Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Brickmaking
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the brickmaking process was still
primitive. The urban pressure for quickly built homes for factory workers led
to a massive demand for bricks. Between 1820 and 1850 over 100 brickmaking
machines (Hammond, 1981, 14), and new-style, more efficient and controlla-
ble larger kilns, mainly using coal as the fuel, were patented to take advantage
of this lucrative market (Hammond, 1981, 23-4). Many new brickyards were
located close to the new rail network to gain quick access to growing towns
and cities and meet this unprecedented demand. Mechanisation in brick pro-
duction, with steam engines gradually replacing men or horses, allowed new
(harder and less plastic) sources of clay to be exploited from greater depths
(Woodforde, 1976, 121-2). As bricks were increasingly transported far and wide
beyond their place of manufacture they generally carried the brickmaker's ini-
tials in the frogs as a means of identification.
To fully appreciate the huge demand for bricks during the last quarter of the
nineteenth century, a report of a brickmaker's conference held in Southwark,
London and reported in
The Builder
on 13th September states (1879, 1033):
Some years ago a careful computation was made by Messrs Eastwoods & Co, of
the quantity of bricks usually made to supply the markets of London and the
metropolis. As near as could be arrived at at that time the numbers were found
to be 600,000,000. But he had every reason to believe - and no doubt the experi-
ence of those concerned in the trade would confirm this - that in ordinary sea-
sons the sale would be at 700,000,000.
A number of the larger traditional brickmakers with permanent brickyards and
benefiting from rail access to London and other cities and towns began specialis-
ing in rubbing brick production. The majority of these, though not all, took extra
care in the preparation of their own unique brickearth and clay, and in the firing
of their bricks, to ensure a consistent quality of product essential for fine gauged
brickwork detailing, by architects, and bricklayers. Searle (1936, 112) states:
Cutters and Rubbers are bricks which can readily be cut or rubbed to any desired
shape and are used for gauged work, arches, and where a few bricks of special
shape are required. Such bricks must be made of a very mild loam and they are
generally made of a mixture of washed earth and sand. Unless a sufficiently large
proportion of sand is present the bricks would not 'cut' or 'rub' properly and
they would be difficult to make into the desired shape.
…They are dried and burned in the same manner as other bricks but care must
be taken not to over-heat them or they will be useless.
As few natural materials are suitable, alone, for the manufacture of these bricks,
they are usually made of a clay which is carefully picked, and run through a
