I remember it so well, all the surrounding trees were dead !! and all those AECs parked, it was a sea of red and apparently a great job working for a good company. Hard work though I bet? Although they had got a few ‘Selfstak’ lorries a lot of the work still involved hand balling, I remember LBC gave the drivers leather pads for their hands?..each layer of bricks had a layer of straw between them and tipping was done one side at a time. Alot of the workers at London Brick were Italian, many of them were ex POWs who decided to stay here after the war. Bedford still has a huge population of Italians and very nice people they are too !! As for the fumes? it was a sorry man that didn’t make sure his window was closed on a hot summers day when passing the works !!
Does anyone remember when Junction 13 of the M1 was like this?
It must have been one of the most recognisable landmarks in England for Donkeys years, Now I’ts the home of 'Amazon UK ’ and other companies on what is now known as ‘Marston Gate’
Before it was closed in the early 1980’s London Brick Company were running around 200 lorries from this Ridgmont site alone with another 200 or more from the Stewartby works just down the road, which will also be closing at the end of February 
You could smell the Sulpher from the Chimneys miles before and miles after the Junction 
nice pic of the era.dont remember the junc like that,but am a youngish one!
loaded further down,think it was stewartby,must be a good 7yrs ago,seemed like it was nearly shut then!,but i do remember that smell!
I remember those brickworks Lemonmouth and the smell.It was the same aroma south of Peterborough at London Brick,Yaxley.
I remember trucking down the M1 in my Mk2 Atki in the early '70’s and thinking my fan belts must be slipping!Didn’t twig on until next time down,same place,same smell, then the penny dropped.
Is that stewartby in that photo? because it is still going but is closing soon its just up the road from me I don’t remember there being another site at junc 13 though.
edit Der should have read that a bit more its ridgemont not stewartby 
I remember Jct 13 cos that was the way we used to go to Ipswich / Felixstowe etc. in the 70,s cos you used to come off at the brickworks and through / round Bedford (if the memory serves me well) and over to Huntingdon then on a short stretch of the old A1 to St. Neots and on to what is now the A14 which was the same then as it is now (a dual carriageway)! 
I can,t remember if we went through St. Neots and Huntingdon or by-passed them as some would say happy days
Swordtail… Stewartby works is about 3 miles away along what is now the A421 towards Bedford, The Brickworks in the picture is of the Ridgmont works and as you can see it was taken from the M1 Bridge at J13 I think about 1978 ish
It was particularly bad when it was foggy…you would be ‘eating’ the fumes as well as smelling them.
lemonmouth:
Swordtail… Stewartby works is about 3 miles away along what is now the A421 towards Bedford, The Brickworks in the picture is of the Ridgmont works and as you can see it was taken from the M1 Bridge at J13 I think about 1978 ish
I am only about 3 miles from stewartby myself brain was not engaged yesterday forgot all about Ridgemont 
Wow, thats interesting seeing as they changing the scenery there AGAIN!
Built that new bridge there to replace the railway crossing now aint they?
NEJ:
I remember Jct 13 cos that was the way we used to go to Ipswich / Felixstowe etc. in the 70,s cos you used to come off at the brickworks and through / round Bedford (if the memory serves me well)I can,t remember if we went through St. Neots and Huntingdon or by-passed them as some would say happy days
I know youre a bit farther back than me in the 70’s, but I do know when I was going to Felix in the early 80’s we still went through St Neots, but I seem to remember Huntingdon was allready bypassed by then.
My mate went the way you went, I allways got off the 2nd Northampton becaus the motorway bored the knackers off me, and went 428 throught the villages and over the thin bridge, via Bedford ect, do you remember when the scrapers were running alongside the old road into the dock building the dual carriageway?
Can rember Jun 13 well one Saturday after doing a Camerslang all nighter Friday night with my late father the Mandator broke down somewere north of brum got the log book out for a lift
we got a lift from brum to the blue boar in some thing (sorry cant remember what) then one of london bricks picked us up took us into the yard from there got sorted within their transport office got another lift from there to watford town cntr in a New VolvoF86 brick lorry thought it was the dogs. 
Can you imagaine that happening today.
The transport office sorting out A lift for another driver and his son,
As for the Mandator Frankie boy never when back to work for that company was only doing a flyer that night anyway. 