A Brief History of Brookhouse Brickworks

A Brief History of Brookhouse Brickworks

This website, as the title suggests, is totally dedicated to the Northern Centre and all its related subjects within Cumbria. However, we’ve just received a fascinating communication that tells the history of the trials land known as Brookhouse Brickworks, where the Lancs County MCC run their events. Whilst Brookhouse village is outside the Cumbrian borders, many riders from within Cumbria will have ridden there in the past and are likely to do so in the future, so with thanks to Caton resident David Taylor, here’s his unabridged brief history of the trials venue known as Brookhouse Brickworks which bears the formal title of Caton Moor.

David Taylor writes:

I noted your comments added to Phil Haygarth’s video of last Sunday’s trial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ifryy5tPIk&t=329s
You are pretty much spot on with your history. When speaking with the late George Thompson, a lifetime Caton resident, he recalled trials at Brookhouse Brickworks riding his HT Ariel when one was still available to buy new. As an aside, for a while George used his bike to deliver telegrams locally for my maternal grandmother who ran Caton Post Office for many years. Being a true Caton lad I would imagine George negotiated a good deal for his services. Perhaps this is also a good place to point out that the Brickworks as a trials venue and also a working farm has been in the same family for more than 70 years and as such, the organising clubs have always been confident that the venue will remain available, certainly for as long as the land remains in the same hands.
Personally, I remember the regular crew of Stan Cordingley, Pat Walsh, George Slinger and Maurice Newsham (along with others no doubt) marking out trials on Saturdays in the early 1970’s ahead of a trial the next day. Their skill and patience encouraged me to have a go. From memory either EK or JD caught me on film, and subsequently in TMX, in about 1985 riding my TLR250 riding pretty much where last Sunday’s section 2 was situated.
Brookhouse Brickworks itself was short lived in producing bricks, mid 1930’s to about 1966. Whilst close to the clay used to make the bricks, exporting the finished article would always be a challenge. The currently mothballed Claughton brickworks once had a direct railway connection and to this day their access for road transport was always much easier. Imagine the size of a 1930’s motor lorry, at least it was downhill from Brookhouse Brickworks!
We understand the Brookhouse kilns had problems caused by groundwater seeping into them causing vast numbers of failed bricks. The initial clay pits used were upstream of the sections 4 and 5 observed on Sunday. The defective bricks were used as hardcore for the tracks to the clay pits and these are the bricks which wash down the stream to this day. When stuff today travels all around the world those dud bricks moved no more than a few hundred yards from start to finish.
The brickworks, even when derelict, provided a reasonable trials start area. A roadside start became necessary once the current private house was built on the old brickworks site.
In the early 1970’s a club or centre trial would start at the brickworks proper continue up the adjacent stream and continue through the wall at Sunday’s section 10 with more sections in the stream before cutting right (south) at some point to reach Roeburndale Road. Heading back towards the brickworks on the road there were more sections on land belonging to Deep Clough to the south of the road. These sections were lost as the land used was drained and fenced. The drainage works were part of many similar upland schemes to raise the country’s overall food production as part of generally unseen Cold War preparations.
Using Brookhouse Brickworks as the name for a trials venue is about the only thing still recalling a past industry. Because rural OS maps were rarely updated in detail and the short working life its presence is hardly known now, I recall seeing only one grainy photograph of the brickworks.
The last bricks made were moulded with “Lune” or “Lune 1965” branding causing confusion with the even earlier and longer defunct “Lunesdale” brickworks located at Claughton but closer to Caton.