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Report - - Stewartby Brickworks - 2016 - 22 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Stewartby Brickworks - 2016 - 22

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Bikin Glynn

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Stewartby Brickworks


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Stewartby village was effectively the creation of the London Brick Company and its inhabitants worked almost exclusively for that firm. Stewartby was, in many ways, a Bedfordshire version of Bournville in Birmingham, a model community established by a large manufacturing company for its workforce.

The brickworks site, dating to the latter part of the 19th century has developed organically over past 110 years and with this development the site has expanded considerably. This site, one of only several major brickworks working within the Vale was once considered to the largest in World, employing over 4,000 people and producing 18 million brick each week in 1970. The technology used at Stewartby Brickworks formed part of the Fletton brick-making process that was initially developed by brickworks near Peterborough in 1881. The Fletton process came to Marston Vale soon after and dominated the brick industry over the next 50 years.

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Following World War I the brick makers within the Oxford clay belt had amalgamated or had been taken over to form four major companies including Forders, the London Brick Company and the United and Northern Brick. By doing this the big four managed to control and stabilise costs. From 1923 most of the big four had merged forming the London Brick Company and Forders Ltd. and Percy Malcolm Stewart (Halley's son) had become Chairman. In 1927 the new company had gained a controlling interest in the Itter's Brick Company and in 1936 the merged companies simply became the London Brick Company Ltd. The merging of Marston Vale's big four greatly expanded the Stewartby site which included the construction of Stewartby's first Hoffmann kiln complexes. At the height of brick making production within the Vale there were 167 brick chimneys in the Marston Vale.

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By 1936 Stewartby brickworks was employing over 2,000 people and had become the largest brickworks in the world, producing over 500 million bricks per annum; and was certainly Bedfordshire's largest employer. By this time the Vale had become the world centre for brick making and innovation and similar to the communities in other industrial areas of Britain, the people of the vale had forged an identity with brick and clay.

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This identity was further forged by Stewartby's ethos of employing people from different ethnic groups such as Sikhs, Italians and Poles. From 1936 until the late 1970s the Stewartby site expanded with the construction of more Hoffmann kiln complexes and associated chimneys. Between these years Bedfordshire other two brickworks at Ridgmont and Kempston had declined and ceased production. By 1975 production at Stewartby had reached an all-time high with 18 million bricks being produced per week.

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The works closed in February 2008 primarily because of the difficulty in reducing Sulphur Dioxide emissions to an acceptable level.
This is one of them local places for me that Iv visited more times than I care to remember, but Iv still managed to lose pics of a lot of it (the rater cool newer warehouse with overhead crane etc) but never mind, there are still more pics than you will prob want to look at!
Had these in flickr for a month, but only just finding the time to write it up :lol

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Down and beyond

The true source of englands wealth is coal
Regular User
Nice work mate it’s a mega shame you lost the hard drive with are big explore of photos on it ! Still a acceptable report !
 

HughieD

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Really cracking set of pictures that make me even more sad I didn't come down and do this place before the inevitable happened....
 

dave

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Great report, not for the first time i see places i missed on my one and only visit and as HughieD said to late to go back now.
 

Bikin Glynn

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Really cracking set of pictures that make me even more sad I didn't come down and do this place before the inevitable happened....

Still there mate! I was surprised to learn only a bit (chimneys & kiln) have gone I believe
 

Bikin Glynn

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Great report, not for the first time i see places i missed on my one and only visit and as HughieD said to late to go back now.

as above I havent been myself but am reliably informed there is still a fair bit left
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Nice set. Lots to still see. Shame the big chimney has gone, but still see some of my favs. I do like a chimney build.:thumb
 

Hexitx

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Late reply :oops but Yes I have. If you're planning on going in there just be prepared for the deer to haunt you. There's a deer there that just follows you around a bit weird but nothing to worry about building in okish condition but cool spot to chill in and do anything you want. Just be prepared. And that's it pretty nice place. :) Worth going there unfortunately didn't take any pics.
 

Bikin Glynn

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Late reply :oops but Yes I have. If you're planning on going in there just be prepared for the deer to haunt you. There's a deer there that just follows you around a bit weird but nothing to worry about building in okish condition but cool spot to chill in and do anything you want. Just be prepared. And that's it pretty nice place. :) Worth going there unfortunately didn't take any pics.

Securideer!
Strange that anything is still standing tbh but glad it is for a little longer
 

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