Another Easter school holiday excursion with junior. We had noticed the chimney sticking up in the countryside outside Moreton (53.400007, -3.136186) so went to have a look. It tuned out be a little brickworks. There is already a report on here https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/barker-briscoe-brickworks-moreton-june-2012.71841/ so I’ll borrow their history:
“A Brickworks has stood on this site for over 100 years, and the clay to make the bricks was excavated from the same site. Dennis Morgan Jnr. acquired the site back in 1981 and the quarrys that were excavated for the clay were back-filled with household waste from Liverpool by Morgan's fleet of tipper Trucks. The site was also a base for Morgan's other businesses including his wife's Civil Engineering business 'Brock', and his skip business 'Wirral Waste’. At its peak, the Brickworks could produce 230,000 bricks per week. The site closed in 1991, although there have been plans over the last few years to re-open as a Landfill Site once again.” To this I can add that there were several claypits and brickworks in the area, with the current kiln probably built in the early 1930’s.
Site office and reception - not much brick-related material inside.
Drying shed. This is where the raw bricks were partially dried before being fired. The bricks were probably moulded in the adjoining shed behind, but this is currently in use for something else (men were working in there).
Over to the kiln. This has 20 fire-brick lined chambers, most empty, some still containing bricks.
The way this type of kiln works is as follows - and I had to look this up. The chambers are connected up by tunnels and vents to form a continuous circuit around the perimeter of the building. Only one or two chambers are in use at any time - coal is shovelled through holes in the roof to fuel the burn, and when the bricks are cooked the next couple of chambers are fired up. Fans circulate air around the circuit which gets pre-heated by passing through the previously fired bricks (and thus cooling them) and after passing through the burn preheats the next batch along ready for firing. Production is thus circular and continuous.
Side view showing coal chutes and lateral vents at floor level.
Tunnels which connect the pairs of chambers at either end of the building to form the circuit, and a view along the vents at floor level.
Views up and down through the exhaust holes - these would have been connected to ducts upstairs.
Views from both ends of the upstairs - a sort of bricky lunar landscape scattered with coal. Only the main ducts survive - the connecting pieces together with the baffles to regulate the flow have gone.
It looks as if the kiln may have modified to burn gas (or possibly oil?) at some stage - there is a little building outside containing what looks like a gas supply. The object on the right seems to be a large gas burner.
Other stuff upstairs.
Air was circulated by a couple of large fans attached to main ducts, with the exhaust going down a little tunnel, now partially flooded, to the chimney.
Not the most exciting of explores, but interesting nonetheless. Hoffmann kilns like this one are still used for burning bricks (and lime) in third world countries because they are simple and relatively efficient. There are a few still left in the UK, some of which are listed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoffmann_kiln.
“A Brickworks has stood on this site for over 100 years, and the clay to make the bricks was excavated from the same site. Dennis Morgan Jnr. acquired the site back in 1981 and the quarrys that were excavated for the clay were back-filled with household waste from Liverpool by Morgan's fleet of tipper Trucks. The site was also a base for Morgan's other businesses including his wife's Civil Engineering business 'Brock', and his skip business 'Wirral Waste’. At its peak, the Brickworks could produce 230,000 bricks per week. The site closed in 1991, although there have been plans over the last few years to re-open as a Landfill Site once again.” To this I can add that there were several claypits and brickworks in the area, with the current kiln probably built in the early 1930’s.
Site office and reception - not much brick-related material inside.
Drying shed. This is where the raw bricks were partially dried before being fired. The bricks were probably moulded in the adjoining shed behind, but this is currently in use for something else (men were working in there).
Over to the kiln. This has 20 fire-brick lined chambers, most empty, some still containing bricks.
The way this type of kiln works is as follows - and I had to look this up. The chambers are connected up by tunnels and vents to form a continuous circuit around the perimeter of the building. Only one or two chambers are in use at any time - coal is shovelled through holes in the roof to fuel the burn, and when the bricks are cooked the next couple of chambers are fired up. Fans circulate air around the circuit which gets pre-heated by passing through the previously fired bricks (and thus cooling them) and after passing through the burn preheats the next batch along ready for firing. Production is thus circular and continuous.
Side view showing coal chutes and lateral vents at floor level.
Tunnels which connect the pairs of chambers at either end of the building to form the circuit, and a view along the vents at floor level.
Views up and down through the exhaust holes - these would have been connected to ducts upstairs.
Views from both ends of the upstairs - a sort of bricky lunar landscape scattered with coal. Only the main ducts survive - the connecting pieces together with the baffles to regulate the flow have gone.
It looks as if the kiln may have modified to burn gas (or possibly oil?) at some stage - there is a little building outside containing what looks like a gas supply. The object on the right seems to be a large gas burner.
Other stuff upstairs.
Air was circulated by a couple of large fans attached to main ducts, with the exhaust going down a little tunnel, now partially flooded, to the chimney.
Not the most exciting of explores, but interesting nonetheless. Hoffmann kilns like this one are still used for burning bricks (and lime) in third world countries because they are simple and relatively efficient. There are a few still left in the UK, some of which are listed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoffmann_kiln.
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