History of Brough

The small village of Brough is an ancient place dating back to at least Roman times. In Roman Britain Brough was called Peturia and was a major staging post on the Roman road. This was a crossing place for the River Humber. People can see superb examples of Roman mosaic floors found at Brough in the local Hull museums. Brough’s historical links include a local Inn which was once home to Dick Turpin the famous highwayman. The small village was to change forever when Robert Blackburn decided to use the flat land next to the river banks.

 Sir Robert Blackburn started the Blackburn Company in the year 1914 but it soon became clear that the company needed new premises to design, build and fly its aeroplanes. The search began which eventually and luckily led to the development of a new factory at Brough

The area of around Brough had good  road and rail links for supplies of materials as well as suitable flat land. Sir Robert Blackburn chose this site in the year 1916 because the site was situated on the banks of the river Humber.

The company merged with General Aircraft in the year1948 and became part of the huge Hawker Siddeley Group in 1960.

An example of the type of mosaic found at Brough