Pottery and Brick making

Anglesey has a very long history of pottery and brick making. There are several brickworks using a diverse range of geological resources. [link to an excellent page of information on brickworks] But long before modern brick making, ancient inhabitants were making their own pottery in the Neolithic and Bronze Age! A number of sites have yielded pottery, perhaps most spectacularly Capel Eithin near Gaerwen. Here a large number of Bronze Age cremation urns were discovered. Many are exhibited in Oriel Ynys Mon

Bronze age funerary pot excavated from Capel Eithin [J Conway]

Cemaes

The Afon Wygyr brickworks worked from 1907 to 1922. There is a Hoffman kiln and tall chimney dated 1907 apparently with a capacity to produce 50,000 bricks per week reached by a 2′ gauge tramway from the harbour to the works to bring in coal and take out the finished bricks. The brickworks site was partially restored by Anglesey County Council in 1998. The chimney is clearly visible from the A5025. Much of it was made into a footpath in 1976 and about 50yds of track can still be seen here. The tramway was man or horse powered and in 1926 had 7 coal trucks and 6 brick trucks.

Porth Swtan

This former brick and tile works was situated at the top of the road which goes down to Church Bay (Swtan). Coal for the firing of the kilns was delivered to the works via barges and ships and then moved by horse and cart up the slipway from the beach. The works closed in 1908 after only being in production for a few short years due to the poor quality of the clay.

Porth Wen

This very well-known site opened in the 1870s ‘Porth Wen Silica Brick Works’. By 1908 it was owned by Charles Tidy trading as the ‘Tidy Brick and Tile Co’. There is an incline from the hill above and some small quarries in the quartzite. All export was by sea from the works quay. A wonderful site with two chimneys, 3 beehive kilns and various buildings but please note it is on private property and the landowner does not allow access.

Holyhead

Brickworks opened in the Breakwater Quarries opened around 1860 and there are substantial remains conserved as part of the Breakwater Country Park. A silica brickworks opened in 1901 by William Wild and Sons making heat-resistant bricks and furnace linings using the Holyhead quartzite. The works closed in 1973 but remains of various kilns can be seen. The buildings now house a small display about the quarry, brickworks and nature of the country park

Breakwater quarry brickworks - kilns [J Conway] — Breakwater quarry brickworks – kilns [J Conway]

Llanlleiana

Variously described as porcelain, pottery or clay and brick works, these remains consist of a chimney, a building and some evidence of quarrying on the opposite hillside. Higher up slope, above the building, quartzite outcrops may have been quarried for silica. These two resources are the same as at Porth Wen on the other side of Dinas Gynfor.

Llanlliana works, described as pottery but probably using silica — Llanlleiana works, described as porcelain works but probably using silica [J Conway]

old photo showing "quarry" where china clay was dug - this aligns with the seam used at Porth Wen — old photo showing “quarry” where china clay was dug – this aligns with the seam used at Porth Wen