Draining the Cumbrian Landscape by Edward & Stella B Davis:
'During the eighteenth century in what is now Cumbria agriculture was in a depressed state and little draining was being undertaken. What revolutionised land draining was the ‘tile’ manufactured from clay, the very substance which was largely responsible for the problem of waterlogged land.
Introduced into Cumberland c.1819 by Sir James Graham to drain the Netherby estate, the first clay agricultural drainage-tiles were produced at what became known as Sandysike Brick & Tile Works. Tileries spread throughout Cumberland reaching their peak in the 1850s when about 75 works were producing tiles. A total of 113 tileries and brick & tile-works in Cumberland with nine in Westmorland and possibly eight in Furness & Cartmel were in operation between 1821 and the early 1900s.
However, as a major industry this was short lived as by the 1920s only nine works remained. This book details the rise and decline of the tile industry in Cumbria and is based on an extensive range of primary, as well as secondary, sources. In a sleeve inside the back cover is a CD containing a 242-page Gazetteer of Sites and Manufacturers, which records details of all located tile-works, with reference to sources, in what is now Cumbria and adjacent counties.
This publication, written as a result of thirteen years work by two local historians, will be of interest to agricultural, industrial and regional historians and also to archaeologists. The Gazetteer of Sites & Manufacturers arranged by parish will prove particularly useful to local historians, and family historians will find the many named tile-workers a valuable source.' Costs £18.
You can order the publication on line at Books Cumbria. Or see the order form below (copies at CWAAS website):
