Lilley Brickworks

A major local brick industry developed north of Rowlands Gill, originally using the glacial clay dug to make the 60 feetdeep Lockhaugh cutting for the railway. The Priestman Colliery Company built coke ovens at the Lilley Drift Mine around 1883. Brick production reached a peak in 1955 at about 150,000 bricks per week, mostly for use at local pits. After 1964, high quality facing bricks were produced and were widely used in the North East, as for example at the Airport Hotel Ponteland and the Nuffield hospital, Jesmond. The brickworks closed in 1976, and the site reclaimed for agriculture. The office building can be seen from the A694 in Rowlands Gill. An office building from the Lilley Brickworks stands on the A694, a plaque identifying its previous existence upon its wall. At the brickworks site, where a siding linked the works with the main line (Derwent Railway HER 1019), a platform can still be seen adjacent to the pond. The derelict engine sheds are still standing adjacent to the Derwent Walk. LOCAL LIST