Workmen at Buccleuch Brickworks, Sanquhar

This photograph shows a group of workmen standing in front of a row of brick kilns at Buccleuch Brickworks.   The old place name of Bricklands tells us that brick making was a local trade in the Sanquhar area. In 1885 Matthew McIver opened the Buccleuch Brickworks on the site of the ancient brickfields. He was an early conservationist, inventing a system of drying bricks using exhaust steam from his factory engines. The Buccleuch, a fine quality terra cotta facing brick is often found on local buildings.