leodian wrote: Apart from a passing reference I found on SL there does not seem to be a thread on the site (apologies if there is and I did not find it). What seems likely to be at least the clay pit is marked on an OMUK map going back to 1891, but nothing seems to be there in an 1850 map. I wonder if anyone knows any information and/or links to information on the clay pit, tramway and brickworks? The early brickworks were marked on maps as brick fields, so I assume hand made bricks from small clay pits were roughly fired in makeshift ovens. You can find a few around 1850.But the burgeoning advance of Victorian red brick housing required mass production and modern techniques and brick works opened all over Leeds and lasted many years.The excellent maps we have copies of reveal them all and this site has a few great threads with the Burmantofts clay "pit" (a massive extensive quarry) and a couple of amazing deep clay pits in Hunslet courtesy of Grumpytramp. Well worth a dig back to......

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Tue 23 Jul, 2013 12:21 am

Hi The Parksider.I've had a look round SL and found Grumpytramps excellent 'Superb Hunslet brickyard/quarry photos' http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... tMessage=0 thread which I've now found that you have kindly resurrected while I was searching. That thread has a map on which Burmantofts brick works is shown, but that seems to be at another location to the clay pit/brick works that I'm asking about in my thread. As a child in the late 1940s to very early 1950s I used to pass (often on the way to the Reagent cinema coming from York Road) what would be Burmantofts quarry. I recall it as a very deep hole but no doubt it just seemed so to a child. I'm not sure if I ventured down, though I think I would have done for play and exploration.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Tue 23 Jul, 2013 11:55 pm

Leodian wrote: What seems likely to be at least the clay pit is marked on an OMUK map going back to 1891, but nothing seems to be there in an 1850 map. The magnificent 1850 town maps mark two coal pits just where the Cherry Tree Inn is and in the field next to this there is an open field brick works. This is where the fireclay and coal to fire the first bricks for "Newtown" probably came from, then when they really got going they switched to excavate fireclay from deep excavated pits.The brick field was stripped to reveal the clay which was then turned into bricks and fired on site I assume using coal from the pit on site. Apparently transporting coal and bricks could double the price of the bricks and so where possible the bricks were made where the construction site was. After use the brick field was itself used to build on.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Wed 24 Jul, 2013 1:44 am

http://www.leodis.org/display.aspx?reso ... 4Middleton Brickwork Kilns by the colliery.Local bricks for local houses for local folk.....

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Wed 24 Jul, 2013 9:40 am

Both houses I've had have a clause in the deeds that say I'm not allowed to dig clay or fire bricks. Is this common to Leeds?

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Wed 24 Jul, 2013 11:36 am

Cardiarms wrote: Both houses I've had have a clause in the deeds that say I'm not allowed to dig clay or fire bricks. Is this common to Leeds? I've seen that often, usual countrywide to prohibit extraction of minerals etc.Prof Beresford's Leeds East End, West End detailed how (back in the day) land was sold "with a good bed of clay" from which the clay was dug and the bricks from it fired on site.So some of the older Leeds houses you see are literally out of the land they stand on.