Brick Candle Holders From Scotland And Beyond

Some of a new batch of brick candle holders during the warmer months. In the freezing cold Scottish weather, I learnt that (a) soaking bricks in at least three changes of cold water (in large tubs) and (b) putting on full waterproofs over many layers to core and clean these isn’t that much fun!

In addition to some Scottish bricks I found on various East Lothian beaches (Edinburgh, Niddrie and Roslin), I also found this one from the Lumley Brick Co, Fence Houses, County Durham;

Lumley Brick Company produced enamel bricks in four colours and this one still has small remnants of cream enamel on the ‘frog’ (the indent with the name) and on the base. This brickworks was in existence from the 1870’s to 1938 (information from the very comprehensive ‘Old Bricks – history at your feet’ website, click here).

Further afield, on our travels to the Peak District, I found a few of these lovely deep red/purple Stafford C&I (coal and iron) Co Ltd bricks. From the website above, I discovered that the Stafford Coal & Iron Company brickworks were located in Stoke on Trent from 1874 to the 1960’s. It’s thought that these red and purple bricks were produced sometime between 1874 and 1947;

However, my favourite recent acquisition (thanks to my in-laws) are these terracotta bricks from the Charente region in southern France. These antique bricks are around 200 years old and feature a beautiful stylised foliage design. Trying to find the exact brick/tile works that made these proved to be a bit difficult, but my wife did a bit of research and we think these were made by Tuilerie Delage brickworks in Chardat (established in 1825);

These (and many more) brick candle holders can be purchased from my Etsy shop- just follow this link.

Making Brick Candle Holders

Following on from the first batch of brick candle holders I made, I actually remembered to take some images of the process this time around!

I recently made another large batch of these using bricks from the old Caerlee Mill site in Innerleithen as well as others found at various sites across south and east Scotland. The process of turning bricks into tealight holders is a cold, wet, messy and noisy one- for the life of me I’ll never understand why I seem to leave this job until winter!

First stage is to remove any old mortar from the bricks using my mallet, chisels and wire brush;

Following this, I mark the positions of the tealights using a chalk pencil;

The bricks are then soaked in buckets of water for a period of time. I then clamp them in my old workmate and core the holes using my vintage drill and a diamond corer. The drill belonged to my Dad and this Black and Decker D720 is still going strong today (cost a whopping £19.25 back in 1977!);

At this stage I get to close my workshop doors and turn the heater on! I chisel out the cores and brush all surfaces of the bricks to remove any loose material;

It takes around three days to a week for the bricks to fully dry out before applying a coat of masonry stabiliser (another day or so of drying) and rubber-foam pads to the base. Here’s an example of one of the ‘Edinburgh’ brick candle holders;

I have some of these available in my Etsy shop and the wonderful people at The Hub on the High Street (in Innerleithen) are stocking more of these.

After collecting bricks from many sites, I’ve been reading up on their history and their importance in our industrial heritage. My main source of information has been the amazingly comprehensive Scottish Brick History website. One thing I have learnt was that there wasn’t actually an ‘Edinburgh’ brickworks (unless you count Niddrie)- the consensus among brick collectors and enthusiasts is that the Edinburgh bricks were made at the Wallyford Brickworks (East Lothian) that was in operation from 1924 to 1972.