Brick and tile works on Ebernoe Common, 592m SSW of Mill House

Reasons for Designation

The brick and tile works on Ebernoe Common, 592m SSW of Mill House are a rare example of a small 18th century industrial manufacturing site used in the production of bricks and tiles. The clay pits are the result of the extraction of the raw material for the tiles and bricks. After it was dug the clay would have been left to break down over the winter and then mixed with sand and lime. It was then ground in the pug mill and the brick or tiles were shaped in the moulding shed. They were then dried in the drying shed on racks. Once dry they would be fired in the updraught kiln. This would have reached a temperature of around 1100 degrees centigrade and was heated continually, drawing air from underneath. The brick and tile works on Ebernoe Common have not been disturbed by later development and are an unusual survival given that the works were never enlarged or mechanised. Despite restoration, the timber-fired updraught kiln is of particular interest.

Details

The monument is situated on gently sloping ground on Ebernoe Common near Brickkiln Rough. It includes a brick and tile works, dating from at least the 18th century, with an updraught kiln, moulding shed and two of the clay pits which exist in the vicinity. The drying sheds and a pug mill survive as buried remains. The restored updraught kiln is rectangular in plan and constructed of red brick. It has an open top firing chamber with brick buttressing on three sides. Below ground level on the fourth side are the stokeholes, which are sheltered by a tiled roof. It has twin stokeholes with semi-circular brick arches to the fire box and a perforated raised floor on which to place the bricks in the firing chamber. The kiln was originally fired by wood. There is documentary evidence for brickworks at Ebernoe in 1693. However the brickworks on this site are first shown on maps of 1795 by William Gardner and Thomas Gream, which record the layout in some detail. It changed very little between 1795 until the works went out of use during the 1930's. It is shown as 'The Brickkiln, house, yards, garden' on a map of 1813 at which time it was owned by William Peachey Esq. The updraught kiln was restored between 1980 and 1982.

Sources: West Sussex HER 1852 - MWS5175. NMR SU92NE13. PastScape 249799. 2009. Weald & Downland Open Air Museum Service to Schools. Making Bricks by Hand. URL: http://www.openairclassroom.org.uk/Further%20information/information-making%20bricks%20by%20hand.htm [Accessed 29-JUL-2009].

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

WS 482

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

End of official list entry

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