Belmont and Lowe , solicitors

As in Hayes the first industry to make its appearance in Norwood was brick-making. As early as 1697 a London tiler and bricklayer, Robert Browne, had bought 3 acres in Bulls Bridge Field, Hayes, and in South Field, Norwood. That the brick-making industry grew in the 19th century was due to the opening of the Grand Junction Canal in 1796 and of the Paddington Canal five years later. The industry was slightly later in developing in Norwood than in Hayes and in 1821 there was only one small brick-field near Wolf Bridge. In 1826 John Nash, the architect and builder, was licensed by Lord Jersey to dig brickearth in East Field, and apparently he also made his bricks in Norwood. These are said to have been too rough and uneven for anything but thick walls. Nash supplied a great number of bricks for Buckingham Palace and may have sent some from Norwood.

In 1859 a Holborn builder developed a 14-acre brick-field in Norwood, paying Lord Jersey a royalty of 1shilling 6 pence on every thousand bricks over 2,666,666 a year. He also erected labourers' cottages on the site and built a dock on the canal. In the 1860s the St. John's parochial school at Southall Green drew most of its pupils from the brick-makers. The school numbers fluctuated, which may indicate a rapid turn-over of labour, and the speedy working-out of the brickfields.

The Southall Brick Co. was in existence by 1874 and three other brick-making firms were centred on the Green in Southall. At the end of the 19th century a 28-acre brick-field was opened in North Road, Southall, by Thomas Watson and between 1899 and 1901 this produced well over 2 million bricks a year. A site for a brick-field in Havelock Road was advertised for sale in 1903, and a brick-field behind Tudor Road was causing such smells in 1906 that there were complaints at a council meeting. A new brick-field in North Road was let as late as 1910 at 2s. a thousand bricks, and the East Acton Brick Co. held property at least until 1926. In the late 19th century some gravel was also extracted.

From: 'Norwood, including Southall: Economic and social history', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 45-48.