This machine-made brick was recovered recently from an excavation in South Yorkshire. It’s from the Attercliffe Brick Company, which was in operation near Sheffield in the early 20th century. Machine-made stamped bricks are incredibly common; with the advent of the industrial revolution, thousands could be produced in a day, and improvements in transportation meant they could profitably be distributed over long distances. Industrial-scale brickmaking evolved naturally alongside intensive mining and quarrying as those activities revealed clay sources while delving into the ground. Some mines and quarries developed their own brickworks, while others were independent but nearby as with the Attercliffe Brick Company.