East Cleveland Image Archive

Previously shown on site as: ‘Ceramic Workshop’ we are now aware that it could not be the Loftus brickworks (where bricks were made from about 1830 to 1870s’) it is believed to be the workshops of the brick works at Commondale. In 1861, a Stokesley printer called John Pratt who owned land around the Commondale area did just that and set up his Cleveland Fire and Brick Company. The short-lived Commondale Pottery was set up by John Crossley, a retailer of building products from Stockton-on-Tees, on the site of a former brickworks which Crossley had acquired in 1872. The manufacture of art and domestic pottery was begun in April 1880, as an addition to the manufacture of bricks, tiles and pipes. The Commondale Pottery produced a wide range of domestic wares in both red and buff terracotta, some with elaborate painted and glazed decoration. After a short cessation in production and trading. The Commondale Brick & Pipe Works traded again from the late 1880s or early 1890s until 1947, when it closed. The brickworks site is now occupied by a Cleveland Scout campsite. Peter Appleton queries: “Anyone got any thoughts on where the “1903 N” special was destined to go? There’ll be a story lurking there, if it can be teased out.” Joan Smith asks: “My great grandad worked in a pottery round Middlesbrough, Stockton on tees , area in the late 1800s. He used to travel to Belgium, with his family, on more than one occasion. I am wondering what his job would have been. More importantly which pottery he would have worked for. His name was Christopher Dunning.” Peter Connor advises: “The 1903 stone that the man in the picture is working on is on the end of Ness Terrace in Commondale.”

Image courtesy of the Pem Holliday Collection, thanks to Peter Appleton, Joan Smith and Peter Connor for the updates.

This looks like a photograph of a finishing shop – a place where clay or ceramic objects are cleaned up and checked for defects.  I could suggest a date of 1903 – judging by the plaque being held to view at the nearest workbench, but that could be a red herring! We have said clay or ceramic because most of the objects in the image look like ceramic pipework, chimney pots and urns. The reason it looks rather gloomy is that it was shot in natural light – no flash. Behind the little table in the foreground can be seen some small moulds; like boxes in two halves. We have been told by Gavin Purdon: “The 1903 plaque with a letter N on its shield shown in this photograph can be seen today in Commondale village mounted on the gable end of Ness Terrace nearest to Commondale railway station. This would suggest the photograph has a strong connection with Commondale Brick Pipe & Tile Works.”

Many thanks to Gavin Purdon for that update.