Site of 19th century brick, tile and pottery works, 'Broomfield Brick, Tile and Pottery Works', Sunrise Avenue (EHER 15507)

The Broomfield Brick, Tile and Pottery works were situated in Pottery Field (later Marconi Field) at the end of Kiln Lane (now Patching Hall Lane) off the west side of Broomfield Road.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. The Broomfield Brick, Tile and Pottery works were situated in Pottery Field (later Marconi Field) at the end of Kiln Lane (now Pottery Lane). Off the west side of Broomfield Road. The site was south, south west of Patching Hall Lane. Dates: By 1832 to c1912. Operators: James Christy ( - 1883) by 1832 to 1858. James Christy ( - 1883) and Fell Christy (1835-19 ) as James Christy and Son, from 1858 to 1866. Fell Christy (1835-19 ) from 1866 to c1912. From around 1898 to around 1912 the Bryan family were proprietors of the pottery and Fell Christy continued the brick and tile works. Products: Red bricks, tiles and pottery which were used at 'Brownings', Broomfield Road and Broomfield Road Iron Works (now demolished). Further Information: James Christy, a Quaker, was a descendent of an old Scottish family. He was a farmer of Peckham, South London and moved to Patching Hall Farm, Broomfield in the early 1800’s. When his family became too large for Patching Hall, he built a new house on adjacent land called ‘Brownings’. His son, David Christy, J.P. (born 1823 at Patching Hall) later farmed Patching Hall which is no longer standing but the name survives in Patching Hall Lane. (Robert) Miller Christy, F.L.S. (1861-1928) the well known Essex historian, author naturalist and archaeologist was the elder son of Robert Christy and grandson of James Christy. Dr. Cuthbert Christy (1863-1932), the author, naturalist, explorer and expert in tropical diseases was younger brother of Miller Christy. Charlotte Fell Smith (1851-1937), the author and for 35 years editor of The Essex Review, was granddaughter of James Christy. She was the last surviving child of Joseph Smith, J.P., C.A. (1813-1905) of Great Saling and of Mary, eldest daughter of James Christy. James Christy who was making bricks at Broomfield by the early 1830’s married Charlotte Fell. They had nine children of whom the youngest was named Fell. James Christy was a farmer at Brownings F by 1848 and in 1873 he owned 120a. 1r. 7p. of land in Broomfield. The brick, tile and pottery works was west of Brownings Farm in a field called Pottery Field at the end of Kiln Lane. To the south of the farm Fell Christy later established the Broomfield Road Iron Works. By the mid 1850’s James Christy owned another brickworks in New Writtle Road, Chelmsford and in 1858 took his son, Fell, into partnership. They traded as James Christy and Son, farmers and brickmakers, until the partnership was dissolved in 186. Fell Christy then continued as sole proprietor of the two brickworks which became known as ‘Broomfield and Chelmsford Brick and Tile Kilns and Potter’. In the 1870’s the was a lime kiln at the Broomfield site. Fell Christ was a millwright by occupation following an apprenticeship with a millwright at Wickham Market, Suffolk. In 1858 he acquired a house and plot of land and built what became the Broomfield Road Iron Works. He built and services wind and water mills all over the country and in Ireland. He became an engineer, iron and brass founder, machinist and manufacturer of wind pumping mills quite apart from being a brickmaker and manufacturer of brickmaking machinery. The Christy Brothers Foundry, Engineering and Iron works continued until 1985, when through an amalgamation with R. Hunt and Co. Limited of Earls Colne they became Christy Hunt Engineering Limited of Earls Colne until 1988. Apparently an old black shed which stood near the Broomfield Road Iron Works was where Signor Guiseppe Marconi carried out his very first wireless transmission tests in England. He went to Col, Crompton in Chelmsford, as his works were one of the best Electrical Engineering Works in the country, and it was through the introduction by Co. Crompton of Guiseppi Marconi to fell Christy that this shed was loaned to Marconi. Later, another shed in Pottery Field was also loaned to Marconi and it was in between these tow shed, a distance of about 300 yards, that the very first wireless transmissions were made. This was probably in March, 1896 and it is thought that the tests were made along the footpath which ran diagonally across Pottery Field as shown on the 1896 OS map. There were clay pits either side of this footpath with brick and pottery kilns north east of it. Following the successful experiments of Signor Marconi across Pottery Field it later became known as Marconi Field. By 1898 Fell Christy relinquished the pottery side of the business and continued the brick and tile works. The pottery was taken over by the Bryan family who had owned the Wood Street Potteries in Chelmsford since the 1860’s. Bryan and Son also operated a coal merchants business at Broomfield. There was a board at the junction of Broomfield Road and Kiln Lane “BRYANS POTTERIES AND FELL CHRISTY’S BRICKYARD”. The last member of the Bryan family to make pottery at Broomfield was Harry Morgan Bryan. The Bryan potteries and the Christy brickyard both closed about 1912. Site Assessment: The former Kiln Lane is now called Pottery Lane. At the west end of the lane on the north side are a couple of nineteenth century red brick cottages which were probably built with bricks made on the site. The surrounding area has been developed for housing but there could be surviving remains below ground level in some of the gardens. Further cartographic analysis needed prior to any further redevelopment.