Accrington bricks, or NORIs were a type of iron hard engineering brick

Engineering brick

Engineering bricks are a type of brick used where strength, low water porosity or acid resistance are needed.Clay Engineering bricks are defined in British Standard BS 6100 ‘Glossary of building and civil engineering terms’ as ‘brick sized fired clay units having a dense and strong semi vitreous...

, produced in Huncoat

Huncoat

Huncoat is a small village in Lancashire, England; situated in the North West. It is located to the east of Accrington.Huncoat railway station is on the East Lancashire Line.-Origins:...

, Accrington

Accrington

Accrington is a town in Lancashire, within the borough of Hyndburn. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, north of Manchester city centre and is situated on the mostly culverted River Hyndburn...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, England from 1887 to 2008. They were famed for their strength, and were used for the foundations of the Blackpool Tower

Blackpool Tower

Blackpool Tower Eye is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire in England which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. . Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it rises to 518 feet & 9 inches . The tower is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers...

 and the Empire State Building

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...

.

Name

Three theories are proposed:

• Iron was written on the chimney of the brickworks, but with the I at the bottom
• The letters IRON were placed backwards in the brick moulds thus spelling NORI. This is by far the most common story.
• It was a deliberate decision of the owners, who also produced a brick called the REDAC standing for Accrington Red.

Geology

Fire clay is often found close to coal seams. Huncoat had colleries. At the end of the Ice Age, the Calder was blocked and formed a large lake in the Accrington area. The sediment from this lake produced the fireclay seams. And coal was available to fire it.

History

The NORI was first produced at a brickworks adjacent to the quarry in Whinney Hill, Huncoat by the Accrington Brick and Tile Company Ltd. The clay there produced bricks of the highest strength and hardness. These bricks were acid resistant, so could be used for the lining of flues and chimneys.

There were four brickyards, producing engineering bricks (Enfields, Whinney Hills) and specials. Specials were hand thrown into plaster of paris moulds. They could be extremely decorative. These bricks were used for specialised engineering projects such as in furnaces and for powerstations.

The site had its own branch railway joining the East Lancashire Line

East Lancashire Line

The East Lancashire Line is a railway line in the Lancashire region of England, which runs between Preston and Colne, through Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley ....

 at Huncoat Station

Huncoat railway station

Huncoat railway station serves the village of Huncoat, between Accrington and Burnley in Lancashire. The station is east of Blackburn railway station on the East Lancashire Line operated by Northern Rail.-Services:...

, and was close to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal

Leeds and Liverpool Canal

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...

.
The brickworks now managed by Marshall Clay Products were bought out by Hanson, a subsidiary of the multi-national Heidelberg Cement group in 2005. The brickworks was closed in 2008, with the loss of 83 jobs. Hanson who say they are mothballing the factory cited the recession and standstill in new house builds.

Usage

• Blackpool Tower
  Blackpool Tower
  Blackpool Tower Eye is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire in England which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. . Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it rises to 518 feet & 9 inches . The tower is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers...
  
  
• Barry Power Station
  Barry Power Station
  Barry Power Station is a 230MWe gas-fired power on Sully Moors Road in Sully in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It is eight miles west of Cardiff and is next to a large Ineos Vinyls chemicals works that makes PVC and a Hexion Chemicals plant.-History:...
  
  
• Fiddlers Ferry Power Station
  Fiddlers Ferry Power Station
  Fiddlers Ferry Power Station is a coal fired power station located in Cheshire in North West England, which is capable of co-firing biomass. It is situated on the north bank of the River Mersey between the towns of Widnes and Warrington. Opened in 1971, the station has a generating capacity of...
  
  
• Sellafield
  Sellafield
  Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...