Site of post-medieval brickworks, New Moor Farm (EHER 11324)

Brickfields at New Moor Farm which are shown on the 1790 map. The brickworks closed in 1901 and the gasworks were later built in this field.

Brickfields at New Moor Farm. A brickyard is shown on the 1790 map, located just off the present Station Road, approximately where the gas works were. <1> This site was copyhold of the manor of Southminster Hall and around the 1830s there was a messuage, brick kiln and premises thereon, called "The Brickfield" in the occupation of John Hicks. The gas works were later built in this field. It was described as a "swampy" field with a good supply of water flowing through it controlled by a sluice gate as it flowed towards the marshes. The last operators were Messrs Baines and Prior who in 1899 bought a new brickmaking machine which made 1,200 bricks per hour. They also had four iron pugmills, a portable engine and various barrows. The brickworks closed in 1901 when Mr Prior continued his boat building business in Southminster. <2>