The Brickworks (Marl Hole)

Unfortunately to date I only have a small amount of information on Mow Cop Brickworks. If anyone out there can shed any further light on the subject, I would love to hear from you.

Most of the images and information on this page is taken from the book "The Old Man of Mow" published by collins

The brickworks featured is not the only one on Mow Cop, on the Ordnance Survey Map of Staffordshire 1890, there is featured a clay pit and brickworks just below Welsh Row on the old Congleton Tramway.

These more recent brickworks locally known as the Marlhole were set up during World War II and were used to make housing bricks, the marl was all dug out by hand and placed into brick moulds.
An oven would hold 30 000 bricks at a time and would use 10 tons of coal.
The bricks were first smoked tfor 5 days to remove the water. A fresh green brick prior to its time in the oven would weigh 11lbs, once fired it would have lost 2lbs.
They would then be fired for 3 days at 950°C and cooled for 2 days.

The quarry (Marl Hole) was drained and filled in the early 1990's (causing srious problems with the water levels for many locals). Below is a photo of it nearly drained ready for the first waggon loads of rubble.

Picture courtesy Derek Frost