During the second part of the 19th century, brickfields and small brickworks sprung up along the Kent coast from Gravesend to Faversham, an area highly suitable for brick making because of an abundance of brick earth and the rivers Medway and Swale which allowed for barge transportation.
Wakeley Brothers, the largest and most influential farming company in the Upchurch area, produced top fruit and hops which gave local people employment. They decided to establish their own brickworks as another branch of their business in 1862. The works were constructed on land located on the right side of Brick Hill in Poot Lane as you go down the hill.
Details of the Poot Lane site are limited as Wakeley Brothers historical records and photos were destroyed in a fire at their Spade Lane warehouse in Hartlip some years ago. However, an Ordnance Survey map of the area dated 1896 shows details of the site.
Click map to enlarge.
A tramway system existed and it connected most parts of the site. A tram line also extended to Twinney Wharf and a branch of this veered off at Wetham Green and led to a sand pit opposite the present day entrance to The Poles housing estate. This enabled sand to be transported back to the brickworks for the brick making process. Another sand pit existed on the Wetham Green side of the brickworks.
Using other brickworks for comparison, the Poot Lane site would have consisted of berths for making the bricks, brick kilns for firing the bricks and brick lined pits about four feet deep containing water known as wash mills. These were used for mixing materials. A wash back (a pond) was used for storing the material to keep it pliable. The 1896 map of the site shows a pond located on the bottom right of Brick hill. A pug mill, a large conical shaped wooden container was used for mixing materials and for separating clay from the soil with an ejection hole at the end of the container.
On the Poot Lane, site brick earth was probably dug from Brick Hill as there is still a deep crater visible on the top right of the hill between Red Brick Cottage and the entrance to Spring Bank. The lower right of the hill also shows evidence of earth removal. Brick earth and sand were two important ingredients in the brick making process.
After passing through the brick making stages, the finished bricks were placed in a large storage area known as the Hack which resembled an open sided shed. The bricks were stored there to dry for a period of five to seven weeks. Brick rubble and ash were placed on the Hack floor to prevent rising damp getting into the bricks stored on top. Wheelbarrows, horses and carts and the tram system on which jubilee trucks operated would have carried heavy loads of bricks to and from here.
The finished bricks with the initials WB imprinted on them were probably transported on horse drawn jubilee trucks by tram rail from the brickworks to Twinney Wharf from where barges loaded consignments and delivered these to locations along the river and to London.
Remains of the brickworks site are still visible although much is obscured by trees and undergrowth. Near the top of the hill is a brick made kiln chimney almost as high as the surrounding trees and a brick building that once served as the site office. Further down the hill, adjacent to the road, is a row of beehive shaped kilns with low level brickwork in front and amongst the trees what is believed to be a winch block. Other parts of the former brickworks have been demolished and cleared.
Some of the original tied farm cottages built with Wakeley Brothers bricks for the company workers in Upchurch can still be seen. For example, Red Brick Cottage (formerly Red Brick Cottages) in Poot Lane, Wetham Green Cottages at Wetham Green and Otterham Cottages and Plantation Cottages in Horsham Lane.
The Poot Lane brickworks functioned during the second half of the 19th and the early part of the 20th centuries and then closed probably because of cheaper mass production in bigger brickfields such as Eastwoods Brickfield in Otterham Quay Lane and at Lower Halstow.
The site of the Poot Lane brickworks is now the location of a bungalow with a yard named Spring Bank with adjoining agricultural land belonging to Bill Manley.
David Wood
About David
David Wood was born, raised and still lives in Upchurch today. He is able to write from personal experience about village life and the changes that have taken place over the years, making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable and detailed historical study of the village.
David's book is available from David at david3702001@yahoo.co.uk or from us here at Upchurch Matters. Price £12 + postage and packing.
