Interior View showing women working in inspection and dispatch bay

Description Interior View showing women working in inspection and dispatch bay

Date 23/4/1971

Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 787076

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Grahamston Firebrick Works, Falkirk This shows the interior of the sorting and packing department, with piles of 'baby' bricks on the right, and a moveable brick bin to the left. The woman is examining each brick for defects before putting it on the pile. The size of the stock, a week before closure of the works, hints at the reason for closure. This works closed on 30 April 1971, and this photograph was taken on the last 'making' day, 23 April. The firm was still a partnership, between a Miss Winifred Towers and her father. As the moulds for the 'specials' were made of wood, the founding of the firm by a carpenter is not as unusual as it might appear. In 1971, this works was owned by the firm of J & A Towers, which had been founded in the early 20th century, but the works had been in existence since 1857. In 1971 they were making hand-moulded 'special' firebricks for foundries, and small machine-moulded 'baby' bricks used in building fireplaces for coal fires. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference H35/71/32/37

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/787076

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap