| AdminHistory | The Black Country has been known for its fire-clay manufacture for centuries. Fire clay was sourced from layers contained within coal seams. It was mined from local pits, being brought to the surface in slab form and 'weathered'. Furnaces and hearths were lined with firebricks to retain the heat, and the local clay was particularly suitable for a variety of uses. Fireclay was essential to the Industrial Revolution, since it was involved in the manufacturing process of almost every product.
The firm of E. J. & J. Pearson was founded in 1860. In 1898 it became a private limited company, called E. J. & J. Pearson Ltd. Mr J.W. Thomas joined the firm in 1872, and upon his death in 1902, his son Mr C.W. Thomas became Managing Director.
Pearson's carried out the manufacture of firebricks and fireclay goods at the Delph Works, Brierley Hill, which was their main centre of operation. They also owned the Crown Works, Amblecote; and Tintam Abbey Mines and Works at Brierley Hill. The combined output of these three sites in 1903 was approximately three-quarters of a million firebricks per week. The Company also produced speciality bricks and tiles used in the construction of pottery kilns; glass house pots; gas retorts; crucibles; linings of blast furnaces; etc.
In the 1970s, E.J. & J. Pearson Ltd. merged with J.T. Price & Co. Ltd to form Price-Pearson (Refractories) Ltd. The Company moved to a new, purpose-built Works, called the Albion Works, in Brierley Hill.
The records in this Collection were deposited at Dudley Archives & Local History Service and were catalogued as part of the 'Documenting the Workshop of the World' Project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, in April 2005 |