Thrunton Brickworks & clay quarry
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Thrunton Brickworks & clay quarry by Andrew Curtis as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Thrunton Brickworks & clay quarry
Image: © Andrew Curtis Taken: 28 Aug 2015
The flooded quarry is now home to Thrunton Long Crag Trout Fishery. The fishing lodge can be seen on the right. Part of the Swarland brickworks, which had been mothballed in 2011, was destroyed in Spetember 2013 in a huge fire which started in a warehouse housing shredded carpet waste. The brick company was set up in the late 1930s by Commander Vyner to create jobs for the unemployed of Tyneside. In 1942, current managing director Chris Blythe’s grandfather bought the company and the grandson took over in the early 1980s, having worked there since 1972. At the time of the mothball, Mr Blythe said the company was not selling enough bricks due to the worst building recession since the 1940s. Production had stopped and a total of 4.2 million bricks were sitting on site. A skeleton staff was kept on to sell them. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/fire-mothballed-brick-manufacturing-site-5836622
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
55.38182
Longitude
-1.857141