Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

1680s. 68 However, from the first half of the eighteenth century brickmakers appear,
digging the Bidford clay. 69
They probably always made other related items, and in the
1840s Bidford’s brickmaker also advertises as a tilemaker and drainpipe-maker. 70
The
Avon no doubt proved useful in transporting the produce of the brick-kiln as well as that
of the quarry.
In the nineteenth century Bidford was the base for a couple of glaziers cum
plumbers cum painters, but earlier the Champion Country had been served in this respect
by outsiders. 71
Although there were many thatched buildings in the locality, references
to thatchers do not appear until Period D. When called upon, labourers, carpenters and
others could undertake the thatching of ricks and buildings. 72
Other nineteenth century
descriptors in the construction trade include the odd builder, plasterer and bricklayer. 73
68 Despite place-names like Clay Hall Farm and Marlcliff. (Gover, The Place-names of Warwickshire, pp.
202-3, describes some confusion regarding the derivation of the name Marlcliff. It could refer to a kind of
mud-stone, but may be derived from a personal name Mearna. WoRO, marriage licence of William
Bushell, Salford Priors, bricklayer, Feb. 1685/6. No other building workers appear in records for this
period except a handful of carpenters who are discussed below in the Wood and charcoal section. No doubt
many roofs were thatched in this zone, as in later periods, but no thatchers are mentioned.
69 WoRO, marriage licence of Joseph Bosward, Bidford, brickmaker, Feb. 1724/5, and of William
Hawkins, Bidford, brickmaker, July 1748. WaRO, Exhall settlement examinations, DR200/43/14,
mentions Justice Bosward, Bidford, brickmaker, 1770. WoRO, marriage licence of Richard Owen, Bidford,
bricklayer, Jan. 1786, who married a member of the Harward family of masons. Joseph Quiney of Salford
was variously described as bricklayer or mason.
70 George Sheffield appears in the 1851 census and various directories from 1845 to 1854. The ‘drainpipes’
probably mean pipes for draining fields.
71 WoRO, BA9202/6, Pebworth churchwardens’ accounts, in the eighteenth century show payments to
glaziers and plumbers, but their residence is not known. For example, the distinctively named Orange
Wigginton, plasterer, may have been based at Shipston-on-Stour, some ten miles distant. (Found on the
website www.familysearch.org at 11.30 a.m. 1 Aug. 2008). WaRO, Bidford 1831 and 1841 censuses
record two plumbers.
72 Jonathan Gould is listed as a labourer in 1841 and a thatcher in 1851. (WaRO, Welford, 1841 and 1851
censuses.)
73 WaRO, Long Marston 1851 census also lists Ann Knight, house-decorator. Carpenters are discussed in
the wood and charcoal section below.
160