Buckley's industrial reputation built brick by brick

Brickmaking has a long history in the region, with evidence of the industry can still be found.

Reader Matthew Lovelock shared photos of some local bricks.

Local bricks, photos courtesy of Matthew Lovelock.

He says: "The yellow ones were made at Aston, Hawarden, where some may be found in a bridge in Bennetts Lane.

"A large number were used in houses in Rhyl, particularly River Street.

"The blue bricks pictured were used in a footpath in Rhyl up by the sorting office.

"One had cross hatching on the back as pavement decoration. The damaged red brick is Ruby, Rhydymwyn."

These little blocks of history are a reminder of a once huge industry in the region.

Here we look more at the brickworks of Buckley, in Flintshire...

Brickmaking put the Buckley area on the world map and its demise in the early years of the 21st century is still much mourned.

The last brick was made in the town in 2003 in the Lane End works, for so long the flagship of an industry which helped mould the industrial landscape of Flintshire.

The kilns and chimneys were first to go and the site so close to the heart of the town became home to a housing estate.

Its closure marked the end of a 200-year industry which had brought fame and fortune to a few and steady employment and income to many.

Scenes of Buckley Brickworks as it prepared for its last day.

Buckley bricks and other goods made in clay are still known throughout the world and the expertise of the brickmakers in Flintshire was the envy of many an industrial nation.

But the brickmaking story was always one of ups and downs, with many works disappearing in the early 20th century and the demands of Shotton Steelworks prolonging the life of some of the others.

The boom years for the industry came after rail links were developed with Queensferry and, most importantly, with the once busy River Dee port of Connah’s Quay.

The first recorded brickworks site in the mid and late 18th century was operated by the Catherall family at what is now the Trap fishing pool on the outskirts of Buckley.

Neighbouring Ewloe Place brickworks was developed by the Catherall family in the 1790s with a relative bearing the name of Hancock developing the Lane End works in the same period.

It was this Lane End works which led the industry in Buckley and it was its closure in 2005 which brought down the curtain on the brickmaking process in Flintshire.

The industry grew quickly in the 19th century with brickworks springing up all around the Buckley area.

Before the arrival of rail, the development was made possible by the construction of a tramway providing a link between the works and the all important River Dee.

The Buckley-Connah’s Quay railway link with the Chester-Holyhead line was opened in 1862, with the submission for Parliamentary permission pointing to the importance of the River Dee port.

Names of works which trip off the tongues of people familiar with the Buckley area include Castle Works sited between Buckley and Northop Hall, Mount Pleasant, Ewloe Barn, Etna, and Belmont.

The scars of the brickmaking industry are all too easy to see and a Buckley Heritage Trail taking in Etna, Drury and Lane End is a popular attraction.