HISTORY OF BURSLEDON BRICKWORKS FROM 1918

After 1918, when the First World War ended, the demand for bricks steadily increased. By 1934 the Directors were thinking of converting the single ended machine into a doubled ended machine, which would give additional output of 40,000 bricks per day. This would necessitate quite an extensive alteration to the machine house, as well as building about half an acre of drying chambers on two floors together with a large system of continuous kilns with a new tall chimney. The supply of clay was gradually getting further away from the works.

In 1938 the Miniature Railway for supplying clay from the clay face to the Brickmaking Machines was completely replaced by an overhead system which carried the Skips on a cable, and delivered the clay through the roof into the brickmaking Machines in both yards. The strain on the high ropeway supporting towers was considerable and when the extreme terminal tower's foundations were being constructed, large holding down bolts were set in a huge block of concrete and when the supervisor requested the workmen to go to the store to collect the first nut and bolt, to his surprise he discovered it took two men to carry each nut and bolt, as each was about 8 feet long and two inches in diameter! As well as the main overhead system, a large gantry system about 250 feet long and over 20 feet high in places was constructed and erected from a nearby clay face (which had a rather too high sand content for brickmaking on its own in a past working) with 6" X 6" timber uprights, and 9" X 3" laterals supporting a long conveyor belt, with necessary footwall and handrail, all for the purpose of conveying this sandy mixture to the main collecting point of the aerial ropeway transporting system, for mixing with the clay which was currently being excavated and was too strong on its own to be ideal for the brickmaking, thus enabling operators to send up the correct mixture of clay to the brickmaking machines. This structure seemed to be a quite unusual requirement at the clay face, but it all seemed to work very successfully.

Soon after the whole new installation was in full production, the War broke out and, of course, many of the workmen were called up for National Service. During the war production of bricks was reduced and many of the idle kilns and buildings were used for storage of war materials, including Kapok, which was used in armaments, lifebelts etc.

About 1945, after the war, the men were returning and the production of bricks was resumed, especially as the demand was increasing for rebuilding war damage etc. However, the London Bricks on the market had a considerably cheaper brick. These bricks were much cheaper to produce because the clay in their areas of production contained a large proportion of shale naturally. This shale, which was already present in the clay and formed of a flaky substance with a high Bitumen content, had several marketing advantages because the bricks took a good deal less fuel than Bursledon bricks, as the drying time was reduced and the kilns took less fuel because of the Bitumen content. Also the bricks were lighter and with a deep frog transport costs were reduced. There was a snag, however, which was not widely known. They would not stand up to frost very well and unless protected from too much dampness, they would disintegrate during hard frosts. Hence they should not really be used below damp courses, or without protection from the damp at the top of a wall. Market forces seemed to indicate that the trend was that price came before quality and it became more difficult for Bursledon to compete. However the Bursledon Brick was far superior in quality, was safe to use in practically all normal circumstances and in fact, all except the inside quality, were almost equal to engineering bricks for durability.

Attempts were made to produce a more attractive finish for the facing bricks for people who preferred a better quality brick, which gave the buildings a superior look and, by experiment, methods were found to produce multi-coloured facings, and also a choice of bark-faced surface, which no doubt attracted many users, and sales seemed to hold up well. After a short while, the Bursledon Brick Company was absorbed into the Redland Group, and many additional improvements were made, including changing over from coal to oil fuel. As time went on and inflation gradually set in, the clay was further away from the Works and the bricks were costing more to produce. Business was becoming more and more difficult. It would seem that the M27 Motorway was planned to cut right through the Works and this became the deciding factor in the ending of production of Bursledon Bricks.

ERNIE RAFFO