Another Three Bricks

Two of these bricks were amongst the 5 tip truck loads that we got years ago and one is a more recent acquisition, although not absolutely sure where from.


The first brick, the recent acquisition, has an impressed frog of a small hand with a heart in the middle (not really very clear in the photo).  It has been suggested to me that this brick may have come from the old Whiskey Au Go Go Nightclub that was burnt down in 1973 in Fortitude Valley.  I expect that this brick  would date from the late 1800s

Heart in Hand Mark

Detail of Heart in Hand Mark

The next brick is one of my favourites.  It has a raised knot or what I call a pretzel mark in its frog.  I have seen a few of these bricks around but don't have any idea as to their origins or age.  I would love to hear from anyone who could give me some information about it.  This brick came out of our original piles of bricks bought for paving.

Knot or Pretzel Mark

The third brick has quite a lot of wording pressed into its frog.  It says THE VIRGINIA BRICK & TILE Co, BRISBANE WORKS,  NORTH COAST LINE (at least I think the last word is LINE).  It's appropriate that I have a few bricks in my collection from Virginia as they all came from the demolished Virginia Pipe Works.

The Virginia Brick & Tile Co Mark

Detail of The Virginia Brick & Tile Co Mark

The only reference to The Virginia Brick & Tile Co that I could find was in an article about the early history of Virginia State School on a Northgate Ward Community News website.  It tells about the struggles involved in establishing the first school at Virginia and how they went about clearing the grounds of all the trees.  The following is an interesting extract from the Northgate Ward Community News website that mentions The Virginia Brick & Tile Co:-

"Major William Clatworthy, manager of the Virginia Brick and Tile Company blew out the remaining stumps of the trees that had been cleared. He would plant the detonators with his teeth and those who watched him expected to see his head blown off. Fortunately, that event never occurred."

The School was eventually completed in 1920.

It would be good to know when this company began and ended.  Maybe it was taken over by another brickworks or maybe it just changed its production from bricks to pipes only.