My name is Joy Cooper and I am the author of Stewartby Remembered. This website shares material that does not appear in the book, together with new discoveries that have come to light since its publication.

You will find a page with hyperlinks to a selection of vintage films relating to the village of Stewartby and the London Brick Company. There is also a page of memories and additional information that has emerged through ongoing research, along with updates on the archival work I continue to carry out. If you would like your own copy of Stewartby Remembered, you are able to purchase it directly through this site.

The sketch shown above is explored in full within the pages of my book. The illustration originally appeared at the top of the Stewartby section in the London Brick Company’s house journal, The Phorpres News, where it was used from 1949 until 1970. The journal reported news from all of the company’s brickworks, with updates on staff, production, and company events, but this particular sketch was reserved solely for the Stewartby pages. Those pages captured the everyday life of the village, recording sports fixtures, births, marriages, deaths, retirements, village events, and even the weekly programme at the Stewartby Cinema, which was housed in the village hall.

The sketch itself reflects the heart of the community. On the left stand the brickworks, with their chimneys sending smoke into the sky. Three of the chimneys carried the letters L, B, and C, standing for the London Brick Company, and another proudly carried the name Stewartby. Beneath them appears George, the company’s emblem, carrying a hod of bricks.

At the centre is the Bedford District Office, one of the few remaining buildings that shows the scale and importance of the brickmaking industry that once operated here. Stewartby was home to what became the largest brickworks in the world, and the BDO is a rare surviving reminder of that industrial achievement.

The second half of the sketch shows the housing built for company employees, followed by the impressive village hall. The hall was built in memory of the men from Pillinge (later renamed as Stewartby) and Elstow who left their work to serve in the war and never returned. Their names are inscribed on four stone panels in the entrance. The hall is instantly recognisable with its four brick piers and its clock turret topped with a copper cupola.

On the far right stand three tall Lombardy Poplar trees. Many such trees were planted around the village. Locally, the clay pits were known as knotholes, and the London Brick Company planted trees around these pits to soften the view of the industrial landscape and screen the brickworks from sight.

The lower half of the sketch celebrates the many sports and pastimes supported by the company. Rugby, football, hockey, cricket, tennis, bowls, badminton, darts, dominoes, and billiards all formed part of village life. Stewartby even had its own swimming pool, which was well used by families throughout the summer months.

My book brings together all of these subjects and many more, preserving the story of a village that grew, worked, and played together under the shadow of the brickworks.

The sketch is published with the kind permission of Forterra Building Products Limited, who still produce LBC bricks at Kings Dyke in Whittlesey.