Description and History of Site:-
Site cleared and redeveloped as an industrial estate William Ingham was born in 1796 and in 1825 established his fireclay works in Upper Wortley. Meanwhile during 1822 it is thought that William Walton set up his brickyard adjoining what was to become Inghams fireclay works which continued until about 1844, when the site was then taken over by William Ingham. By 1847 the firebrick works were quite extensive and connected to coal pits to the south with a clay pit to the north. Around 1849 William Ingham died and the works passed to his widow, brother and sons who traded as William Ingham & Sons. By 1853 they were making sanitary tubes and chimney pots as well as refractories (firebricks and blocks). In 1860 control of the company passed to a new partnership that comprised three of William's sons - Robert, Henry and Frederick. Around 1861 they set up the adjoining Red Brick Works. By 1876 they were operating Dragon and Manor pits near Whitehall Road which supplied both coal and fireclay to the works. Around this time the fireclay works comprised - an office, glazed brick works, terra cotta works, retort works, firebrick works and pipeworks together with a central clay preparation unit; which employed 351 men. By 1888 this had increased to between 400 and 500, with the works themselves covered over seven acres with a second firebrick works added. They also had an office and warehouse at 2 Infirmary Street in central Leeds, as well as sales offices and stores in London, Liverpool, Hull, and Manchester. The management of the company was unchanged with Robert Ingham the senior partner, supported by his two brothers Henry and Frederick. In 1889 the company joined with the Burmantofts Co, Joseph Cliff & Sons, and Wortley Fireclay Co, together with Edward Brooke & Sons of Fieldhouse near Huddersfield, and Joseph Brooke & Sons of Hipperholme near Halifax, to form Leeds Fireclay Co Ltd. Ingham's operations were valued at £145,350, which was 16% of the new company. Until 1903 the works continued as the William Ingham & Sons branch operating semi-autonomously, though all capital expenditure had to be approved centrally and the mining operations were centralised in 1891. Improvements were made at the works by the new owners. Until 1903-4 the company operated profitably when there was a recession in the building trade which resulted in the company being controlled more centrally with the works losing much of their autonomy. In 1909 the works were combined with those of the adjoining Joseph Cliff & Sons as the company's Wortley works. The company had struggled since 1904 which finally resulted in a shareholders revolt in 1913 with the result that there was a new management but before they could do anything the Great War brought matters to a halt. Nevertheless they managed to concentrate production of specific products at specific works rather than each producing everything, and in 1915-6 made an extension for the Corporation tramway to operate into the Wortley works, with the Tramways Department operating hopper cars to transport fireclay from Harehills Lane to Wortley. In 1917 an extension to the tramway was made to Cardigan Pit. After the war Ingham's works specialised in refractory, salt-glazed pipe and sanitary ware production. The tramway operation ended in 1931. Ingham's works continued with limited investment, and slowly contracting production leaving parts empty, until it was closed in 1960. Production was transferred to the Farnley works. Also known as Wortley No.2 Works.

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Key Words :- brickworks, brickyard, fireclay works, pipe works, firebrick works

Address :- Wortley Moor Road, Wortley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS12 4HX
Grid Ref :- SE 2660 3290
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.791739 , Long -1.597705
Local Authority :- Leeds Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to industrial / commercial use
Site Dates :- 1825 - 1960
Record Date :- 3 August 2018

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Chris Bateman