Felbridge & District History Group

Brick, Block and Tile making in Felbridge and the local area

This document has been written to try and identify local brick, block and tile making enterprises used in the construction of some of the structures that have been built in Felbridge.  It includes the geological conditions required for brick, block and tile making followed by identified sites in the local area from the Roman period, and the development of brickmaking in the local area up until the turn of the 20^th century, including manufacture.  The document will also cover brick, block and tile makers of Felbridge and their yards, with examples of the use of bricks and tiles found in the Felbridge area.  Finally, the appendix will include a glossary of brickmaking terms, a gazetteer of the brick, block and tile making sites in the Felbridge area; the names of brick, block and tile makers identified during researching documents; and finally, selected examples of brick, block and tile structures found in Felbridge, both still standing and lost.

Geological Factors

Felbridge and its surrounding area spans the counties of Sussex and Surrey within the Weald, which has a great variety of sedimentary rocks, including clays, shales, ironstone, silts and sandstone, as well as chalk and harder limestone.  All the sediments were deposited by rivers or by the sea in horizontal layers or beds, one on top of each other when the area was a brackish lagoon during the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods.  Subsequent earth movements have folded the beds and created faults.  Felbridge and the surrounding area straddle a giant up-fold known as the Wealden Anticline, whose central axle crosses the Weald in an east-west direction. 

The Wealden Anticline resulted in an uplift of about 180m (590ft) that began about 70-75 million years ago and continued through the Cretaceous and the beginning of the early Tertiary period, with a renewed uplift in the middle of the Tertiary period.  This was followed by erosion that stripped away much of the crest of the anticline and its subsidiary folds, exposing various beds as a series of east-west outcrops, the consequence of which means that almost anywhere in the Wealden area, except for the tops of the chalk Downs, material suitable for brickmaking can be found under a shallow layer of topsoil.  The geological formations exploited for brickmaking are the product of the weathering of harder rocks that were first eroded and then re-deposited as sediment.  Their main constituent part is quartz in the form of sand or silt that gives the material strength, plus clay minerals, complex aluminium silicates that consist of very fine particles that cling together when moist and give the material its plasticity.  Also present are small quantities of other minerals, which in the Felbridge area includes iron, which gives the bricks their red colouration or, where there is a concentration of iron-rich sandy particles in the body of the clay, it can appear as black patches when fired.

Using geological maps, most of the area that lies within Sussex sits on beds of Tunbridge Wells Sand, Ashdown Beds and Wadhurst Clay (in ascending area), whilst the area on the Surrey side of the boundary sits on beds of Weald Clay above Hastings Beds.  Tunbridge Wells Sand, Ashdown Beds and Wadhurst Clay are collectively known as the Hastings Beds, and are predominately flood-plain deposits laid down by rivers.  Next in the sedimentary sequence are the shales and clays of the Weald Clay Beds, forming a broad belt of lowland around the outcrop of the Hastings Beds.  Within the Weald Clay Beds are also layers of flaggy stone, known as Horsham Stone, used for roofing in the local area.  Like the Hastings Beds, the Weald Clay Beds appears to have been deposited by rivers inundating a vast low-lying flood plain.  Within the Hastings Beds, which form the High Weald, can be found the oldest geological formation, which has been exploited for brickmaking and consists of a series of deposits of clays and sands, often close together.  The lowest of these, the Ashdown Sand, is an ideal brickmaking material, whilst Wadhurst Clay that lies immediately above is suitable for tile making, and the highest layer, the Tunbridge Wells Sand, provides sand for the moulding process. 

In the local vicinity, brick/tile making sites circle the Felbridge area stretching from the Surrey side of the border with 3 sites around Lagham to the north, 2 in Crowhurst on the northeast, with a cluster of 5 in the Lingfield area, plus 1 at Felcourt Heath, with 4 in the Wilderwick area to the east before entering East Sussex where we find at least 7 more, one being of Roman origin.  To the southeast there are at least 6 sites in the area of East Grinstead in West Sussex and due south there is 1 site at Gullege, with 2 outlying sites further south at Freshfield and West Hoathly.  To the southwest of Felbridge there are 5 sites in Crawley Down and 3 in Turners Hill.  Then swinging round to the northwest, there are 3 in Burstow and 2 in Horne, not to mention one potential site on Hedgecourt Common in the heart of Felbridge itself.  These are just the sites that have been identified during researching this document and are probably not the only sites.

Early Brick & Tile Making in the Local Area

Bricks and tiles were first made in the area during the Roman period who exploited the rich resources of clay and fuel of the Wealden area.  With regards to clay, as established above, there is a wide range of types suitable for many different products and with regards to fuel, wood was in plentiful supply.  Wood was the preferred fuel for firing brick and tile kilns and even after the introduction of coal, many Wealden brick kilns were still fuelled by wood well into the 20^th century.  It is a misconception that local brickyards were in competition with iron working in the Wealden area as the smelting of iron was fuelled by charcoal made from cord wood whilst brick and tile making preferred lopped and topped branches, underwood and furze, which was bundled together to form faggots.  However, as brick production rose many brickmakers began to run short of fuel resorting to coppiced wood that was grown specifically for the purpose.

Early brick and tile making leave little evidence in the landscape except for possibly a few brick/tile fragments and patches of burnt earth, materials that have often been overlooked or neglected in the past.  Potentially the only circumstantial evidence for early brick and tile making can be found in place/field names, if they have lasted the test of time, such as ‘Brick House’, ‘Kiln House’ ‘Clay Pit/Pits Farm’, ‘Claise Croft’, ‘Clayland[s]’, ‘Brick Field’, ‘Brick Kiln Mead’ and ‘Brick Kiln Field’.  However, annoyingly the old maps of Horne do not list field names!  Sometimes maps do, however, give an indication of the presence of brickmaking (past or current) with the word ‘Kiln’ that can denote the presence of brickmaking (although it may also refer to a lime kiln), or ‘Brickfield’ generally used for small scale brickmaking using traditional intermittent kilns (see below) or ‘Clamps’ (see below), or ‘Brickyard’ denoting a more permanent site potentially still using an intermittent kiln or clamp, or ‘Brickworks’ generally used for larger or more mechanised brickmaking using permanent or continuous fired kilns.  

Roman bricks and tiles were made of fine textures, high-alumina clay, both widely available in the Wealden areas of Surrey and Sussex.  However, the brick looked quite different to later bricks, generally being 500mm long by 300mm wide and no more than 40mm thick.  It is believed that they were moulded flat by laying out the clay that had been mixed to the correct consistency with water and then spread as evenly as possible on a levelled piece of ground that had previously been sanded.  The clay was then cut into rectangular pieces and left to dry until hard enough to be turned to ensure all-round equal drying before being lifted and carried to the kiln for firing.  Roofing tiles were more precisely moulded, probably using wooden moulds, and resembled those still seen in Mediterranean countries today.  A flat tile with flanged edges alternated with a half-round tile creating ridges and gullies to allow the rain to run off, much like modern pantiles.  Much of the early Roman brick and tile making, like that of road construction, is thought to have been carried out by the military.   

A tile kiln of Roman origin has been found near Ashurst Wood, Sussex, at Great Cansiron Farm at TQ 4560 3835, and a Roman kiln has been found at Reigate, Surrey, at Rosehill TQ 266 506 (www.surreyarchaeology.org.uk/content/rosehill-reigate).  After broken pieces of tile and burnt earth were found in a ploughed field at Great Cansiron Farm, a full excavation of the site was carried, the results published by David Rudling in 1986 (The Excavation of a Roman Tilery on Great Cansiron Farm, Hartfield, East Sussex by David R Rudling).  The Sussex site lay to the west of the Lewes to London Roman road and is believed to have been associated with the local iron working.  The Cansiron kiln was built into sloping ground, much like later lime kilns (Handout, Lime Kilns & Burning in Felbridge, SJC 01/01).  There was a stoke hole at the lowest level and a firing tunnel leading into the combustion chamber that had been hollowed out of the bank of earth.  As a point of interest, the kiln showed remarkable similarities to those used by brick and tile makers in the Wealden area up until at least the late 19^th century, and in some cases, into the 20^th century (Brickmaking in Sussex A History and Gazetteer by M Beswick).  The kiln at Rosehill was excavated in 2004 after evidence of tile production had previously been found in the area.  The surviving remains consisted of a rectangular up-draught structure, including stokehole, fire tunnel, combustion chamber and drainage system and an archaeomagnetic date revealed that the kiln had last been fired between 90-120AD, although pottery found on the site dated to the second half of the 2^nd century.

No Roman tile making sites have been found in Felbridge but it is known that Roman iron working was carried out along the southern banks of Felbridge Water and local clay would have been used to build their bloomeries for smelting the iron ore (Handouts, Roman Legacy of Felbridge, SJC 11/01 & Underfoot in Felbridge, Pt. 3, Pre-conquest, JIC/SJC 07/22).  Also, a piece of potential Roman roof tile has been found in Heathy Field, at Imberhorne Farm, near one of the locations close to where Roman iron working was carried out (Handout, Underfoot in Felbridge, Pt. 3, Pre-Conquest, JIC/SJC 07/22).   

After the end of Roman occupation, the ensuing Saxons built in their own tradition using timber, which was in plentiful supply in Wealden area of Surrey and Sussex.  As a result, the knowledge of brick and tile production disappeared and it was not until the 12^th century that there was a re-introduction of tiles as monastic institutions became established, although the tiles used were generally imported from France.  In the middle of the 13^th century tileries, producing both floor and roof tiles, began to re-appear in this country, the first being on land belonging to Battle Abbey.  Unlike the Roman roof tiles, medieval roof tiles were flat and oblong, much like the plain roof tiles used today.  With regards to bricks, they were being used from as early as the 14^th century but the first building to be constructed wholly of the brick was Herstmonceux Castle in the 1440’s, using expert craftsmen from the Low Countries.  When tile and brick making became established trades in this country, it was carried-out by itinerant workers who travelled to the site, performing all the tasks required in the production of bricks/tiles, from digging the clay, firing the product and laying the finished bricks or tiles.  When the job was finished, they simply packed up and moved on to the next job.

There is currently no firm evidence of brick or tile making in Felbridge or the local area during the mediaeval period, except a potential pottery/brick/tile kiln that was found to the east of what is now Rowplatt Lane near to the junction with Copthorne Road, discovered by Ivan Margary in the 1940’s who declared it to be of medieval origin (see below).  However, glazed floor tiles have been found at two locations, one on the moated site of Warley (near Ascotts off Crawley Down Road) and the other in Heathy Field, Imberhorne Farm, south of the moated site.  Fragments and one whole glazed floor tile have been found on the moated site of Warley.  These early tiles are glazed with a yellowy green glaze, with dark browny/black flecks, although, in many cases, much of the surface glaze has been worn away; authenticated by the Sussex Archaeological Society as dating to the 11^th-13^th century (Handout, Underfoot in Felbridge, Pt. 3, Pre-Conquest, JIC/SJC 07/22).  Later fragments of decorated glazed floor tiles and one complete decorated floor tile have also been found on the site, authenticated by the Sussex Archaeological Society as dating to the 13^th-14^th century.  The fragments of decorated glazed floor tiles found in Heathy Field are similar to those found on the moated site and  have been dated to the 13^th-14^th century, indicating a second potential high status building (Handouts, Tithing of Warley, JIC 05/17 & Archaeology of Imberhorne JIC 09/08).

By the mid 1500’s, apart from military, ecclesiastical and high status domestic use, bricks began to find industrial applications, particularly with the Wealden iron industry.  Charcoal fired blast furnaces were initially constructed in stone that needed a clay lining to withstand the high temperatures reached during the smelting process.  Initially puddled clay was used but with the burgeoning brickmaking industry of the area, Wealden ironmasters began to employ brickmakers to make bricks for furnace linings.  At the same time, tiles began to replace the thatched roofs of associated furnace buildings.  The earliest accounts for using bricks to line a blast furnace can be found in 1546 at the furnace at SheffieldPark in Sussex, so it is not unreasonable to think that the blast furnace that was located in what is now Furnace Wood was also brick-lined when built in about 1567.  Field names incorporating words like brick/clay/kiln can often give an idea of where these bricks were made but unfortunately there are no such surviving field names in the vicinity of the site of the blast furnace in Furnace Wood.

With the establishment of the Wealden iron industry came an increase in local prosperity, which in turn led to a wave of house-building/modernisation, many buildings incorporating the use of brick and tile.  Brick was initially used for inserted chimneystacks as can been seen locally at Gullege, Hophurst, Lowlands, Gatehouse and Heath Hatch (now the Star Inn), as hearth bases and as replacement infill for wattle and daub between the old wooden framing, particularly at lower level, whilst paviours replaced the compacted earth floors.  Tile was initially used as roofing to replace thatch and later as hanging tiles for the first floor to aide with weather-proofing.  The bricks and tiles needed for these building operations were still generally made near by, using itinerant brickmakers.  Once the job had been completed, the clamp/kiln was dismantled and often the only evidence left would have been patches of burnt earth, fragments of brick wasters, as can be seen in Brick Field at Gullege (see below), broken pieces of tile or pits, which eventually formed ponds, from where the clay had been dug, as can be seen in Brick Field Wood at Gullege (see below).  However, towards the end of the 1500’s, due to the increased use of brick and tile as a building material in the Weald, brickmakers found it worthwhile to establish permanent brickfields/brickyards.

Early brickfields/brickyards tended to be located on waste land on the edge of a common, much like the potential kiln on Hedgecourt Common located off what is now known as Rowplatt Lane (see above and below).  These sites often had poor soil and the clay needed by the brickmaker lay close to the surface.  There would also have been a local supply of brushwood/furze to make faggots for firing a kiln.  An example for this type of brickfield/brickyard is referred to in the Buckhurst Terrier of 1598, which records that in 1590 the copyhold of a 1-acre clay pit in the manor of Imberhorne was held by John Goodwin and in 1597, Francis Underell held the copyhold Picknetts Field (see below) of the manor of Imberhorne which was on East Grinstead Common. Some brickmakers chanced their luck and there are several manorial records for the Borough of East Grinstead that record fines issued for illegal or un-licensed practises on the common with regards to brickmaking.  One of the earliest entries was in 1670 when John Butching senior, was fined 10s for ‘unlawfully digging earth and clay for bricks and tiles from the waste’ of East Grinstead Common (Court Rolls, KHLC & Brickmaking Addendum, EG Bulletin 44). 

In 1679, a survey was carried out by the steward of the Borough of East Grinstead in which it was recorded that John Matthew had built a ‘Brick kiln upon the common [East Grinstead] and an inclosure thereto and making several Earth pitts there’.  The brick kiln operated by John Matthew would have been an intermittent kiln (see below).  The outcome of those who appear on the Steward’s list is not known but it was likely that it would lead to individual fines (Steward’s Papers for the Borough of East Grinstead, U269 E180, KHLC).  However, despite the fines, the problem of illicit clay digging does not seem to have abated implying that brickmaking must have been quite a profitable business as the early 1700’s saw several similar cases presented in the East Grinstead Borough records, despite an amnesty being offered:  

22^nd October 1723: ‘All those who dig the earth of the Lord’s common to make bricks or to carry it away for their use will in future be fined, all who have done it before this date are pardoned’.

10^th September 1724: Thomas Wallis and Francis Pollard for ‘digging earth for the making of bricks; Fine of 50s each if they do not fill up the holes’, and they are ‘not to dig anymore without consent or licence.  The Fine for the present offence is 6s 8d each’. 

19^th October 1727: Francis Pollard for ‘enclosing 1 rood of the waste or common without consent; Fined 12d for the current offence.  If he does not cease his unwarrantable acts he will be fined £10 immediately after the next court’.  Also, Francis Pollard for ‘erecting a hog pound on the waste of the borough without consent; Fined 12d.  Fined 20s after the next court if it has not been removed’.  Likewise that Francis Pollard has ‘dug and taken away very great quantities of brick and tyle earth from the waste without consent; fined £10 and if he continues until the next court he is fined £20’.  And that Francis Pollard ‘dug a deep hole or pit upon the common alongside the Highway, he is given until 30^th November next to fill the hole or be Fined 40s’.

19^th October 1727: Thomas Wallis who had ‘dug and taken away very great quantities of brick and tyle earth from the waste without consent; Fined £2 10s and if he continues until the next court then he is to be fined £20’ (All the above entries are from the East Grinstead Borough records, ADA 107, KHLC).

As a point of interest, by 1728 Francis Pollard appears to be complying with manorial court rules as on 9^th May 1728, we find a Counterpart Lease for 12 years between William Gage, bt. (of Hedgecourt manor) and Francis Pollard of East Grinstead, brickmaker, for: ‘All the spray of William Gages’s underwoods in Worth, Horne and Godstone upon every cutting made by Thomas Stanford for cordwood under a lease of 3^rd November 1727.  Francis Pollard to pay 3s for every hundred spray faggotts’ (SAS/G13/101, ESRO).  In this context, ‘spray’ means thin sticks or twiggy bits, ie: what remains after a tree has been processed to create a cord of wood – lops and tops, the fine twiggy bits.

As the 1700’s progressed, so more legitimate brickyards became established, most opting for the use of intermittent kiln firing.  The kilns were generally brick-built and either straight sided or domed with an open top, often built into a bank of earth, which provided some heat insulation and strength to the structure.  The kilns were fuelled by faggots of lopped and topped branches, brushwood or furze.  After stacking the ‘green’ (unfired) bricks into the kiln it had to be brought slowly up to temperature to reduce the possibility of the bricks exploding.  Once firing temperature had been reached these early kilns needed a period of time to cool down before the fired bricks could be removed and the next batch of bricks could be set before firing could commence again.  When kilns of this type went out of use, the bricks from which they were constructed were removed for use elsewhere so, like a clamp, they left little evidence of their existence. 

Brickmakers seldom served an apprenticeship, their trade passed from one generation to the next through hands-on experience.  This meant that sons of established brickmakers learnt their trade from an early age and either continued working with the older generations of their family at the brickyard or branched out and established their own.  The result of this is that certain family names became dominant in the brickmaking trade of the local area, eg: Divall at Newbridge near Hartfield (see below), Forest Row and later Crawley Down, Terry at Rowfant (see below) and Tandridge, Norman of East Grinstead, Chailey and Keymer (see below), Simmons of Frith Park, East Grinstead, Waters of Shovelstrode (see below), East Grinstead Common and Durkins in East Grinstead and Wells of Turners Hill, Rowfant and Crawley Down (see below).  It was also not unusual for a brickyard to be run by the widow of a brickmaker after his death, they too often making bricks as with Emma Wallis of Lingfield (see below). 

One of the earliest suggested brickfield/brickyard sites close to Felbridge was located in the vicinity of Moat Farm in East Grinstead in 1776, its site inferred by a map reference to ‘Brick Kiln Mead’ situated in what is today known as St. Agnes Road, to the rear of the Aldi store, northwest of Moat Road (1873 OS map) at TQ 390 387.  The site appears on a map of 1820 and in 1861 the site is recorded as Kiln Field, but in 1882 the site appears as ‘formerly Kiln Field’.  As a point of interest, it is believed that the pond now known as Moat Pond near King George’s Playing Field, was almost certainly created as the result of digging for brick earth for the brickmaking operation at Moat Farm (Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27 & Bricks in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 30 & Moat Pond, EG Bulletin 50).  Earlier brick/tile making yards in the local area are known but their locations have not yet been identified.  For example, a clay roof tile was found that was inscribed with ‘William Best, 1731’ when Queensborough Caste at Forest Row was demolished in 1927 (Brickmaking Addendum, EG Bulletin 61) and there was a floor tile in the mansion house at Felbridge Park that was inscribed ‘William Barnes, July 1763’ (Felbridge Place Sale Catalogue, 1911, FHA).

By the turn of the 19^th century it is known that there were several brickyards on the southeast/south side of East Grinstead, such Wilderwick near Dormansland, Shovelstrode near Ashurst Wood and Newbridge near Hartfield, all used in the construction of Imberhorne Farmhouse and Farm complex (see below).   As established above there was also a brickyard in the vicinity of what was Moat Farm and the one at Picknotts Croft (see above) was still in operation just east of what is today Park Road (see below).  In 1811, Robert Norman also had a brickyard (Census entry - Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27) and potentially as early as 1803, possibly in the vicinity of what was then Killick’s Farm, now the site of three bungalows on the west side of Park Road.  The census records that Mr [Robert] Norman was the head of a household living in a dual occupancy dwelling, the other head of household being a [stone] mason called Thomas Simmans.  From the position in the run of properties in the census, the dwelling is eight entries south of what was Harts Hall (now Felbridge Close) off the Copthorne Road, Felbridge.  Unfortunately, Robert Norman does not appear in 1821 census and no further information is known about him, although by 1828 a William and Richard Norman had established a brickmaking facility at Chailey in Sussex and shortly after this date members of the same family established a brickmaking facility at Keymer in Sussex (Brick Making in Sussex, A History & Gazetteer by M Beswick).

As the 19^th century progressed so more brickmakers can be found living and operating around the surrounding area of Felbridge, some advertising their trade in Trade Directories, others picked up in the census records, but in most cases it is not known exactly where they plied their trade.  Other factors to take into consideration are that early brickmaking was seasonal, thus most early brickmakers had a second occupation and in census returns some brickmakers gave their occupation as a labourer and not specifically a brickmaker, plus early brickmakers also laid bricks and it is known that some who are listed as bricklayers were also brickmakers.  Occupations that complemented brickmaking include farming as brick earth was dug in the autumn and left in a heap in the yard to weather over winter, whereby the wind, rain and frost would temper the clay making it easier to use for brickmaking when the process started in spring.  Burning in an intermittent kiln took place anytime from midsummer until the frosts of autumn, ending the brickmaking season before repeating the new season from winter.  For farmers, brickmaking could be easily fitted in and around their seasonal farming practise, there was generally a piece of suitable land on their farm to use as a brickfield and farm labourers could double as brickmakers as required, under the direction of a foreman.  Other occupations that were often paired with brickmakers include: lime burners, firstly for their knowledge of kiln use and secondly their production of quick lime that was used in the mortar used in bricklaying; ale house/inn keepers who could provide hydration; coal merchants, as brickmakers generally had strong sturdy wagons/carts suitable for transporting heavy loads; and undertakers, again for the use of their wagons/carts.

Until the middle of the 19^th century the building trade relied on relatively small brickyards to supply the brick and tile needed but with increasing demand, brickyards expanded to meet the need.  This can be borne out by the number of brickmakers advertising in the local Trade Directories and the occupations given in census returns.  In 1839/40 there was just two brickmakers advertising in the area around Felbridge and the 1841 census records just three ‘brickmakers’, although there are seven ‘bricklayer’s recorded, remembering that some of the bricklayers could also be brickmakers. 

Alongside the demand for brick and tile in the building industry, another major factor that increased demand was the introduction of the railway.  This was two fold, firstly huge numbers of bricks were required for the building of bridges, viaducts and tunnels and secondly, once the railway had arrived, the railway network allowed for easier transportation of raw materials for brick and tile making and/or for the finished bricks and tiles to travel further than the local area.  Initially the railway companies bought bricks from brickmakers in the vicinity of the proposed railway line, as was the case at Commerell’s brickyard at Crawley Down, run by John Riddle, who had previously worked at the West Hoathly brickyard in 1848.  In 1853, Commerell’s brickyard was located in the vicinity of what is today the site of the Royal Oak in Crawley Down, to the west of Felbridge.  Commerell claimed £2,260 from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company (LB&SCR) for 300,000 bricks, materials and equipment.  However, the railway company had only anticipated spending just over £3,000 on land purchases for the whole line; as such the sum claimed was considerably beyond what they were prepared to pay.  Eventually a payment of £300 was settled upon, on condition that they would construct a level crossing to link the severed parts of Commerell’s land in Crawley Down (Crawley Down Brickmaking by J Hodgkinson).  The line was opened in 1866 and at the Rowfant brickyard further west along the line, a dedicated siding had also been negotiated with the railway company to serve that brickyard.

However, by the time that the East Grinstead to Lewes line was being built, the LB&SCR was buying sites along the line and employing their own brickmakers specifically to produce the bricks required (East Grinstead tithe amendment, 1870 and The London Brighton and South Coast Railway 3, Completion and Maturity by John Howard Turner); evidence for this activity can still be seen by LiDAR at Luxfords Farm in East Grinstead to this day.  Although it has not yet been able to establish who supplied the bricks, the Imberhorne Viaduct, now Grade II listed, to the southwest of East Grinstead town is a fine example of the large quantity of bricks that was being required by the LB&SCR to complete their lines.  Originally built to span the lands of Imberhorne Farm, the viaduct was designed by Frederick Banister, then chief engineer for the LB&SCR.  Construction started in 1880 and it opened in 1882, with ten brick arches spanning 210m (700ft) at a maximum height of 27m (90ft).  A feature of the viaduct is that the imposts are of stone on the face of the piers, but brick within the arches (https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk).

As demand grew, so mechanisation began to creep into hand-made brick production and by the middle of the 19^th century most brickyards had a horse-powered pug mill for mixing the clay before moulding, a job previously done by bare feet.  Another piece of machinery that was widely adopted was a machine for making drain-pipes. This machine extruded pugged clay through a die that produced ready shaped drain pipes, replacing the hand method of making two separately moulded parts – a flat tile that formed the sole and a half-moon drain-tile that was moulded flat and then bent into shape over a wooden form or horse, which was put on the top of the sole to contain and carry the water.  Charles Waters was one of the first to advertise as a ‘brick, tile and drainage pipe maker’ in the local area in 1862 (Post Office Directory).  The horse-powered pugmill was later steam-driven but most of the local brickyards retained horse-driven mills well into the 20^th century with the exception of Grange Road brickyard and Rowfant brickworks (see below) and Hackenden Brickworks in East Grinstead (Some Notes on Hackenden Brickyard by R H Wood, EG Bulletin 26).

Brickmaking in the Felbridge area appears to have peaked around 1900, which is borne out by the number of brickmakers adverting in the Trade Directories which had risen to five, including one brickyard owner from Felbridge – Harry Nickalls (see below), although his first advert did not appear until 1905.  However, there was a dramatic increase in the number of people employed as brickmakers in the local area that can be found in the 1901 census records.  These include 6 men (including Harry Nickalls) at his yard (see below), 31 men working in three Crawley Down brickyards, 5 men at Rowfant brickworks, 6 men working in the East Grinstead/East Grinstead Common area, 5 men working on the northern side of East Grinstead between East Grinstead and Lingfield and 1 woman and 5 men in the Lingfield area.

In 1900, the demand for brickmaking was high due to the increased demand from building projects of the previous decade.  However, the next ten years saw a marked decline as building projects were cut back, additionally with the railway system transporting bricks, local brickmakers faced competition from further afield.  Again the local Trade Directories back up the decline with just 3 brickmakers advertising their wares, one being Harry Nickalls (see below), and the census records show a marked decline in the number of brickmaker entries, with just 5 men working as brickmakers in Crawley Down.  However, the final factor that saw the demise of most of the local small, independent brickyards and, in some cases closure, was World War I.

Nationally, most brickyards/works closed for the duration of the World War I, partially due to the reduction of a labour force after compulsory conscription was introduced in 1915 and partly due to the requisition of the brickyards’ horses for the war effort.  As a point of interest, over a million horses were drafted into service from England alone, out of which only 62,000 returned.  In the Felbridge area, building-work did still continue during the war years, with the construction of several houses in Rowplatt Lane from 1913, under the direction of Major Thomas Stewart Inglis as one example (Handout, Builders of Felbridge - W M Heselden & Sons, MH/JIC/SJC 09/17), thus there was still a demand for bricks, although it has not yet been established which brickyard supplied them.  At the end of the war, many brickyards did not re-open, were bought up or taken over to form larger enterprises much like Nickalls, Grange Road and Rowfant which were all acquired by George Wells (see below).  The next blow for small brickmaking was World War II.  Again, like World War I, much of the labour force was lost to war service; clamp burning or open-topped kilns had to stop firing to comply with ‘Blackout’ regulations as the glow could have provided a beacon for enemy aircraft; and house-building ceased, except for the construction of air-raid shelters, military buildings and repairs to bomb-damaged structures. 

Although post war saw an acute shortage of building materials and a great need to re-build bomb damage, most of the local brickyards did not re-open, only two in the local area appear to have recovered and started producing again, Hackenden, which closed in 1956 and Rowfant, which closed in 1965.

Brick & Tile Making, Process & Terminology

Inventories and maps can sometimes give a picture of a typical brickyard.  Buildings would consist of a tile house, a drying house, a sand house, a brick kiln or clamp ground and stables.  There would be moulding tables, wheel barrows and ‘hack’ or ‘bearing-off’ barrows, plus areas for unused raw materials including, sand, brick earth, clay and kiln faggots and finished products such as bricks, tiles, and drainage pipes (Brickmaking in Sussex, A History and Gazetteer by M Beswick).  The brickyard at Picknotts Croft had a ‘kiln, drying shed and hacks’ when put up for sale as part of the Cookham Farm (Cookham Farm and a Brick Yard Sale Catalogue, 1856),  and Hackenden had a clay hole, a ‘homic’ hole, 2 sand sheds and an area for plain sand, an engine shed that operated a pan, several drying hacks, a clamp ground, a brick store and a stable in the early 1900’s (Some Notes on Hackenden Brickyard by R H Wood, East Grinstead Bulletin, no.26).

Bricks and tiles were originally made by hand and although the practice still continues with a few specialty suppliers to this day, the production of most brick/tile products has now been mechanised.  This section will, however, concentrate on hand production as the majority of bricks produced in the area were made by hand, being either fired in an intermittent kiln, the method employed after the re-introduction of brick making in the mid to late 1400’s or a clamp, both methods introduced before mechanisation.  After the bricks had been formed they had to be fired.  As early brickmakers were itinerant workers, bricks were fired using an intermittent kiln (see below), much like the Romans had used, or clamp (see below), which used a similar process to that used for making charcoal.  When the firing process had been completed both the intermittent kiln and the clamp were dismantled, leaving little trace on the ground.  However, as the demand for bricks rose, so small permanent country brickyards were established, some still firing by intermittent kiln or clamp and some, after its introduction in the mid 19^th century, purpose-built continuous kilns that remained intact after unloading the bricks/tiles (Brickmaking in Sussex, A History and Gazetteer by M Beswick, Bricks and Brickmaking by Martin Hammond).  In the Felbridge area it would appear that most brickyards were still firing by intermittent kilns or clamp until their closure in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

The brickmaking process started by using a ‘grapht’ or spade to ‘encallow’ or remove the top soil off a strip of land roughly 90cm (36ins) wide and 18m (59ft) long.  The clay was then dug in layers 90cm (36ins) deep, between 1.6 cubic metres (2 cubic yards), this made between 1,000 and 1,100 bricks according to the density of the clay.  One man would dig enough clay in a day to make 8,000 bricks; this was known as ‘flat digging’.  The dug clay was then stacked in a ‘curf’ or mound, between 2m and 3m (6ft to 10ft) high and about 10m (33ft) in circumference.  The mound was covered with ash or coke ‘breeze’ and left to weather over winter, allowing the clay to breakdown and become more pliable.  However, during the late 19^th century, other areas of the southern counties, particularly those that supplied the London market, produced ‘washed bricks’ whereby the clay, having been dug, was washed in a ‘wash-mill’ (see below) to remove unwanted stones and was then stored until needed, under water, in a pond called a ‘wash-back’.  One such local brickmaking facility using this process was at Shipley Bridge (see below), and another, further a field, was at Kings Farm, east of Tilburstow Road in South Godstone (Lagham Park Historic Landscape Study, SHER).  

In spring the ‘curf’ was ‘under-mined’ or broken open with a long handled tool known as ‘clay hoe’ or ‘tomahawk’ and carted to the ‘hommic’ pit in ‘navvy’ barrows.   Here it was soaked in water over-night and in the morning, a man or boy, without boots, climbed to the top of the heap and started to ‘tread’ it, he was known as a ‘tread boy’, or the clay could be mixed by using a ‘turning iron’ that resembled a voided spade.  Treading/mixing continued until the clay formed a dough-like ‘pug’.  This process was later mechanised when horse driven pug or barrel mills were introduced.  Prior to the brick moulding process a moulding ‘table’, also known as a ‘berth’ or ‘stool’, was purchased or made and a shelter was erected over this, made of straw or hurdles.  At the beginning of the moulding process, the mixed pug was then transported to the moulding table.  The ‘hommicker’ or ‘pugger-up’ maintained a supply of pugged clay at the right-hand end of the table, which also had a heap of sand on the left and a ‘drip tub’ or tub of water at the back.  The heap of mixed ‘pug’ was then covered with grass, later sacks or tarpaulins, to keep moist.

Clay from the heap (or later, after mechanisation, clay that had been extruded from a mill) was cut by a ‘pug boy’ or ‘pugger up’ with a ‘longcuckle’ and placed on the ‘table’, which had been sanded.  A ‘wait’ or lump of clay was cut by the ‘flatter-in’ using a two-handled tool with a curved blade called a ‘cuckle’.  The clay was then knocked roughly into shape, slightly larger than the brick mould and sanded.  The ‘moulder’ then slapped it into the wetted and sanded mould that was fitted over the ‘stock’ fixed to the table and the surplus clay was removed with a ‘striker’, which was kept wet by the ‘drip tub’.  The mould containing the soft brick was then lifted off the ‘stock’ and the brick knocked out, transferred onto a wooden ‘pallet’ board and on to a ‘bearing-off’ or ‘hack’ barrow, a long flat barrow with a single front wheel that held between 30 and 36 bricks, in two rows.  Later barrows had springs to stop the soft brick ‘sqabbing’ or going out of shape.  This was the job of the ‘page’, usually a boy learning the trade.  Sand was then thrown onto the bricks at this point and the barrow of bricks was ‘off-beared’ or wheeled to the ‘hack’ or drying ground.  It has been said that by this method a ‘gang’ comprising of 6 (men, women and boys) could make 5,000 bricks in a 13 or 14 hour day or 1,200 by a single man. 

Whilst the bricks were being made, the ‘hack’ was being prepared, each ‘hack’ or drying platform consisting of earth 4m (13ft) apart.  Here the bricks were set out, edgeways on dry straw, fern or grass to assist drying and then covered with straw to protect them from the rain and heat whilst in the ‘hacks’; this job was generally done by the moulder’s mate.  Hurdles were used to stop rain on the sides, which were moved according to the direction of the wind.  Later wooden ‘caps’ or ‘loos’ were used.  A finished ‘hack’ would be between 1.8m and 3m (6ft and 10ft) high.  As soon as the bricks were sufficiently dry they were ‘skintled’ or placed in a herringbone arrangement to further aid the drying process, the spacing allowing air to pass freely between the bricks.  This job was generally done by the ‘crowders’ who took over from the moulders at this point.  It has been said that for bricks ‘skintled’ after 10^th September, the drying time increased by a month.  When the bricks were ready for firing, the ‘crowders’ transferred them to the kiln or clamp.   

Kiln Firing

The most common kiln used in the small brickyards of the local area, re-introduced in the late 1500’s, was the intermittent up-draught kiln, which were remarkably similar to the Romans kilns that have been discovered at Hartfield and Reigate (see above) and this style of kiln was used right up until the 20^th century in most local works.  Early up-draught kilns were usually a rectangular structure, partially constructed into a bank for temperature consistency and fuel efficiency.  The fire gases entered at the bottom of the chamber and rose up through the contents and out through the top.  Faggots of lopped and topped branches, brushwood and furze were used to fire these early up-draught kilns, the material generally collected near-by during the autumn months and stored to dry-out ready for the firing season.  Later, coppiced wood was used and, when it became viable and cost effective, coal.  Two ‘burners’, working in shifts, remained at the kiln for the duration of the firing period, much like charcoal burners. 

The intermittent kiln was not a permanent structure and had holes at each side that became tunnels as the kiln was filled with bricks, allowing the fire to build up intensity.  After the ‘green’ or unfired bricks had been stacked in the kiln, the top of the kiln was covered with un-burnt or over-burnt bricks or boards as weather protection.  After the fire had been set, the kiln was slowly brought up to the required firing temperature, the whole process taking between 5 and 8 days to fire.  Once firing had been completed, the kiln had to cool down before the bricks could be removed.

Another type of kiln was the Scotch kiln, introduced in the mid 17^th century, which evolved from clamps (see below).  These were simple, brick-built, open-topped chambers, set on level ground.  The Scotch kiln was rectangular in shape with a loading hatch at each end, with a row of low firing holes.  When the ‘green’ bricks had been set in the kiln, the fire was set, the hatches were sealed and a temporary cover was placed over the open top.  Coal, if available, could be used for firing and it took between 3 and 5 days to fire.  Although still an up-draught intermittent kiln, the main advantage of a Scotch kiln was the increased quantity of bricks that could be fired at one time in comparison to an early intermittent kiln and the quality of the brick was greater.

By the mid 1800’s the Hoffman Kiln, a continuous kiln that was kept permanently alight, was introduced.  This had two rows of chambers, parallel and connected together by openings; the firing moving from one chamber to the next in sequence.  Fuel was fed through holes in the roof, with chambers filled with and emptied of bricks as the fire passed, thus making the process continuous.  This kiln had a 10 day cycle of heating and cooling.

Clamp Burning

A clamp consisted of an open stack of ‘green’ or unfired bricks, built up in layers, with air spaces left between them.  The bricks themselves contained a proportion of fuel, such household refuse containing ashes from fires and ranges known as ‘breeze’, ‘scavenge’ or ‘town stuff’ (later boiler ash and smoke box ash from stream railway engines was also used), which had been incorporated with the brick earth before moulding.  Once the clamp was alight, the bricks then became self-burning.  The site of the clamp was covered with a bed ‘breeze’ and the ‘green’ bricks were carefully stacked, solid, directly on top.  Any number of bricks could form a clamp, from 500 to several thousand.  The clamp was then encased with either turf or clay, or under-burnt bricks from previous firings known as ‘casing’ and any apertures were filled with ‘soil’, ash that had been sieved through a 1cm (¼in) holed sieve.  The clamp was lit from both sides through a ‘wicket’ or doorway, and to speed up the process, a clamp could be lit before finishing the stacking.  It took 3-5 weeks to complete the firing of the bricks and the clamp had to reach 1,100°C or a little more if there was any moisture.  However, this caused the bricks to distort giving rise to the terms ‘navvies’, ‘boots’ or ‘bananas’.  The bricks laid on the ‘breeze’ were called ‘burrs’ and rain on the top of the clamp caused ‘shuffs’, which would fall to pieces.  After firing had been completed and the clamp was dismantled, the ‘burn-overs’ (under-burnt bricks) were used as ‘skintles’ in the next clamp.

One of the greatest advantages of clamp burning was that larger quantities of bricks could be fired in one burning, thus reducing cost.   However, there were several draw backs; adverse weather could cause considerable losses.  High winds could produce a higher firing temperature resulting in warped and over-burnt bricks that could be fused together in the hottest part of the clamp.  Adversely, too cool a burn produced under-burnt bricks that were too soft for most purposes, and if the rain got in the bricks would fall apart.

After each brick moulding session the damp sand used during the process was swept up and put into a ‘doome’, heated by a fire in the centre, to dry it out ready for the next moulding session.  Also, out of the firing/burning season, sand, which may have needed to be bought-in, was prepared in a ‘plain’ where it was spread out each day and continually raked, swept into heaps, and dried out before being put in a sand ‘lodge’ or small shed.  

Evidence would suggest that in Felbridge and the local vicinity, the clamp firing method was used in most of the brickyards, although the term clamp and kiln seem to be interchangeable.    

Local Bricks, Blocks and Tiles used in Felbridge

In a couple of instances it has been possible to determine the names of the brick, block and tile makers used to either build or repair structures in Felbridge and, in some cases, the quantities ordered and costs incurred.

Imberhorne Manor House and Farm Complex, 1808-1811

Imberhorne Farmhouse and Farm complex was built between 1808 and 1811, under the direction of Arabella Diana, Duchess of Dorset, widow of John Frederick Sackville, 3^rd Duke of Dorset, who succeeded as Lord of the manor of Imberhorne on his death in 1799.

The Sackville papers contain numerous bills for materials relating to major construction works at Imberhorne dating between 1808 and 1811.  The materials being purchased suggest that the house was started in 1808 and an oval plaque dated ‘1808’ can be found on the end gable of the original outbuildings that run westwards from the house, these were extended further west at a later date, obscuring the plaque.  The large quantities of bricks being purchased suggest that it was not only the ‘new house’ that was being built. It would seem likely that some, if not all, of the present farm buildings were also constructed at this time. Typical entries in the Imberhorne Account Book referring to bricks and tiles for this period are:

1808

July 28^th, Workers tools and workers stools for brickyard £1 5/-
March 8^th, 300 tiles 13/-
March 23^rd, 10 ridge tiles 4s. 2d
March 27^th, 700 paving bricks £1 17s 4d
March 29^th, 1,000 paving bricks £2 13/-
May 17^th, 6 gutter tiles 2/-
May 25^th, 300 bricks 13/-
July 20^th, 300 bricks 13/-

August 11^th, 600 bricks £1 6/-
August 21^st, 6 hip tiles 2/-
September 20^th, 1,600 bricks £3 12/-
October 11^th, 1,000 paving bricks £2 15/-
November 2^nd, 500 bricks £1 2s 6d

1809

January, Received of Mr James for the Duchess of Dorset, 24,600 bricks from Wilderwick, paid Mr Avery.

January 20^th Kiln faggots for brickyard £7 16s 3d
January 20^th Brick making at Newbridge Brickyard £124 18s 8¾d
January 20^th Glazier works 6/-
January 27^thMessrs. Dann, Bill for bricks £25 18s 6d
January 28^th John Thurley, Bill for bricks £108
January 28^th Truck wheelbarrow £9
January 31^st Hubble for work on Imberhorne House, £100 received from Duchess of Dorset

1809
January 20^th, Received of Mr James for the Duchess of Dorset, for carriage of bricks from Newbridge Brickyard to Imberhorne @ 25 for 1,000 £5 2s 6d, Benjamin Combridge

1809
January 20^th, Received of Mr James for the Duchess of Dorset, for carriage of bricks from Newbridge Brickyard to Imberhorne @ 25 for 1,000 George Parker

1810

February 8^th, 300 well bricks 16s 6d
May 16^th, 200 bricks 9/-
July 20^th, 300 bricks 13/-
August 21^st, 60 ridge tiles £1 5/-
Total £18 3s 6d
Paid by the Duchess of Dorset.

1810

Receipt/Bill for bricks and tiles used @ Himber Horne

August 12^th, 7,625 bricks £17 3s 1½d
November 26^th, 4,100 bricks £9 2s 6d
December 1^st, 1,300 tiles £4 19/-
December 7^th, 1,600 tiles £3 12/-
December 7^th, 30 hip tiles 12s 6d
December 9th, 1,000 tiles £2 5/-
December 9^th, 500 bricks £1 2s 6d
Total £43 17s 7½d
Deducted 2s 3d being an error in the calculation.
William Buck

1811
April 4^th, To John Tulley for bricks £18 3s 6d

The last entries found in the Imberhorne Account Books for large quantities of building materials are late 1811, and many balances of accounts can also be found suggesting the building programme was coming to an end (Handout, Imberhorne Farmhouse, SJC 09/04).

Using these accounts it is possible to see that two brickyards are mentioned – Wilderwick and Newbridge, together with pieces of brickmaking equipment that was supplied, ie: ‘tools and workers stools’ and a ‘truck wheel barrow’, as well as fuel in the form of ‘kiln faggots’ for firing the kilns.

The reference to Wilderwick implies that there was a site making bricks in the vicinity of Wilderwick and the 1872 OS map suggests that there was once a brickmaking site to the west of Wilderwick House, although in 1872 the site was only inferred to by the adjacent wood named Brickfield Wood (see below).  For ease of interpretation for this document, this site is referred to as ‘Wilderwick brickfield’ at TQ 402 404, not to be confused with ‘Wilderwick brickworks’, further east at TQ 408 402 (see below).  Wilderwick brickworks doesn’t appear to have started operating until sometime after Wilderick brickfield ceased production; also using the name Wilderwick.  In 1851 and 1861, the brickmaker at Wilderwick [brickworks] was Samuel Relf, employing 4 outside workers and 2 indoor workers, with George Crouch (census), presumably one of the workers, recorded as a brickmaker of Wilderwick in 1861. 

From the Imberhorne Accounts, Mr Avery was the brickmaker at Wilderwick [brickfield] in 1809, this was probably William Avery who was recorded in 1811 with the Church Rate of £9 for a ‘brickiln’ (Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27).  The implication here is that perhaps Wilderwick brickfield ceased production sometime between 1809 and 1811.  In 1824, William Avery was recorded as holding Moat Farm in East Grinstead, with a brick kiln there, with a Church Rate of £11 5s, possibly the same kiln as mentioned in 1811 (Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27).  In 1825, William Avery was paying £2 2s a year rent for ‘the liberty of digging brick earth’ in plot 61 on East Grinstead Common, an area of 2a 1r 30p, formerly held by Samuel Wickens.  The plot is on the site that was more recently occupied by the bus garage in Park Road (TQ 387 384), shown with its kiln on a map in 1817 and 1873 and recorded in the East Grinstead tithe award in 1841 (Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27).  In 1856, this brickyard formed part of a sale of property of ‘the late Mr Susanna Wickens’, presumably the widow of Samuel Wickens:

Lot 3

A BRICK YARD,

with Kiln and drying Sheds, Hacks, and a good supply of water, now in FULL TRADE, and 4a 0r 19p of MEADOWLAND adjoining Lot 2.  In the occupation of Mr George Lynn, who holds it under a Lease, of which there are 2 ½ Years unexpired from Michaelmas, 1856, at Annual Rent of £18.

This Lot is subject to the following Payments, Land Tax 11s 10d. Half Church Rate 7s 1½d.

[Hand written note in sale catalogue: ‘called Picknells Crofts, Stenning £255’]

By 1829, William Avery appears to have gone into partnership with a Mr Elphick, advertising as Elphick & Avery, brickmakers, as they are recorded as paying rent for the aforementioned brick/tile kiln (Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27).  Mr Elphick is probably Edward Elphick who had been born about 1779 in Pevensey, Sussex, moving to East Grinstead by about 1817.  Between 1832 and 1839, both Elphick and Avery were also recorded as butchers, with Avery living at Porch House, High Street, East Grinstead, listed as a butcher in 1842 and Edward Elphick living in the High Street (2 doors away from Sutton House, which appears to be about the centre of the raised part of the High Street, around the current war memorial area), listed as a butcher in 1851.  As established above, it was not unusual for brickmakers of the era to have a second occupation as brickmaking was seasonal (see above).  The last mention found so far for Elphick & Avery as brickmakers was in 1851 (Brickmaking: supplementary information by J M Leppard, EG Bulletin 54).

As for Newbridge brickyard, research suggests that it was subsequently known by several other names including Hartfield brickyard, Chuck Hatch brickyard and, according to Beswick’s gazetteer, Souters’s Hole brickyard. For ease of interpretation for this document, the Newbridge brickyard used in the construction of Imberhorne Farmhouse and Farm complex is referred to as Newbridge (2). It was situated halfway between Newbridge and Chuck Hatch, adjacent to Wren’s Warren, on Chuck Hatch Lane, and was purchased by the Buckhurst Estate in 1808, owned by the Sackville family. It would therefore make sense for Arabella Diana, Duchess of Dorset, to purchase bricks from the family brickyard. Newbridge (2) appears on the 1882 OS map as Claypit Farm, Brick Works, Clay Pit and Old Gravel Pit.

Newbridge (2) was owned by Abraham and Joseph Spencer from 1792 until its purchase by Earl de la Warr in 1808; the brickmaker being William Mitchell until his death in 1815. From at least 1841, Jesse Divall/Divell was a brickmaker at Newbridge brickyard and his father William, born in 1760, also worked at the brickyard before Jesse. In 1851, Jesse was living at Brick Kiln House, Newbridge, Hartfield, and is likely to be connected with the brickmaker by the name of ‘Divall of Forest Row’ who appears in the Brambletye sales particulars of 1865 (Brickmaking Addendum, EG Bulletin 61). Jesse Divall was born in 1787 in Rotherfield, Sussex, but his family had moved to Hartfield by the birth of his bother Thomas in 1789.  In the 1841 and 1851 census records, Jesse was listed as a brickmaker living at Brick Kiln House, where he remained until his death, aged 87, in 1874.  Working alongside Jesse at Newbridge brickyard were his nephews (sons of his brother Thomas born 1789) Thomas Divall born about 1814 and William Divall born about 1811, both born in Hartfield.  Thomas Divall was listed a brick maker in the 1861 and 1871 census but in 1881 he was listed as a tile maker.  Thomas appears as a witness in an Ashdown Forest Dispute of 16^th October 1879 that recorded that he ‘works at present for Lord De La Warr. [Lives at] Chuck Hatch, Hartfield.  Born at the brickyard close by and baptised at Hartfield 24^th July 1814. [His] father was foreman at the Chuck Hatch brickyard belonging to the Buckhurst Estate’ (The Ashdown Forest Dispute 1876-1882 by Professor Brian Short, published by Sussex Record Society, 1997).  William Divall was listed as a Newbridge brickmaker in the census records from 1861 and 1881; William died aged 74 in 1885.  William’s sons John and Leonard Divall were also brickmakers, although John, who was born in 1843 in Hartfield, did not take up the trade until sometime between 1871 and 1881 and had left the industry by 1891.  However, Leonard who was born in 1848 in Hartfield, was listed as a brickmaker and labourer in 1871, living with his widowed father William at Newbridge Brick Kiln.  After William’s death in 1885, Leonard took over the family home and in 1891 was listed as ‘farmer and brickmaker’ of Newbridge brickyard.  In 1911, Leonard was still living at the brickyard but was listed as a ‘farmer and carting contractor’.  Leonard, died, aged 74 in 1923.

As a point of interest, in 1901 there was an Alfred Divall, living at Bowers Place, Crawley Down, working as a brickmaker in one of the brickyards there.  Alfred was born Alfred Arthur Divall in 1869 in Hartfield, the son of John Divall, born 1843 (see above).

It would appear from the Imberhorne Accounts that the carriage of bricks from Newbridge (2) in 1809 was carried out by Benjamin Combridge and George Parker, although it has not yet been established whether they worked at Newbridge (2) or were carriers engaged by the brickyard.

Other names mentioned in connection with the bricks in the Imberhorne Accounts are Messrs Dann (no further information) and John Thurley/Tulley.  John Thurley/Tulley is probably John Turley who, in the 1811 census, was recorded as a farmer living somewhere between Dunnings and Standen in East Grinstead, being rated £6 10s for a ‘brickiln’ (Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27).  John Turley had been born about 1797 in East Grinstead.  In 1820, John Turley held the Moats brick kiln for which in 1824 he was rated £8 for a ‘brickiln’ (Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27).  He appears in several Trade Directories between 1832 and 1859 as John Thurely/Turley, brickmaker of East Grinstead.  In the 1851 census, John Turley was listed as yeoman and brickmaker, employing 1 man, and living at Ship Lane [Street], East Grinstead, at that date he was running Moats Farm (Brickmaking: supplementary information by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 54).  In the 1861 census, John Turley was listed as a retired brickmaker living at 64, Ship Lane [Street] (now Turley Cottage) (Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27).  John Turley died in 1865. 

The other three names mentioned in the accounts, Mr James, [William] Hubble and William Buck, were over-seeing the work at Imberhorne on behalf of Diana, Duchess of Dorset (see Handout, Imberhorne Farmhouse, SJC 09/04).

Repairs to Felbridge Park Mansion, 1855

In March 1856, FelbridgePark consisting of a mansion house and just over 1,740 acres was conveyed to George Gatty (Handout, Felbridge Place Revisited, JIC/SJC 03/22).  However, from the available documentary evidence, George Gatty had moved to FelbridgePark between April and October 1855 and his account books indicate that he was carrying out some much needed repairs to the mansion house and Park prior to his purchase as the following entries can be found in his account books for repairs to FelbridgePark mansion:

Draining Tiles- Mr Nix has many thousands to sell.  Chandler says that they are better than any in this neighbourhood and the prices are as follows:

1½ inch diameter – 16/- a thousand exclusive of cartage, 5/- a thousand

2 inch diameter – 22/- a thousand exclusive of cartage, 5s 6d a thousand

3 inch diameter – 45/- a thousand exclusive of cartage, 7/- a thousand

C Waters, Shovelstrode Brickyard near East Grinstead:

1½ inch pipes – 16/- a thousand

1¾ inch pipes – 18/- a thousand

2 inch pipes – 20/- a thousand

3 inch pipes – 26s 6d a thousand

4 inch pipes – 8/- a hundred

6 inch pipes – 16/- a hundred

There is only one ‘Mr Nix’ in the area at this date and he was  John Nix, born about 1791 in London, listed in the 1861 census as a ‘landed proprietor’ living at The Hall, Turners Hill Road, Worth, therefore not a brickmaker.  Presumably John Nix had connections with a brick/tile making facility; the nearest brickyard to John Nix was opposite The Hall at TQ 326 360, northeast of Turners Hill Road (formerly Majors Hill), which was operating in 1842 under the trustees of H R Willet (Brickmaking in Sussex, A History and Gazetteer by M Beswick).  As for ‘C Waters’ he is probably Charles Waters and Shovelstrode brickyard was situated was north of the turning off Holtye Road, East Grinstead, to Ashurst Wood, at TQ 423 393 (Brickmaking in East Grinstead by MJ Leppard, EG Bulletin 27).  In 1861, Charles Waters was listed in Kelly’s Directory as a ‘brick, tile and drainage pipe maker’ of London Road, East Grinstead, and the census reveals that he was born about 1830 in East Grinstead.  The 1866 Post Office Directory places Charles Waters as a ‘brick, tile and drainage pipe maker’ on East Grinstead Common, although this may be the same location as ‘London Road’ in 1861.  The 1871 census reveals that Charles Waters was living at ‘Dergans [Durkins] House’ near Charlwood Row in East Grinstead and that he was a ‘brickmaker occupying 11 acres’.  By 1887, Charles Waters had changed the name of his business to C Waters & Son, having been joined by his son Arthur Curtis Waters who had been born in 1858, also in East Grinstead.  Charles Waters died in 1894, aged 64, and his son continued the business as ‘Arthur C Waters’, brick and tile maker, operating from Durkins, East Grinstead.  By 1901, Arthur Waters had diversified and along with brick and tile making, he was also a farmer.  The last entry so far identified for Arthur C Waters as a brick and tile maker is in the 1911 Kelly’s Directory; he died aged 81, in 1939.

Brick & Tile Making in Felbridge

Two brick and tile making sites have been indentified in Felbridge:

Hedgecourt Common (TQ 3640 3975)

One of the earliest potential sites for brick/tile manufacture in Felbridge was found adjacent to Rowplatt Lane during excavation work carried out by Ivan Margary in the 1940’s when trying to establish the route of the Roman road that passes through Felbridge (Handout, Roman Legacy of Felbridge, SJC 11/01).  Evidence of a pottery/tile kiln was found situated to the east of what is now Rowplatt Lane, near to the junction with Copthorne Road, on the fringe of the triangular section of Hedgecourt Common.  The site is now occupied by the properties known as Greensward House on the corner of Rowplatt Lane, Wild Meadow, Firswood, Ibstock and Gentian Cottage, formerly Shirley Cottage.  The remains of a kiln were uncovered during the construction of Firswood, when Ivan Margary and Donald Merritt of Gentian Cottage, found pottery dating to the 15^th century (whereabouts of the finds is unknown).  However, as with much on Felbridge, more work needs to be carried out to determine when this kiln was operating and whether it was producing pottery, tiles or bricks (Handout, Felbridge Triangle and the Development of Warren Farm, SJC 03/05).

Gullege Brick Field (TQ 357 383)

Brick Field is the far west end of what is now known as Gullege Field, which stretches all the way from the Imberhorne farm complex at the east to the north/south wapple way on the west side of Gullege house.  On the southern side of Brick Field there is a wood called Brick Field Wood that contains the clay extraction pit.  The pit has filled with water over the years and ranges from a small pond with woodland around it when the conditions are dry to a large pond when there has been prolonged rain. 

Gullege Brick Field pre-dates 1841, as it is so named in the sale of that year, the name indicating a potential brickmaking area, especially as there is a large quantity of bricks and brick fragments present within the field.  To try and establish the relevance of the name, Brick Field was walked in February 2004 but brick fragments were not collected during this field walk due to the extremely high concentrations present within the area.  However a number of whole bricks were found and are sized similarly to those in the chimneystack of Gullege.  There were also cobalt blue glazed brick fragments, again matching to the original colour of the glazed bricks found in the Gullege chimneystack (see below) (Handout, Archaeology of Imberhorne Farm, JIC 09/08).  The presence of many distorted bricks, or wasters as they are known, makes it unlikely that the bricks are the remnants of a demolished building but that this is the location of the clamp/intermittent kiln that manufactured the bricks used to build the chimneystack at Gullege in the late 16^th century.  During this period bricks were often made on or near to the site of the building, where local materials allowed, and Gullege is fortunate in this sense as there is an abundance of clay in this area. 

Due to the evidence, the implication of the name ‘Brick Field’ is most likely to be a location where bricks were fired using either a clamp or intermittent kiln, which was probably short lived, as opposed to the term ‘Brickyard’ or ‘Brickworks’ implying a permanent site.  Evidence would also suggest that the clay for the bricks was probably dug in the adjacent ‘Brick Field Wood’.

Marl Pit Wood, Gullege (TQ 363 381)

A landscape study of this complex area has identified a couple of areas that were probably for the extraction of marl, there are later extensions to one large pit and water course modifications to intentionally feed water into and then out of several of the pits, this appears most likely to be associated with fish ponds as no anticipated mineral extractions are done with water. The largest pit (TQ 3633 3813) extends both sides of the railway and therefore predates its construction in the 1860’s.  However in the 1841 sale its location was an arable field so it has a narrow timeframe for creation.  The trees growing in the abandoned pits, other than the largest pit, appear to be about 100-150 years old suggesting a late 19^th century creation and abandonment.  This area does not appear to be related to the manufacture of bricks but will be investigated further at a later date.

Sites south of the Worth Way, formerly the railway line, close to Gullege

There is a clay pit (TQ 3649 3812), this first appears at a small scale on the 1874 OS map reaching its current size and labelled as ‘Old Clay Pit’ on the 1894 OS map.  To the southwest is a sand pit (TQ 3606 3766) which is likely to be associated with providing materials for brick making. There are numerous other water filled pits in this area which, like the pits in Marl Pit Wood, need further investigation.

Brick, Block & Tile Makers of Felbridge

It is possible to identify some local residents who were employed in brickmaking by trawling through the local Trade Directories and census records.  The following are a few that have been identified as living in or having connections with the Felbridge area:

Walter Abbott was born Walter Leonard Abbott in about 1868 in Chatham, Kent.  In 1891, Walter was living at Imberhorne Lane in one of the run of five terraced house still standing on the east side of the road, working as a brickmaker.  In 1901, Walter had left the area and was working as a beer retailer and general labourer living at the Red Lion, LinkfieldLand, Reigate.

Arthur, John and William Bonny, three brothersof Imberhorne Lane Cottages (later 21, Imberhorne Lane, now demolished, replaced by the maisonettes on the east of the road), were all listed as brickmakers in 1901.  Arthur James had been born in 1877, John had been born in 1878 and William had been born in 1880, all born in East Grinstead.  They probably made up some of Harry Nickalls’ small workforce at his local brickyard (see below).   However, in 1911, Arthur had left the area, moving to Woking where he was working as a builder’s labourer, John was a bricklayer living in Rowplatt Lane, Felbridge, whilst William was still living with his parents in Imberhorne Lane, also working as a bricklayer.

Henry Hurst was born about 1821, in Whiteparish, Wiltshire, and came from a brickmaking family, his mother Mary listed as a ‘brick burner’ of Whiteparish in 1841.  In 1861, Henry was recorded as a brickmaker living in a cottage between ‘Starre Castle’ and Grange Farm, Crawley Down, employed at one of the brickyards there (Crawley Down Brickmaking by J Hodgkinson).  In 1881, he was living at Copthorne brickyard, Leatherhead, Surrey.  However, in 1882, Henry Hurst was listed of London Road, brickmaker, (Kelly’s Directory & Brickmaking Addendum, EG Bulletin 44) and the 1891 census records him living at 41, North End, Felbridge, working as a brick burner. 

James Maddex/Madder was born about 1845 in Lingfield, is found living at North End listed as a brickmaker in 1881 (no further information).

John Martin was born about 1801 in East Grinstead, and is found living on East Grinstead Common, just south of Halsford House, North End, in 1841 (no further information).

Harry Nickalls.  There are two Harry Nickalls that could potentially have run a small brick yard off Hophurst Lane.  One Harry was born Henry Thomas Nickalls in 1840 at Selsfield Common, West Hoathly, Sussex, and the other was his son, also Henry Thomas Nicholls, born in 1872 at 24, Imberhorne Lane, East Grinstead.  Henry Nickalls senior, had moved to 24, Imberhorne Lane by 1871, and potentially as early as 1864.  In 1871 and 1881, Henry senior was working as a labourer, by 1891, he was working as a general labourer and by 1901, a brick maker (Handout Lost Property of Felbridge, Pt. 3, West side of the north end of Imberhorne Lane, JIC/SJC 10/21).  The reason for the change in occupation is that around 1900, ‘Harry Nickalls’, either senior or junior, began operating a small brickyard off Hophurst Lane, just west of Tiltwood, accessed roughly at the junction of Hophurst Lane and what is now Burleigh Way (Conversation with Frank Fieldwick, collected by Jeremy Hodgkinson, 5/1/1981).  There is a wonderful insight into local brickyards collected by Crawley Down historian Jeremy Hodgkinson, who spoke with family descendents of brickmakers in the early 1980’s in a series of documented conversations providing a wealth of information about the brick industry of the local area and the lives of some of the brickmakers at the turn of the 20^th century.

The workforce at Nickalls’ yard included Henry Nickalls, senior and junior, as brick makers and Fred (Henry senior’s son) who had been born in 1875, working as a carter at the brickyard.  Other brickmakers at the yard probably included the Bonny brothers (see above), all near neighbours of the Nickalls in Imberhorne Lane.  ‘Harry Nickalls senior used to walk or cycle to the yard, starting at five in the morning in the summer and six in the winter’ (Conversation with Arthur Nickalls, collected by J Hodgkinson, 4/11/1981).  Nickalls’ yard was seldom very profitable and in an effort to compete with the many small yards in the area Harry charged low prices for his bricks and only used horses, which he kept at the yard.  ‘Mr Nickalls senior always had some difficulty in keeping his business on a profitable basis.  His prices were low, charging £1 per 1,000 brick, delivered as far afield as Oxted, which would have been a day’s journey, there and back, with a horse and cart.  There was great competition between the many small brickyards in the district ... Like the Grange Road Yard in Crawley Down, Nickalls’ yard fired the bricks in clamps.  The bricks on the outside of the clamp, which were less completely burnt than elsewhere were sold as ‘place bricks’ for the inside walls of houses where they would be plastered over.  The best bricks, more thoroughly fired inside the clamp, were sold as ‘stock bricks’.  They were of a purer, redder colour’ (ibid. Conversation with Arthur Nickalls).  Bricks from Nickalls’ yard were used in the building of Stildon House at North End (see below) and the Whitehall cinema in East Grinstead that opened in 1913. 

The Nickalls’ brickyard ran until 1915.  This date is significant as Harry Nickalls senior died aged 74 in March 1915 and other contributing factors include the fact that ‘there was a problem with the lease’ and ‘the horses that were used to pull the wagons were requisitioned for war service’; but the most significant problem was, as conscription was introduced in World War I, ‘there was a shortage of labour’ (ibid. Conversation with Arthur Nickalls).  

It is not clear for how long Harry Nickalls junior continued the business after the death of his father in March 1915 but later that year George Wells (see below) bought out the brickyard.  ‘When Nickalls’ business folded, his equipment was sold to the Hackenden yard in East Grinstead, which was taken over by Messrs. Martin, Smith & Foster [by 1915].  One piece of machinery was the ‘pan’ in which the clay/breeze mixture was combined – it consisted of a metal cylinder (8ʹ -10ʹ diameter) in which a rotating vertical stone wheel (4ʹ -5ʹ diameter) moved round.  The clay was removed using a tool (elsewhere described as a ‘turning iron’) which was a kind of voided spade’ (ibid. Conversation with Arthur Nickalls).  George Wells cleared the yard and whilst the equipment was sold to the Hackenden brickworks in East Grinstead, Nickalls’ stock of 100,000 bricks were sold for £100 to Webber’s builders (Crawley Down Brickmaking by J Hodgkinson; for further information on Webber’s builders see Handout, Parkfields, SJC 05/05).

Robert Norman had been working as a brickmaker on East Grinstead Common from 1803 (Brickmaking in Sussex, A History and Gazetteer by M Beswick) possibly at Killick’s farm (see above and below).  In the 1811 census, Robert was listed as a brickmaker and from the position of his entry in the census it would imply that he was probably living somewhere on East Grinstead Common in the area of what is now North End (no further information). 

George Wells was born in 1871 in Turners Hill, Sussex, and was the brother of Edward Wells who was Head Gamekeeper and eventually Bailiff at Imberhorne Farm (for more information on the Wells family see Handout, The Wells Family of Imberhorne, SJC 10/10).  George was the first member of the Wells family to leave the ‘land’ and in the 1891 and 1901 censuses he was listed as ‘Builder’s Foreman and Partner in a Brickworks’ (identity of brickworks not yet established).  In 1915, George bought out Nickalls’ brickyard (see above) and had acquired Grange Road brickyard by 1916 (Willett’s Directory of Crawley & District).  He also took over (date not yet established) the brickyard at Rowfant, Wallage Lane, Worth, (sometimes referred to as Hundred Acres Brickworks) that had been in established by Sir Curtis Lampson of Rowfant House (Rowfant Brickworks and the Terry family, by Dorothy Hatswell, East Grinstead Living, February 2017) . 

It is unclear when the Rowfant brickworks had been established but a brick from there, in the EastGrinsteadTownMuseum’s collection, has ‘J Terry March 20 1843’.  The brickwork’s first recorded manager was Phillip Wale Terry who was born in 1806.  In 1841, he was recorded as living in Crawley Down but listed as a labourer.  However, in 1851 he was recorded as a brickmaker, but had moved to Tandridge; his two oldest sons, Thomas and George working with him, being later joined by son James.  In 1871, Phillip Terry, brickmaker, was living at West Street, East Grinstead, with James living in the adjacent property.  Philip died, aged 65 in 1872, and was succeeded at Rowfant by his son James Terry (Rowfant Brickworks and the Terry family, by Dorothy Hatswell) who advertised between 1875 and 1907 as ‘brickmaker’ of ‘Rowfant’ (Kelly’s Directories).  In 1910, under George Wells, Rowfant brickyard had 7 kilns, 3 circular and 4 rectangular and a dedicated railway line into the yard (OS map). 

‘George Wells was a builder with a number of other side lines.  In World War I he ran a timber business from the Grange Road yard, taking wood from the Hundred Acres (between Turners Hill and Rowfant), Rivers Wood (below Ardingly) and Felcourt, supplying soft wood for pit props and trenches.  They used a steam engine for the large saws.  The same engine was subsequently used to power the pug wheels in the brickyard and was bought by Harbours who then used it after World War II at Rowfant brickworks.  The pan in which were the pug wheels was 10-12ft across and the two wheels acted vertically.  Brickmaking was a lucrative business. 

George Wells always maintained that he made most money out of brickmaking than out of any of his other activities.  He paid between 9/6 and 11/- per 1,000 [bricks] to his makers in the early 1920’s and was later selling the bricks for £4-£5 per 1,000.  At the time (1938), clay digging was paid on an hourly basis and the clay was moved on little rail-tracks (Conversation with Cyril Wells, collected by J Hodgkinson, 6/1/1981).

The grand-daughter of Alfred Bennett, former brickmaker and foreman of the Grange Road yard, recalled that he had also worked at Bowers Place yard when it had been owned by Hall’s c1891, and that her uncle ‘Punch’ worked for George Wells at the Grange Road yard.  ‘Work started in the summer at 4 or 5 in the morning and ceased at about 10 o’clock when the heat became greatest.  It resumed after tea and work was concluded when a sufficient quantity of clay for the following day was dug from the ‘curf’ in the ‘hommocking hole’ and mixed with breeze and left to ‘soak’ over night.

Two necessary materials apart from the clay were timber, which was always needed for carpentry and which was stored in the disused kiln; and sand  which was used in the brickmaking process to prevent the clay sticking to the moulding table.  Both the table and the mould had to be sanded between each brick.  The sand had to be swept up and dried at the end of each day.

… up to six makers [were] at work in the early 1920’s, up to 5 of which were assisted by ‘flatteners’.  Taking the ‘green’ bricks to the ‘hacks’ for drying was done on a ‘bearing off’ barrow.  On the hacks the brick, in 75 yard rows, could be stacked as high as 10 bricks if drying was quick.  The top 3 or 4 rows would be ‘skinted’ or stacked criss-cross’ (Conversation with Oliver Parsons and Winifred ‘Whistle ’Parsons née Bennett, collected by J Hodgkinson, 3/1/1981). 

Another employee of George Wells was Frank Fieldwick, who was a lorry driver at the Grange Road yard and also worked at Rowfant, who ‘drove a 2-ton lorry carrying 1,000 bricks.  Larger lorries carried 1,500-2,000 bricks, in roughly a 20-30 mile radius.  A regular customer was the Paddockhurst Estate who purchased the freehold of Rowfant brickworks from the Locker-Lampsons [of Rowfant House].  It took only an hour for four men to load 1,000 bricks onto a lorry (20 at a time), drive the lorry from Rowfant brickyard to Rowfant station, for two men to unload the lorry and load a truck and then drive the empty lorry back to the yard.

There was a triple kiln at Grange Road which was, between the war, used as lorry sheds and a blacksmith’s shop.  There was also a slate roofed and timber shed (Conversation with Frank Fieldwick, collected by Jeremy Hodgkinson, 5/1/1981).

Information from Crossroads Village, a book about Turners Hill written by Eric Dawes, states that George Wells started a ‘Builders Firm’ in partnership with ‘Mr Pickard’ (possibly William Pickard, a brickmaker living at Bowers Place, Crawley Down, in 1901). After acquiring the Grange Road brickyard and Rowfant brickworks, George Wells installed steam powered machines at both sites and brickmaking took place on a large scale, employing up to fifty men at each site. Also, around 1923, George acquired the Stone Quarry at Selsfield, at the back of Selsfield House, which enabled him to build not only in brick but also in stone. Having moved from East Street sometime around 1926, George Wells and his family resided at The Hollies in Lion Lane, Turners Hill, where a sign proudly proclaimed ‘George Wells. Builder’; George and his family lived there until he built a new house, called The Nook, on the road leading from Turners Hill to Crawley Down.  Other building work completed by George Wells in and around the local area includes, the WarMemorialTower at St Leonard’s Church and Newstone Cottages on East Street, Turners Hill.

George Wells died in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, ‘Grange Road yard closed down very shortly after war was declared in 1939, leaving, with Rowfant, some ½ million bricks which were sold off to build air-raid shelters and repairs of bomb damage (Conversation with Cyril Wells, collected by J Hodgkinson, 6/1/1981).  Another contributing factor for the closure of the Grange Road yard was that ‘the clamps, when burning, would be a landmark for enemy aircraft’ (Conversation with Frank Fieldwick, collected by Jeremy Hodgkinson, 5/1/1981).  Rowfant brickworks continued to be run by George’s sons until 1945 when they were bought William Harbour.  Rowfant finally closed in the 1960’s and is now the site of the Rowfant Business Centre (Rowfant Brickworks and the Terry family, by Dorothy Hatswell, East Grinstead Living, February 2017).  However, the brick association still continues with the company Ibstock-Kevington and its subsidiary Kevington Building Products that have premises there, the subsidiary being the largest brick-cutting, bonding and prefabrication company in Britain (www.ibstockbrick.co.uk/kevington/).

Appendix

Brickmaking terms

The following is a collection of brickmaking terms, mostly of southeast England, many collated by M J Crute for an article in a Brick Brickmaking Society’s publication of October 1997, together with a few local colloquialisms.

Ash: incombustible residue from burning wood, coal etc.

Bat: deliberately snapped bricks, either a half or a three-quarter bat for particularly purposes in building or broken, distorted or otherwise unsalable brick, used as grog or crushed for paths etc

Bearing-off Barrow: see Hack Barrow

Bearer-off: a person who moved the moulded brick on a Hack Barrow (see below)

Bed: the top and bottom surfaces of a brick

Breeze: domestic ashes used as fuel or a fine aggregate such as sand, fire ash or coke ash that have been passed through a sieve, the finer particle known as Dust, that are added to improve the consistency and firing qualities

Brick earth or earth: the clay used for the making of bricks and tiles; the soft surface deposits from which bricks are made – applies to Pleistocene clays of southeast England

Brickburner: a person who fired the bricks

Brickie: originally a term for a person who makes bricks; see also, Crowder, Flattie, Moulder and Off-bearer; a member of a brickmaking gang

Bricklayer: the interchangeable name for a brickburner until the late 19^th century

Brickman: locally, a brickmaker or brick layer

Brindle: a brick made of red sand, discoloured with blue, brown or grey spots or streaks

Burn: an alternative name for the firing of bricks

Burn-over: a brick which has not burnt properly during firing, generally with unburnt fuel still in the brick

Burr: a brick that has fused with another through serious over-firing; see also Clinker

Callow: soil covering the clay used for brickmaking, also called overburden

Cap: cover on a kiln; see also Hack

Chalk: natural calcium carbonate sometimes added to clay to reduce contraction before burning

Chuff: see Shuff

Clay: very fine-grained sedimentary rock, produced by weathering and deposition of geological older material

Clay pit: a large hole in the ground or a slightly low depression from which clay has been is extracted

Clinker: partly melted brick or fused material caused by serious over-firing; used to make clinker blocks

Clinker Blocks: concrete mixed with waste railway steam-engine clinker; formed into blocks; made locally by Henry Banger of Dormansland

Clot: kneaded clay shaped roughly to the size of a brick, prior to being thrown or slapped into the mould, also called a warp or clod 

Coal: fuel used for firing a brick kiln

Common: ordinary cheap bricks; under-fired and soft red brick often used where appearance in not important; sometimes called Third Stock

Cowl: stack of bricks ready for firing

Crowding: stacking and arranging bricks in a clamp or kiln

Cuckle: a two-handled tool used for taking clay from a heap on the bench; also called a cuckhold or cuckold

Curf: see Kerf

Cutter: Soft brick used in gauged brickwork

Dirt: brickearth

Dust: domestic refuse added to some types of bricks

Dry Pan: used for hard or semi-dry clay pressing, where by the clay is sifted and oversize pieces of material are caught for further processing

Drying Shed: for drying bricks before firing; sometimes known as a Drying Yard

Earth: strong – the top 61-91cms (2-3ft) of clay, used for red brick; or mild – the lower 61cm-30m (2-10ft) of clay with chalk in it, used for stock bricks

Engineering brick: dense, uniform, impervious to water; has a high structural strength

Facing brick: brick with a finished surface of uniform texture and colour, for use where good appearance is important

Faggots: bundles of sticks bound together used locally as fuel; also known as Bavins

Fire Brick: a refractory brick capable of sustaining high temperatures, used especially for lining furnaces or fireplaces

Fire Hole: one of a series of small openings along the bottom of a kiln through which pass hot gases from the fire

First Hard Stock: a well-fired brick with good shape and colour; best stock brick

Flash Off: final stage of the burning process to ‘colour’ the brick

Flat: a sanded board onto which moulded bricks are placed for a day before being set on the Hack (see below)

Flattie: a moulder’s assistant who prepares the clay/clot; a brick moulder

Frog: the indent in the upper bedface of a brick; see also Kick

Frost Action: repeated action of freezing and thawing clay, breaking it down into finer particles; also known as Weathering

Gang: a team, often six, brickmakers

Gauge Box: wooden tool used to shape softer bricks for gauged brickwork

Glazed Brick: brick with a glassy surface, usually on one stretcher face and one header face, formed by the application of salt glaze

Graft: a narrow-bladed spade used for digging the clay

Green Brick: dried, unfired brick

Grey Stock: good quality brick but of an irregular shape

Grizzle: tender brick with grey colour used for indoor work

Grog: fired clay used as an additive to reduce shrinkage

Hack: a drying platform or shed with long low open sides in which green bricks are dried; the roof protects the bricks from rain whilst the open sides permit circulation of air to aid in the drying process; the bricks are stacked eight courses high

Hack Barrow: a long flat barrow with a single front wheel, used for carrying bricks from the moulder’s bench to the drying Hack

Handmade: applied to any brick moulded by hand, using a stock board

Header or Header Face: the ends or narrow surfaces of a brick

Hommocking/Hummocking Hole: pit where the clay was stored with water and soaked overnight, known locally simply as the Homic Hole

Hoste: see Oste

Kerf: pile of clay 91cm (3ft) by 4.5m (15ft) square; dug in winter; locally called ‘curf’

Kick: a raised block fixed to the stock board to form the frog; kick also known as a mouse

Kiln: a chamber or series of chambers in which bricks are fired by furnace heat

Kiss: surface discolouration on the stretcher face of a brick caused by differential surface-firing resulting from the method of stacking in the kiln

Lee Board: protection board for Hacks, laid along their sides; also called ‘lew’ or ‘loo’ board

Lime: sometimes used as an alkali in the water added to the clay

Litterer: a person who collected brushwood and furze for making into faggots for firing kilns (local)

Load of bricks: 500 (Ready Reckoner or Trader’s Sure Guide, 1829)

Load of tiles: 1,000 (Ready Reckoner or Trader’s Sure Guide, 1829)

Loam: a mild, light, sandy type of clay

Machine-made: Pressed – the clay is prepared (pugged), then fed into a mould and pressed to shape by machine, resulting in an accurate, uniform size and shaped brick; or Wire-cut – the pugged clay is extruded through dies as a slab, then cut into bricks, 7.5cm (3ins) thick, by wires, usually the bricks about five at a time; there is no frog unless the bricks are repressed to form one

Marl: a mixture of clay and chalk or limestone

Marm/Malm: an almost perfect brick (yellow in colour), produced from a natural mixture of clay and chalk, which is ideal for brickmaking without the addition of any other material

Mild Stock: slightly under-burnt brick, but with a good colour

Mould: wooden frame or pattern used to shape bricks

Moulder: the person who makes bricks and who is responsible for building and firing the kiln; also called a setter

Moulding bench: where the bricks or tiles were moulded; also know as a Berth and known locally as a Stool

Off-Bearer: a person, often a woman or a child in traditional brickmaking, who takes the newly moulded bricks from the moulder’s bench to the hack using an off-bearing or hack barrow; also known as a pusher-out or bearer-off

Oste: the old name for any kind of kiln, now surviving in the word – oasthouse

Pallet Board: the wooden board on which newly moulded bricks are placed after demoulding; sometimes called the Pallet

Pan Mill: where two large rollers crush the clay, forcing it through the perforated bottom of a circular pan, which can be either a dry pan or a wet pan according to the clay and moulding process

Paviour: an excellent brick in shape, colour and strength; used for flooring and paving

Paving Brick: high quality brick that is hard and has a low water absorption, used for paving, paths and steps

Picking: good quality brick but softer and inferior to the best sort of paviour, unburnt from the clamp

Place Brick: slightly under-burnt brick from the clamp, used for inside work; the brick is often ‘soft’ inside; a low grade brick

Platter: household waste used as roughstuff (see below), consisting principally of broken crockery and glass

Pressed Brick: see Machine-made

Pugged Clay: worked clay that has been mixed or kneaded with water to form a malleable mass or paste suitable for brickmaking; often simply called Pug

Pugmill: a vertical sided, cylindrical tub originally made of wood or iron set with rotating blades to churn the clay and any additives, such as chalk or ash, until the correct consistency for brickmaking is achieved; originally driven by horse power, later steam; used to improve the consistency, firing qualities, texture and colour of the brick.

Range: a line of brickmaking Moulding Benches, Tables, Berths or Stools

Red Brick: fired clay brick, the red colour derived from iron oxide in the clay without additive; common in the Wealden area

Rough Stock: brick of a rough shape and colour, over-burnt and hard; sometimes called Third Stock

Roughstuff: domestic refuse used as fuel after sieving and grading

Rubber: a soft brick specifically made to be cut and rubbed to shape in gauged brickwork

Rubble: rough, broken pieces of brick

Sand: natural silica used to coat the mould to prevent the clay from sticking to it and stop bricks from sticking to each other; also used to reduce the plasticity of the clay

Sand-faced: bricks made with one stretcher and one header face as a rough textured finished

Sand-lime Brick: brick made by using sand and slaked lime, not clay; also called a calcium silicate brick

Scintling/Skintling: the herringbone placing of bricks for drying, arranged when the bricks are half dry; the spacing allows air to pass freely between the bricks

Second Stock: second quality brick, a good quality brick and probably the most common

Setter: person who is responsible for setting and firing the kiln or clamp

Setting: arranging the bricks in the kiln for firing

Shale: a hard layer of compacted clay formed like a rock

Shipper: perfect stock brick

Shuff: an unsound brick of low strength

Smoking: preheating of bricks prior to firing

Soakdown: clay that has soaked overnight in water

Soil: finest breeze or roughstuff that is mixed with clay for making stock bricks; material that has passed through a ⅛ inch mesh

Stock Board: board with the negative (kick) of the frog fixed to the moulding bench to locate the mould

Stock Brick: clay brick containing combustible material that enables it to burn in the kiln without added fuel, or average quality, made using a stock board and mould

Stretcher or stretcher face: the sides or wider surfaces of a brick

Strike: wooden blades used to scrape the surface of the newly moulded brick whilst still in the mould in order to remove excess clay

Stripping: dismantling a clamp or emptying a kiln after firing

Tempering: process used to work clay to an even consistency by adding water and working by hand

Third Stock: see Common

Tilehouse: a site for the manufacture of tiles; also known as a Tilery

Tommyhawk/Tomahawk: also known as a clay hoe 

Tread Boy: a man or boy who mixed the soakdown to a dough-like pug by treating it with their feet

Trimmers: Breeze or roughstuff that is passed through a ½ inch mesh

Turning Iron: a sort of voided spade used to shovel the trodden soakdown into a heap near the moulding bench or table

Warp: see Clot

Wash-Back: see Wash-Mill

Wash-Mill: a circular brick lined pit over which a wooden framework was built from which harrows were mounted and extended into the pit. A horse was attached to the frame by a yoke and harness; it walked in circles rotating the harrows. Clay, chalk and water were introduced into the pit and the rotating harrows mixed the ingredients till they combined to a suitably pliable consistency. The partly prepared brick-earth was removed and stored in a pond called a ‘Wash-Back’, ash was spread over each layer of admixture as it was added to the stockpile. When full, water was poured into the Wash-Back to cover the preparation, it was left here until required for brickmaking

Waster: mis-shapen, fired brick

Wet Pan: where wet-ground clays pass through a mixer; an open trough with two parallel rotating shafts bearing blades that combine the ingredients

Wicket: A doorway at each side of a clamp or kiln

Wire-cut: earliest machines known as Stupids; see Machine-made

Washback: a clay reservoir

Washed Stock: most commonly used stock brick, hand moulded, usually yellow and of low quality

Yellow Brick: stock brick, the colour caused by the presence of chalk in the clay mixture