Bute Pit, firebrick works

1875-1958. Consett Iron Company took control of Garesfield Bute pit and the small firebrick works in 1891. Output was increased to supply the new Chopwell mines and cokeworks. In the 1920s, the brickyard supplied bricks to the Company’s works at Derwenthaugh, and in the late 1940s to new building work at Consett Ironworks. In 1925, about19 people worked in the brickyard. In 1937 a single-press Bradley and Craven machine was installed and could make 8000 common bricks per shift. After 1945, production was mainly concentrated on making common bricks. The yard had 13 Newcastle kilns, set in a row of eight and a short row of three, and couple by themselves. Some kilns held 8000 bricks, and others 10,000.