Nori Brick

[WillowTheWhisp]

That's what I was always told too. That the person who designed the mould forgot that it would come out in reverse order on the actual brick.

[Stanley4Life]

yeah i was told that

[Tricia]

I was very interested to read this thread. It was only the other day I was talking about the Nori company and wondering what the origin of the name was. I used to be able to see the brickworks from my bedroom window - and the smouldering fires from the rubbish dump at the top of Whinney Hill (what a horrible stench that was, if you walked or cycled over the hill, which some people did as it was a short cut to Clayton). Some evenings, with all the glass roofs reflecting the sunset, it looked like the brickworks was on fire too! I understand they are still making bricks, but very specialised ones in all shapes and colours.
The factory was not all that far from Accrington Cricket Club Grounds. Is that still there in the same place?

[NORI Specials Sorter]

Yes; misinformed it was on the Stack ( Chimmney) that mistake would have spotted right away because they were made of Brass, also there were 5 presses going at the same time.
The bricks that had names on NORI.ENFIELD BIRCK, or WHINNEY HILL were all called Engineering Bricks.
But the Special Bricks where 'SPECIAL' most of the ornamental facing brick were made by hand throwing clay into a Plaster of Paris mold.
But the hand made bricks YES HAND MADE, only the brick layers saw them in there Glory, they were all acid resistant bricks that were made for in and outlet`s of huge tanks that were also made with Special`s.
When I was sorting we sent MILLIONS of them to Sea-scale now Sellafield,I`v only just joined this site, but anyone needs help with any 'Brickyard' questions please ask.
There are many Stories all true about the 4 brick yards,they should be passed on and on, anyone who needs help with the history I will gladly help...

[Alan Varrechia]

Accrington Brick closes over housing slump - mirror.co.uk

Check this out.

[Gremlin]

A question for Nori brick sorter.
I am interested in old railways and tracks and seem to think there was a line running from Huncoat station to the brick yard at the bottom or Whinney Hill where Hansons now are.
This is only because there seems to be the path of an old line along there.

When I came to this neck of the woods I did a bit of brick haulage and took many a hand made brick well wrapped in straw to furnaces where they were built into the fire box.
I also did a lot to Barry power station nwhere they used millions of the acid resisting ones.
I decided that my tender young hands weren't suited for that work, it was all hand ball in those days, no cranes or stacker trucks so I decided to give it the big heave ho and find something with better pay and less back ache.

[Tealeaf]

The old railway line is marked on the OS Explorer map 287 (West Pennine Moors),roughly Grid Ref 767307, scale 2 1/2" = 1 mile

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Gremlin

A question for Nori brick sorter.
I am interested in old railways and tracks and seem to think there was a line running from Huncoat station to the brick yard at the bottom or Whinney Hill where Hansons now are.
This is only because there seems to be the path of an old line along there.

When I came to this neck of the woods I did a bit of brick haulage and took many a hand made brick well wrapped in straw to furnaces where they were built into the fire box.
I also did a lot to Barry power station nwhere they used millions of the acid resisting ones.
I decided that my tender young hands weren't suited for that work, it was all hand ball in those days, no cranes or stacker trucks so I decided to give it the big heave ho and find something with better pay and less back ache.

Was a line ran behind Accrington Cricket Club, we used to ride on the Bogey down it, when we were kids.

[beechy]

Originally Posted by cashman

Was a line ran behind Accrington Cricket Club, we used to ride on the Bogey down it, when we were kids.

your spot on cashy
that line ran to the nori brick works,there was also
a spur line that cut across and over whinney hill road at the bottom over what was gowans farm fields and in to whinney hill brick works
as kids we all used to dare each other to walk over the bridge
DONT DO THINGS LIKE THAT NOW KIDS
ITS SILLY AND DANGEROUS

[Bob Dobson]

I don't buy the 'backwards way' story. The company's directors knew just what they were doing when they chose the NORI name and it helped to sell the product.

REDAC bricks were named because they were red and came from Accrington.

The railway line and its engines are discussed in an essay by the late Robert Rush in 'An Accrington Mixture' which I edited and published a few years ago.

The brick industry in the area is poorly documented. I shall try to interest the Local History Society in getting in touch with NORI Sorter and Gremlin to record their knowledge.

It is interesting to note that a NORI became, like the word HOOVER, a word meaning any brick or vacuum cleaner. Evidence of this is in the phrase " Ah chucked hafe a Nori at him"

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Bob Dobson

I don't buy the 'backwards way' story. The company's directors knew just what they were doing when they chose the NORI name and it helped to sell the product.

REDAC bricks were named because they were red and came from Accrington.

The railway line and its engines are discussed in an essay by the late Robert Rush in 'An Accrington Mixture' which I edited and published a few years ago.

The brick industry in the area is poorly documented. I shall try to interest the Local History Society in getting in touch with NORI Sorter and Gremlin to record their knowledge.

It is interesting to note that a NORI became, like the word HOOVER, a word meaning any brick or vacuum cleaner. Evidence of this is in the phrase " Ah chucked hafe a Nori at him"

i took nori literally n smacked one mon wi a full un.

[walkinman221]

I think there was also a small brickworks on the side of the cut in huncoat at clough bank bungalow which is at the end of altham straight its accesed from of the rabbit run there are boats moored there i work on the canal by the way, on the construction team.

[keith]

I wonder did I ever meet nori specials sorter, first my time working for the NCB over a ten year period I tipped coal at all the different brickyards including deerplay and then when that finished with the gibraith group helping to build two new power stations in south wales which took a lot of accrington brick and also the one near warrington fiddlers ferry I did two loads there one day that made my hands sore thankfully the gilbraith subsidiary firm I worked for moved into storage and container traffic and so the hands healed up

[Pudwoppa]

I found a different theory about where the NORI name comes from some time ago. It seems more plausible than the others I've heard, and would also explain why it isn't common knowledge. Text is taken from the Penmorfa Old Bricks website.

"There are two places in the British Isles where you get a particular bed of clay containing alumina (refractory ore), lower red marl and iron ore all in the same measure. They are Broseley in Shropshire and Accrington in the Darwen Valley in Lancashire. Both areas are renowned for their very high quality and extremely resillient bricks. At one stage or another on the Broseley clay beds there were around 45 brickworks. One of these was the works of Capt. John Anstice: confusingly named The Madeley Wood Tile Works. Set up in 1851 this works produced bricks, roofing & floor tiles, also chimney pots and land drain pipes. It closed in 1956.

The brand for this company was IRON, as they also owned several ironworks and blast furnaces. When the Accrington Brick Company began mass production, they also branded their bricks IRON. Capt Anstice got to hear of it and threatened them with court action for breach of his brand copyright. So in an excellent euphoria of marketing, Accrington spelled the name backwards on their bricks and advertised that their brick was "Iron whichever way you put it." Hence today the Accrington NORI is well known and the IRON BROSELEY is forgotten."


This seems more likely than all of the popular local theories I've heard (several listed on this thread). I contacted Tony Mugridge who runs the website to see if he had reference material for this, and unfortunately he didn't, but said that it was considered relatively common knowledge amongst those who know.


He was also able to reasonably discredit the 'muddled mould' theory:

Quite from common sense: To put the letters in the wrong order on a brick would never matter. Only brick collectors and historians are interested in what it says in the frog [the frog is the indented bit at the top and bottom that carries the logo] . But to put the letters in the wrong order in the foundry, well that would never happen as even apprentice work is checked! No business after all, is going to suggest that they changed the brand on their product because they were threatened with legal action because they copied a brand name.

So my question is, does anyone have a copy of one of these "Iron whichever way you put it" adverts? I haven't been able to find one so far, and I think it would help to finally clear up the mystery.

[cmonstanley]

just been down a beach in the west of scotland and found it littered with nori bricks heres a few pictures.does anybody know how old they are