Accrington Bricks
 

Accy is famed for its quality bricks, does anyone know where abouts in Accy they used to get these from? Can you still see the quarry where it is?

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Accrington bricks, the Nori bricks, were made at the site on Whinney Hill, not a million miles from Stanley's ground.

Most of the site is now covered in houses.   :'(

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

you know, i'll never understand that - buy a new house right next to the rubbish tip?  (obviously reffering to the actual tip and not the crown ground)!

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

i think they also used to quarry next to the coppice and i remember the raw materials being carried over Burnley rd via a conveyor belt of some description, which used to drop the odd piece!!

another bit of useless trivia is that Nori is Iron spelt backwards because the brick moulds were made wrong.......oops

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

monkey, if you wouldn't move back, where ar eyou living now?

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

[quote author=quiksilver link=board=qanda;num=1049901788;start=0#3 date=05/05/03 at 20:18:42]i think they also used to quarry next to the coppice and i remember the raw materials being carried over Burnley rd via a conveyor belt of some description, which used to drop the odd piece!!

another bit of useless trivia is that Nori is Iron spelt backwards because the brick moulds were made wrong.......oops[/quote]


I remember the conveyor well.  It was an overhead bucket system, where it crossed Burnley Rd there was a net to catch the bits.  My Godmother, Mildred Grimes (dcd) lived near the crossing and I used to spend hours watching the buckets!  Life was simple then - about 50 years ago!

I was told NORI got its name because the steeplejacks put the letters up in the wrong order on the chimney, but I guess the moulds explanation is more likely.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

I live way out here in canada just outside Toronto and I do believe i read somewhere that Nori bricks were used in the CN tower

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Hi Folks

The main quarry was also next to the brick yard and a tunnel went under Whinney Hill road joining the quarry to the brick works.

The disused quarry is now the site of the landfill site.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

The site next to the coppice was actually used for slate :)

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

On the subject of Accrington Bricks, I understand they played a substantial part in the building of the Empire State Building.  http://www.accy.net/accyfact.htm

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

[quote author=quiksilver link=board=qanda;num=1049901788;start=0#3 date=05/05/03 at 20:18:42]i think they also used to quarry next to the coppice and i remember the raw materials being carried over Burnley rd via a conveyor belt of some description, which used to drop the odd piece!![/quote]
It was a cable car system that went over Burnler Rd.  It was used to supply the old Redac brick works in Huncoat.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

They are quite right, the buckets used to go across Burnley Road and if you look at my website and keep looking ;D, I may put a picture of them on there for you.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

The Web Site mentioned above is superb and is a must for anyone interested in Old Accy.
By the way -- Iron is very appropriate as anyone will know who has tried to drill into a Nori brick.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

My dad and his naughty brothers used to sit in the buckets and slide down across Burnley Rd. There's one to add to the theme "we shouldn't have survived" on the other page!!

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

My dad used to work at the Redac site, used to go & watch the buckets coming in with shale...

Also put my name on a few bricks when they were in the clay stage waiting to be baked ;D ;D

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Does anyone remember the old cable car system? If so can someone please tell me what the purpose was of the tunnel that went under burnley road (just below where it was) which used to start behind the garages off Woodside road in Huncoat. When I was about 9 0r 10 I followed it and it brought me out in a field just off Burnley road where there was a cave in, it looked like it went on further, but I can't see any exit. This was a proper tunnel not a culvert. It was an arch made from Accy brick. The enterance behind the garages has since been built upon.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Actually it was the Empire State Building.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

And true about the moulds.Nori came to be because in the beginning the mould maker got it wrong.Th owners however liked the idea so much they then kept the name NORI.Otherwise it would now be known as the IRON brickworks.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Not necessarily so. Whenever I see something about Accy Brick and the Nori sign, it usually says "legend has it" or such like.

The mould not being reversed when it was made is one - another is that the letters were simply put up in the wrong order during construction, from bottom to top.

Plus the Empire State Building is not the only well known building made from Nori, just the most famous.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

I dont want to to sound dim but I heard a rumour that Accy Nori brick was used for the Empire state Building in USA. Are they pulling my leg? :P

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

No Malibu they weren't pulling your leg as Cazzer said it's the most famous building built with Accy Nori brick

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Thanks for that Emma. wow that is a famous claim there is certainly talent in our litle town. ;D

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

I ahve also heard that NORI was meant to be IRON but the mould was the wrong way around...

At the risk of half the messageboard getting upset at me disputing this :)

If the moulds wrong then how come the word Accrington is the right way around?

http://i1.ebayimg.com/03/i/00/c6/3e/1e_1.JPG

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

I went to Tucson, Arizona in January and i saw Paul McCartney's house he has out there, and i was told that he had the Nori shipped in to build it!

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

I think the original Nori Bricks just had NORI across them..no mention of Accy

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

"I went to Tucson, Arizona in January and i saw Paul McCartney's house he has out there, and i was told that he had the Nori shipped in to build it! "

When we move I will have to check that out since we will be in Sierra Vista.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

I have a picture of Nori brickworks (which I have sent to Roy) and I also have a picture of the cable car system, but .. dont know how to attach photos to my emails.  Sorry

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Think the mistake people refer to is the sign on the chimney.

Emailed the firm a couple of times a while ago, to see if if they could clarify anything, and let us know the true history. Didn't get any replies unfortunately.

Could of course have been a very good marketing ploy!

It is after all one of the discussion points when outsiders are talking about Accy.

And over the years the company has never let us know what is legend or fact. Wonder why?  :)

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Check this out then.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3247739864

Nori Brick Works
 

Hi, here is one of my aerial views of the old brick works

Buckets which went across Burnley Road
 

And here is a view of the buckets which many people remember, the name REDAC springs to mind.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Chris 7464.  I used to work at Redac and dont know about the tunnels belonging to the brickworks. I think they could have been part of the pit that was just up the road from the brickworks off Station Road.  It is well known that Huncoat is built on many old coal seams.  

Dave what was your dad called maybe I remember him.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Wow a quid for a brick.At that rate it would be an expensive building

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

I used to go regularly to the Quarry which was just off the King's Highway. My father used to repair the buckets and together with a team of maintenance fitters they would scale the pylons which used to carry the steel cables. As a matter of interest does anyone remember the small narrow gauge railways that used to run across Whinney Hill bottom.

Re: Accrington Bricks
 

Was reading the other day that Karate experts in Japan are going to try and break Accrington Engineering bricks, I say good luck to um:rolleyes: