19th to 20th century brickworks, Bulmer Brick and Tile Company, Broad Road (EHER 9458)

Brick and tile works, the site consists of a kiln, workshops and sheds for drying the bricks and tiles. The buildings are probably of 19th and 20th century date.

Monument description derived from merging EHER 9458 and 9459. Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: This site is the works of the Bulmer Brick and Tile Co, still producing hand-made bricks etc. On the site there are two derelict rectangular up-draught kilns of 1870-1900, approximately 20' x 10', with flues at ground level on the long side, and opposed loading and unloading openings on the short side. Now replaced by circular down-draught kiln of the 1930's Site assessment 1975: Kilns derelict and unused. Owner has considered demolition. <1> There is evidence that one of the kilns was converted from up-draught to down-draught operation. At about the same time the second kiln was built new as a downdraught kiln. It is not known when they were built but they were last used in about 1939. <2> Plan and section of one of the kilns in SMR. <3> Kilns are marked on copy of OS map in SMR. <4> Bulmer brick works still makes hand-made bricks. Process is described in this newspaper article. Site Assessment = The only brick works in Essex producing hand-made bricks. <5> 1997. Field survey This hand made brickworks which is still manufacturing bricks using the old traditional methods is situated at Hole Farm on the north side of the road between Castle Hedingham and Bulmer Tye. This site has probably been manufacturing clay products, albeit intermittently, for several centuries and is still in production. Objects from various periods including Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and Saxon have been found on or near the site together with a medieval or Tudor kiln containing roof peg tiles ready for firing. The present brickworks has been in continuous use for at least 160 years. John English was owner and occupier of Hole Farm and the ‘Brick Yard’ extending to just over 8 acres until the early 1840’s. He was followed by George English who acquired adjacent land and by 1873 owned some 21 acres with his son, George William English owning a further 2 to 3 acres. In 1880 George William English succeeded his father and retained ownership until his death in 1920. The brickworks was thereafter purchased by Parker and French who sold them in 1923 to George E. Gray Limited who were principally timber importers, moulding and joinery manufacturers and general builders merchants with its Head Office in Ilford and a branch at Grays. In 1936 George E. Gray Limited sold the brickworks to Lawrence Albert Minter and the Bulmer Brick and Tile Company Limited was then incorporated. The current directors are Peter William and Alison Margaret Minter and their sons Anthony and David Minter. Products: Apart from bricks which have been made throughout, the English family also made ‘speciality’ roofing tiles and land drainage pipes together with floor bricks and pamments (both red and white). During the second world war the Bulmer Brick and Tile Company Limited made large quantities of land drainage pipes for use on airfields and during the mid and late 1940’s hand made glazed pottery, roofing tiles, facing bricks and brickettes for fireplaces were also produced. This brickworks now specialises in making a large variety of shaped bricks mainly for high quality restoration work on old buildings. Use of products: Quite apart from the extensive use of Bulmer Bricks for restoration work one of the last new houses to be built entirely with hand made Bulmer bricks was Kings Walden Bury, Hertfordshire in 1971. Of the hundreds of buildings in England repaired with Bulmer bricks, which are far to numerous to specify, some of the most outstanding include Hampton Court Palace, St. James’s Palace, Windsor Castle and the Tower of London. It is appropriate to record some of the Essex buildings which include Rochford, Ballingdon, Gosfield and Panfield Halls, Layer Marney Towers, Pleshey Castle and the Churches at Wickham St. Paul, Maldon, Rayleigh, Rochford, Great Baddow and Feering together with St. Osyth Priory, Coggeshall Abbey, Felsted School and the Dock at Flatford Mill. Brick marks: BULMER B.B. (Bulmer brick). Successive owners of this brickworks have also farmed Hole Farm which now extends to 150 acres. Up to 1939 there were three up draught Scotch kilns in use, each holding 36,000 bricks, two of which are still standing. Since 1937 the present down-draught ‘beehive’ kiln has been used which contains about 12 to 13,000 bricks. The peak was achieved in the late 1930’s when about 30 men were employed producing about two million bricks a year together with ridge and peg tiles. When the author first visited here in 1968 the workforce was down to two men. It has since increased to an average of seven, including women, with an annual output of up to 150,000. This brickworks is still intact and comprises one down draught kiln still in use, two old up draught kilns no longer used, hacks, drying sheds, brickmaking sheds, workshop and store shed for making and storing moulds, old and new clay pits. Of major technological importance the site merits detailed recording comprising block plan, drawings of kilns, photography and written synthesis. <6> See also: <7>