Preserving rural bygones
The pictures of the kiln & description of brick making has been taken from the display at the Acton Scott working farm museum. 2006.
Often, bricks would have been made 'on site', by the local tradesmen or contractors & sometimes by travelling contractors moving from job to job, as work permitted.
Before the 20th Century, clay dug from the cellars & foundation excavations of new buildings was worked to a dough-like consistency, thrown & shaped in wooden moulds then fired in the kiln.
The Acton Scott brick kiln (above pictures) is an upright beehive structure modelled on a surviving kiln, situated at Oreton, near Clee Hill.
Bricks are carefully stacked in the kiln, in such a way, that enables the flames of the fire to pass through the brick stack & so 'burn' the bricks.
When the kiln has been stacked, the fire openings are bricked off & sealed with wet clay, the kiln fired up & left to burn for three days. The openings are then blocked off & all are left to cool slowly for a further three to four days, at which time the bricks are ready for use.
A moulder & clot moulder, with assistance of a feeder, a taking off boy & two men to wheel & hack the bricks, will make about 5,000 bricks in twelve hours, & often more.
“On Wednesday last, Joe Rush at Petersyke, Cumberland, performed the feat of making 1,000 bricks in an hour: 100 in five minutes: and 26 in one minute”. Carlisle Journal. Taken from Edward Dobson's “A Rudimentary Treatise on the manufacture of Bricks and Tiles”, 1850.
Beehive brick kiln
Building-Beehive brick kiln
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