The Past

The advent of the industrial revolution hailed a new era for brickmaking with steam power and machinery slashing labour and production costs.  Yards that once produced less than one million bricks per year were now capable of producing eight to ten million.

A corresponding boom in the building trade fuelled the demand for bricks.  Like cities elsewhere in Britain, Belfast spouted street after street of red brick terraces.  Large mills, foundries, schools, warehouses and bakeries also sprung up with the result that many small brickworks sprang up in and around the city to meet the demand. 

By the mid 1800’s there were over thirty known brickworks in Belfast alone. Brick production continued to grow until the advent of the First World War.  Then, in the 1920’s came the depression which dampened enthusiasm for building causing many of the smaller works to close.  Those that remained held on and gradually increased production until 1939 and the start of the Second World War.

 A few brickworks survived after the war but with the once abundant deposits of local clay running out and outdated methods of manufacturing, the last Belfast yard closed in the 1970’s leaving Tyrone Brick as the only clay brick manufacturer remaining in Northern Ireland.

So, since the latter half of the 20th Century it has been left to Tyrone Brick to uphold the local clay brick tradition in producing products worthy of those companies who have gone before and laying the foundations for distinguished new buildings for generations to come.

The Present

Tyrone Brick is part of CRH - the International Building Materials Group.

As the largest clay brick manufacturer in Ireland, we are continually developing new brick types using the latest technology and manufacturing equipment.

All of our clay is extracted locally once a year from four nearby reserves in County Tyrone and County Down.

Sustainability of building materials is becoming increasingly important for architects, specifiers and end users. With our impact on the environment, both our emissions into the atmosphere and the effects on the areas around our clay pits and factories, always on our minds, we have been investing heavily in ways to further reduce our carbon footprint.

A wide range of brick types are produced, with stocks of all the popular types being available. We also have a dedicated facility for the production of special shape bricks. Our flexible production process means we can offer shorter lead times on purpose-made special shapes. Frequent call-off special shapes are held in stock.

Bricks can be collected from our premises or delivered to destinations in GB and Ireland. Our sales teams operate across Ireland and Scotland and we have dedicated brick agents in the NE and Greater Manchester areas of England.