The
Sneyd Colliery and Brickworks Company, Ltd.,
Nile Street, Burslem
"The
Sneyd Colliery and Brickworks Company, Ltd., constitute one of the most
considerable industrial industrial establishments in North
Staffordshire, both on account of the extent and of the importance of
the varied operations in which they are engaged. The Company took its
origin parly in the present century with the Sneyd Colliery Company who were
very large coal owners in this district.
The
business was afterwards curried on, from 1844 to 1875, by Messrs. C.and J.
May. In the latter year it was purchased by Messrs. William Heath,
Arthur Dean and W. A. M. Telwright, and was converted into a limited
liability company in 1881.
A thoroughly representative Board of
Directors has been created, including William Woodall, Esq. M.P.
(Financial Secretary to the War Office in the present Government);
William Heath, Esq. : W. A. M. Telwright, Esq. ; Arthur Dean, Esq. : and
J. Wilcox Edge, Esq. J.P. The secretary is Mr. John Mayer;
the colliery manager, Mr. John Heath ; and the manager of the
brickworks, Mr. S. Webster Dean.
Under the management of
the present
proprietors, both the colliery and brickworks departments of the
business have been developed with characteristic energy and enterprise.
They have sunk two new shafts to a depth of over six hundred yards, and
considerably widened a third. They have, too, laid down new machinery
and other plant of the most improved description; and they have the best
pair of winding engines in North Staffordshire.
The pit-frame is steel,
and the other appliances are all of the most modern description. There
are eight different seams of coal; and the capacity is such that the
Company can turn out 10,000 tons weekly. There are about six hundred
acres to each seam. The various seams worked are as follows — the
Burnwood seam, the Mossfield seam, the Harmine seam, the Holly Lane
seam, the Bowling Alley seam, the Main seam, the Sevenfoot seam, and the
Greatt Row seam. The Company have seams of excellent house coal, also
second house coal and steam coal—the latter being chiefly used in the
immediate district. The house coal is sent into the general market,
where no product has gained so high a reputation as the Mossfield coal.
The various buildings at the pit-mouths are lighted by electricity.
The
manufacture of glazed bricks, coloured as well as white, is a very
extensive branch of business with the Company, the special points aimed
at being the manufacture of a brick that is indestructible by natural
influences or natural forces; that is, a brick that is impervious to the usual destructive agencies of weather, climate, etc., and one
that can resist the heaviest pressure that would he brought to bear on
it as a building material.
The characteristics of a good glazed brick,
the Company lays down, are the firm adherence of the enamel to the body
of the brick; the capability of that body to resist a heavy
pressure and thus prevent the edges of the bricks chipping or flying
when subject to such pressure; while another point is the purity of
the enamel. Much time and exhaustive study has been devoted to the
composition and preparation of the various enamels now used by the
Company, and the above results have been completely obtained.
A glance at
the list of the names of buildings in which the Sneyd bricks have been
used, will show that they must have been brought as near to perfection
as is possible Among other, contracts in which they have been used are
the following:—Windsor Castle and the New Post Office Buildings,
London, by H.M. Commissioner of Works ; the new Law Courts ; the Tivoli
Restaurant, Strand, W.C.; the new stores in Huish Court and Water
Lane, Blackfriars, etc., for Messrs. Spiers & Pond, Ltd. (this
building is faced outside with coloured glazed bricks and lined with
white) by Messrs. Hargreaves & Matear, by railway engineeers, and
many more too numerous to detail here.
The siding, which
has
been admirably laid out by the colliery manager, Mr. J. Heath, runs from
the colliery right through the centre of the brickworks, thus affording
splendid facilities for transport. The Company issue illustrated
catalogues of their products, which should be in the hands of all
builders and architects.
Their
depot at the new St. Pancras Goods Station (Somers Town Station),
London, is second to none in point of size, accommodation, and the
comprehensive character of the stock the Company keeps there. The stock
of glazed bricks there is so large and comprehensive that there is no
likelihood of the largest contract the Company may take in London not
receiving a sufficient and regular supply. A large and varied stock of
fire bricks, fire tiles and lumps, boiler seatings, flue covers, white and
coloured glazed tiles. Staffordshire blue and red bricks, is also kept
at this depot, which thus forms a most valuable adjunct to the building
trade of London."
