Stewartby

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 52.0691
longitude= -0.5139
official_name= Stewartby
population = 1,212 [cite web | publisher=Office for National Statistics | url=http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=791975&c=Stewartby&d=16&e=15&g=423614&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1202728867562&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779 | title=Neighbourhood Statistics - Stewartby (CP) Parish | accessdate=2008-02-11]
shire_district= Bedford
shire_county = Bedfordshire
region= East of England
constituency_westminster= Mid Bedfordshire
post_town= Bedford
postcode_district= MK43
postcode_area=MK
dial_code= 01234
os_grid_reference= TL020423

Stewartby is a model village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, originally built for the workers in of The London Brick Company. It was a later, more modern and much improved development than such better-known Victorian model villages as Saltaire.

Started in 1926, Stewartby is also a later model village than Woodlands which was first planned in 1905.

The town takes its name from the Stewart family, whose famous son Sir Malcolm Stewart who brought the London Brick Company in the town in the 1920s. The site is due to close in 2008 as the owners, Hanson, cannot meet UK limits for sulphur dioxide emissions. [cite web | publisher=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7117930.stm | title=Brickworks closure axes 200 jobs | accessdate=2008-02-11] The four chimneys remaining were due to be demolished upon closure but these have since been listed for preservation of Bedfordshire's brick-related history. and will remain. [cite web | publisher=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/7180873.stm | title=Listing saves brickworks chimneys | accessdate=2008-02-11]

Stewartby brickworks was home to the world’s biggest kiln and produced 18 million bricks at the height of production.

BJ Forder & Son opened the first brickworks in Wootton Pillinge in 1897.

Wootton Pillinge was renamed Stewartby in 1937 in recognition of the Stewart family who had been instrumental in developing the brickworks.

The firm became London Brick Company and Forders Limited in 1926, and shortened to London Brick Company in 1936.

At the height of the industry’s production there were 167 (one hundred and sixty seven!) brick chimneys in the Marston Vale.

In the 1970s Bedfordshire produced 20% of England’s bricks.

At its peak London Brick Company had its own ambulance and fire crews, a horticultural department and a photographic department, as well as its own swimming pool inside the factory, and ran a number of sports clubs.

More than £1 million was spent on Stewartby Brickworks in 2005-7 in an attempt to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions.

The factory used Lower Oxford Clay, which is made up of 5% seaweed, formed 150 million years ago when it was on the sea bed. This removed the need to add coal to the fire, as the organic material burned. It also in the past was a prison for dirty old men.

Stewartby has a railway station on the Marston Vale Line.

The village is the planned location for the proposed National institute for research into aquatic habitats, to be the world's largest aquarium, and would deal primarily in fresh water life.

Stewartby has been home to Stewartby Village Football Club since 1999. Their most famous player is Tom Wheelhouse.

See also

* Stewartby railway station
* Woodlands Model Village
* Port Sunlight

References

External links

* [http://85.12.98.34/BedsCC/xnoteslink/SDimr4.nsf/Web/ThePage/PP-Stewartby 2001 Census - Parish Profile for Stewartby]
* [http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/marston-brickies00/website/modelvillage/villagehistory.html Village website]
* [http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/CommunityArchives/Stewartby/StewartbyIndexOfPages.aspx Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service: Stewartby pages]