Blakemar Briars

Blakemar Briars is a small workshop founded in the Northamptonshire countryside of central England, making handmade briar pipes within the same family line for over a century. Its name comes from the merging of Blakesley, the village where the trade began, and Martin, the founding family's surname. Working today from the village of Litchborough, the workshop is known not for the large factory brands of English pipemaking but for a craft tradition sustained at bench scale.

Founding and the Martin Generations

The founder Thomas Martin's entry into the trade dates back to the early 1880s. He spent a five-year apprenticeship in London's Soho district under a craftsman named John Friedrich; the trade he learned there was not briar but meerschaum carving. His introduction to briar came at his next stop, the workshop of Loewe & Co. This was a period before the Dunhill brand had even been founded, when London pipemaking was still shaped by the Loewe generation. According to records, Martin returned to his home village after helping his employer with an exhibition stand that won a gold medal; the first Martin workshop opened there in 1890.

The business passed to his son Richard (Dick) Martin. When a larger building became available, production moved in 1961 to the neighbouring village of Litchborough. Dick Martin's era was also when the workshop's machinery was modernised: foot-powered lathes and long belt drives gave way to electric power. Dick Martin died in January 2003 at the age of eighty-four; records indicate he continued visiting the workshop until his final years.

The Third Generation and Today's Production

Since Dick Martin had no son, the line continued through a nephew: he passed the trade to Michael Billington. Billington joined the workshop in 1970 and took over at the current address in 1986. In this way the brand, though it no longer bears the founding surname, reached a third generation within the same family line.

The essence of the work has not changed in this period: bowls are carved one by one from briar blocks, mouthpieces are shaped by hand, and classic English shapes — chief among them the billiard family — form the backbone of the range. What has changed are the details around this backbone: new models have been added to the shape list, an option for the 9 mm filter common in continental Europe has been introduced, and the workshop's presence has moved online. Within the community, this approach is described as measured, step-by-step renewal rather than chasing shape fashions.

Known Smokers

Among the workshop's most frequently mentioned regular customers is pilot Douglas Bader, who served in the Battle of Britain during the Second World War. According to accounts, Bader's preference was a small-sized billiard with a short saddle mouthpiece. This connection is one of the details that carried the workshop's name beyond craft circles.

Records indicate Blakemar Briars is one of the few traditional English pipe workshops still working at its bench in Litchborough. The brand is counted among the examples that carry forward what English pipemaking looked like before it shifted to factory scale.