History cast in brick

When boating we often pass reminders of our industrious past. Some are big and obvious: the canals themselves; locks; bridges etc. Some are small, such as boundary and distance markers. All help to give the feel of travelling in an earlier time. Inscriptions on some things can lead to discovering more about that past era. These bricks, at locks on the Grand Union and Stratford canals in the midlands, proudly display their makers' names.


From the British History website:

The (brick making) industry reached its zenith in the 1880s and 1890s. In the mid 1890s the two biggest brickworks in West Bromwich were on the edge of that area. At the Piercy Brickworks the Hamblet firm was producing between 400,000 and 500,000 bricks every week, while at the adjacent Albion Brickworks Wood & Ivery had a weekly make of between 200,000 and 300,000.

I tried to find out about W. Bennit of Oldbury but failed.

This looks a bit more recent, but the inscription is too worn, from feet pushing against it to move a balance beam on the Hatton flight, for me to make it out.


Dave Sallery has an informative website with lots of photos of stamped bricks, but without these examples.