Pictures of People Employed in the Manufacture of Clay Bricks and Floor Tiles at Ruabon, circa 1955.

Pictures From A Different Age

A nostalgic look at what used to be, in the few pictures that have survived the many changes through the years. Ruabon red facing bricks and terracotta floor tiles were manufactured by the Ruabon Brick and Terracotta Co.Ltd., for which they were well known. The pictures shown in these pages were taken in the 1950's. The claypit is now a landfill site and the brickworks site is now a trading estate.

Pictures of People at a Brickworks

The people in the pictures below were employed in different processes in the manufacture of clay bricks and clay flooring tiles. Amongst the people working in the brickworks at the time were father and son, father and daughter, uncle and nephew, brothers, sisters, cousins. The working environment in the brickworks ranged from fresh air in the claypit, a dusty atmosphere in the drying sheds, and the smell of oil in the air near the tile presses. Probably the most dangerous work was that on the hand operated tile presses, where there was a danger of losing the tip of a finger or two, during a lack of concentration. The number of people working in the brickworks at the time the pictures were taken, was in the region of 80 and despite the working conditions and the occasional bust-up, there was generally a good relationship between them.