The York Handmade Brick Company is a specialist brickmaker based in the village of Alne,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. The company was founded in 1988 from a previous brickmaking venture on the same site and has won many awards for projects that its bricks have been used in, and has supplied bricks for several notable buildings throughout the United Kingdom.

History

A company named either ''Alne Brickwork Co.'' or ''Alnebrick'' had been operating on the site at Alne since the 1930s when it was bought in 1988 by David Armitage, who retains the chairmanship, though his son runs the day-to-day business. The brickworks is located in Forest Lane, Alne, and was also formerly a pipeworks with excellent clay resources on site which had been utilised for brick-making since the 1930s. Up until 1986, a narrow-gauge brickworks railway also operated on the site conveying quarried clay to the working sheds. The new company applied for an extension to its quarrying area and in 1998, a 25-year operation started that would yield over of clay from the land surrounding the works. In the financial year 2018–2019, the company turnover was £2.5 million and it had 30 employees. Besides having its bricks used in buildings such as

The Shard The Shard, also referred to as the Shard of Glass, Shard London Bridge, and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 72-storey skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that forms part of The Shard Quarter dev ...

and railway station, the company's ''London Yellow'' bricks are also used for housebuilding in the Greater London area, which saw York Handmade produce over 130,000 bricks for this market. A contract in 2010 to supply 400,000 bricks for

Chetham's School of Music Chetham's School of Music () is an independent co-educational music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates students between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. Students receive a full academic education alon ...

was valued at over £500,000. The company have also supplied bricks for repairing bridges over the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley through which it flows. Th ...

in North Yorkshire, larger bricks to repair the city walls of Rostok in Germany and they have also been exported to America and Japan. One of their most expensive brick creations was for the One Molyneux Street housing complex in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

in London. Each brick cost £793, with 116,000 being used in the construction. According to one property journalist, the bricks are the second most expensive ever created. In 2012, the company was featured in an episode of the

Guy Martin Guy Martin (born 4 November 1981) is a British former motorcycle racer and heavy vehicle mechanic who became a television presenter. In July 2017, Martin retired from motorcycle racing. Martin started racing in 1998 and in 2004 competed on a ...

fronted programme ''How Britain Worked''. The team at York Handmade helped Martin create a brick in an episode entitled ''Coal''. In 2014, the company was asked to supply 47,000 bricks for a restoration project at

Dumfries House Dumfries House (Scottish Gaelic: ''Taigh Dhùn Phris'') is a Palladian country house located in the town of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is within a large estate, around west of Cumnock. Noted for being one of the few such houses wit ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

. The bricks themselves resembled the ones used at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

and were designed by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

Significant projects

*2009 –

Highbury Stadium Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" due to its location and was given the affectionate nickname ...

, 20,000 bricks *2010 –

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, 400,000 bricks *2010 –

North York Moors Railway The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, that runs through the North York Moors National Park. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by Georg ...

new visitor centre at railway station, 18,000 bricks *2011 –

, 70,000 bricks *2013 – Jack Berry's House, a rehabilitation centre for injured jockeys in Malton,

, 50,000 bricks *2014 –

York Racecourse York Racecourse is a horse racing venue in York, North Yorkshire, England. It is the third biggest racecourse in Britain in terms of total prize money offered, and second behind Ascot Racecourse, Ascot in prize money offered per meeting. It att ...

, 80,000 bricks *2017 – Central Library in Halifax, 30,000 bricks *2017 –

Turweston Airfield Turweston Aerodrome is an airfield located near the village of Turweston, in north Buckinghamshire near the Northamptonshire border. It is a former Royal Air Force Second World War bomber training facility, now a business park and airfield whi ...

air traffic control centre in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, 100,000 bricks *2018 –

Pocklington School Pocklington School is an independent school in Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1514 by John Dolman. The school is situated in of land, on the outskirts of the small market town, from York and from Hull. ...

(Art & Design Technology Centre) 31,000 bricks *2018 –

St Bride's Church St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire d ...

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

, 12,000 bricks *2019 – railway station (and London Bridge Palace), 200,000 bricks *2019 – One Molyneux Street

, 116,000 bricks *2019 –

St Albans Cathedral St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban but often referred to locally as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Normans, Norman times. It cease ...

, 30,000 specialist bricks *2019 –

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, 20,000 specialist bricks to renovate the Porter's Lodge in the college

Awards

*1995 – ''Supreme Brick Building'' award for St Bridget's Church in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

*2005 – ''Brick Development Association'' award for work on the walled garden at

Scampston Hall Scampston Hall is a Grade II* listed English country house, country house in North Yorkshire, England, with a serpentine park designed by Charles Bridgeman and Capability Brown. It is located on the north side of the A64 Leeds/Scarborough road, ...

, near Malton *2015 – ''Brick Awards'' (best outdoor space) Belvedere and Queen Elizabeth Walled Garden at

in Scotland

References

{{reflist Brick manufacturers British companies established in 1988 Companies based in North Yorkshire Manufacturing companies established in 1988 1988 establishments in England Building materials companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in York