ÿþ<HTML LANG=en-GB> <HEAD> <TITLE>The Derelict Miscellany :: Ebernoe Brickworks</TITLE> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="sussex, wildlife, nature, reserve, ebernoe, brickworks, brickfield, kiln, common, rough, weald, abandoned, disused"> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Opened in 1795, Ebernoe Brickworks has now been partly restored and forms part of a large nature reserve."> <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="ALL"> <link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"> </head> <body link="#668b8b" bgcolor="darkgray" text="000000" vlink="#668b8b"> <center> <table width=1044> <tr><td> <table width=1044 cellspacing=0> <tr background="gam_print_ordsvywat-sun-171278517207606.jpg"> <td background="gam_print_ordsvywat-sun-171278517207606.jpg" align=right><A HREF="index.html"><img src=1.jpg border=0></a></td><td background="gam_print_ordsvywat-sun-171278517207606.jpg" align=center> <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" HREF="index.html"><h1>T H E &nbsp D E R E L I C T &nbsp M I S C E L L A N Y</H1></A> R e f l e c t i o n s &nbsp o n &nbsp f o r g o t t e n &nbsp a n d &nbsp a b a n d o n e d &nbsp s p a c e s <br><br> </td><td background="gam_print_ordsvywat-sun-171278517207606.jpg" align=left><A HREF="index.html"><img src=2.jpg border=0></a></td></tr></table> </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#EEE9E9"> <center> <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="http://derelictmisc.org.uk/index.html">{home} </a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="http://derelictmisc.org.uk/menu2.html">{menu} </a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="aboot.html">{about} </a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="cont.html">{contact} </a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none"href="http://twitter.com/DerelictMisc" target="blank">{twitter}</a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="disc.html">{disclaimer}</a> &nbsp &nbsp <a href="#" STYLE="text-decoration: none" onClick="window.open('veh/index.html','', 'width=589,height=577,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;"> {rusty old cars}</A> &nbsp &nbsp <a href="#" STYLE="text-decoration: none" onClick="window.open('misc/menu.html','', 'width=870,height=482,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;"> {miscellany}</A> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="links.html">{links}</a> &nbsp &nbsp <a indepth="true" STYLE="text-decoration: none" href="contrib.html">{contribute} </a> </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=#EEE9E9><table width=100% bgcolor="#EEE9E9"> <td width=13></td><td> <center><br><u><font size="5">Ebernoe Brickworks</font></u><br></center> <b>What:</B> Brickworks <BR> <b>Where:</B> Ebernoe, West Sussex <BR> <b>Built:</b> Before 1795 <BR> <b>Architect:</b> Unknown <BR> <b>Abandoned:</b> 1930s <BR> <b>Listed:</b> Scheduled Ancient Monument <BR><b>Visited:</b> 2006<BR> <b>Last Known Condition:</b> Restored as part of a nature reserve. <br><b>Page Updated:</b> February 2011<BR> <br>Though now a National Nature Reserve and home to thousands of native and naturalised species, many of them rare, Ebernoe Common has a long history of rural industry. In the past the inhabitants of the surrounding villages and even those from further afield were quick to recognise and make use of its many natural resources. The earliest uses of this land were grazing and woodland management but later uses have included ironworking, charcoal burning and brickmaking, of which it is the latter which has left the most visible and easily identifiable mark. <br><br> Brickmaking on Ebernoe Common dates from at least 1795 when a brickfield was shown on the present site (in the east of the the Common) by Gardner, Yeakell and Gream's Topographical Map of the County of Sussex, but there is evidence that bricks were being made in the area as early as 1693, when a Mr. Marks was paid for carrying bricks from Ebernoe to Petworth. As the brickyard on the Common is thought to have initially supplied only the Petworth Estate, it did not appear in trade directories or other records until the mid-nineteenth century, when the occupier was a Mr. James Coles. After this, the works were operated by a Mr. Edward Phillips and then by Messrs. Ephraim and Robert Holden of Sparks Farm, before they closed in the 1930s. <font size="1">[1]</font> The remains of the old brickworks stand on the edge of the descriptively named Brickkiln Rough in the east of the Common. They comprise a restored brick moulding house, a number of water-filled depresssions which were created by clay extraction and a small updraught kiln, all of which are thought to date to the 17th or early 18th century. <font size="1">[2]</font> <center><br> <font color="black"> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/PIC_1207.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The moulding shed." height=175 src="industrial/PIC_1207.jpg" border=0> </A> . <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/PIC_1194.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="A stagnant and midge infested pool marks the location of one of the claypits." height=175 src="industrial/PIC_1194.jpg" border=0> </A> . <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/PIC_1187.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The Suffolk kiln." height=175 src="industrial/PIC_1187.jpg" border=0> </A> . <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/PIC_1162.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The firing chamber." height=175 src="industrial/PIC_1162.jpg" border=0> </A> <br>.<br> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/PIC_1159.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The 'porch' covering the two stokeholes." height=175 src="industrial/PIC_1159.jpg" border=0> </A> . <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/PIC_1166.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The stokeholes." height=175 src="industrial/PIC_1166.jpg" border=0> </A> . <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/PIC_1168.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The left tunnel." height=175 src="industrial/PIC_1168.jpg" border=0> </A> . <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/PIC_1180.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The right tunnel." height=175 src="industrial/PIC_1180.jpg" border=0> </A> <br><br> </font> </center> The brickworks is unusual in that it was never mechanised and underwent no major modification. Indeed its layout, first recorded in detail on a map of 1829 remained unchanged up until its closure in the 1930s. Although most of the structures on site were removed some time after closure, the remaining buildings are good examples of 17th or 18th Century industrial buildings and accordingly the site has been designated a scheduled ancient monument. <font size="1">[1a]</font> <br><a href="#" onClick="window.open('mapebernoe.htm','', 'width=347,height=336,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" HREF="mapebernoe.htm"><u><font size=3>Click here</font></u></A> to open a map of the site as it was before closure, reproduced from the on-site information board. <br> The kiln is the most interesting part of the site, and along with the moulding shed was fully restored in 2000 with the aid of grants from both English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund. <font size="1">[3]</font> It is an updraught kiln of the 'Suffolk' type with two fire tunnels below an open (i.e. there was no permanent roof) firing chamber, which had a capacity of 18,000 standard bricks <font size="1">[1b]</font> and could be covered either by means of a temporary roof or a layer of burnt bricks or ash. To aid loading and unloading the kiln is set into a bank which would also have provided better insulation than a freestanding kiln of the same type (known as a Scotch kiln). <font size="1">[4]</font> The four brick pillars on the corners of the firing chamber were a relatively late addition, and are believed to have supported windbreaks whose function was to reduce cooling of the bricks by the wind. <font size="1">[1c]</font> <br> The site is now part of a 385½ acre nature reserve owned and managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust and can be freely visited by all. <br><br> <center><font size="1.5"> <u>SOURCES OF INFORMATION</u> <br> [1, 1a, 1b, 1c], West Sussex County Council. (2000) "Ebernoe Brickworks" [information board mounted on the moulding shed on-site]. Noted on site visit: 27/07/06 <br><br> [2] Fletcher, N. (2002) 'Sussex Nature Reserves, A visitor's guide to our best wildlife sites', pp. 40-43. Henfield, Sussex Wildlife Trust. <br><br> [3] Sussex Wildlife Trust, (2000) Restoration plaque mounted on the moulding shed. Noted on site visit: 27/07/06 <br><br> [4] Evans, B. &amp; Reilly, J. [?] (Isle of Wight Industrial Archaeology Society, 2006), "Isle of Wight Brickmaking History, Brickmaking Methods" Available at: http://freespace.virgin.net/roger.hewitt/iwias/bricks.htm. Accessed: 02/08/06 <br><br> </font><center><font size="1.5"></font><b> <a indepth="true" href="index.html">Home..</a></b><br> <br> </td><td width=13></td></tr></table> </TD></TR><TR><TD bgcolor="#EEE9E9" ALIGN=CENTER> <font size=1>Derelict Miscellany. Website &amp; content Copyright D. A. Gregory 2005-Present unless stated to be otherwise.</font> </td></tr></table> </font> </body> </html>