Princess Royal Brickworks, outing.
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Row
2 : All standing - left to right - 1 Ken Kear , 2 Reg Balllard , 3 Les
Wintle, 4 Percy Havers , 5 Derek Treherne, 6 Tom Cox , 7 Sid Morgan
(foreman), 8 Jim Edwards , 9 Harry Morgan.
Row
1: All kneeling - left to right - 1 Richie Cecil , 2 Trevor Roberts,
3 Wilf Ballard, 4 Elvet Rosser , 5 Jacky Morgan (manager) , 6 Bill "But" Treherne
, 7 Cliff Moore, 8 Ted Morgan, 9 ? , 10 ?. ( 9 and 10 from Viney Hill?)
Trevor Roberts played the banjo, he
was the 'entertainer' on the outings.
This occasion was an "outing" of staff from the works. A guess
at the date is 1950. The Brickworks closed not long after 1951.
The efficiency
of the brickmaking depended a lot on the weather. Rain would slow down
the process. The 'perfect' bricks from this works were made from 1 skip
of 'Bailey' clay and 2 skips of 'High Delf' clay, but no 'Bailey' and
3 of 'High Delf' had too much combustable material and the bricks would
burn.
Bailey
clay came from the tip along "The Bowsan" (road) and 'Fancy'
clay was also brought in . The clay grinding Mill was powered by electricity.
The
clay
was ground, riddled,
mixed,
pressed and fired, - 2 fires going at any
one
time. It took 2
days
for the hot bricks to cool down.
If there was too much combustible material in
the clay,the stack of bricks would melt and slip.
The nearby Charcoal works was visited by a man named Falkes (possibly from Hereford) who used the traditional charcoal making method of cords of wood covered in turf. He had a bivouac 'teepee-like' cabin complete with a hole in the top to let out smoke. It was constructed of sticks, covered with sacks of a very thick material covered with tar. Ken recalls Falkes was still producing charcoal in this way at Whitecroft in the 1930s.
Thanks to Ken Kear for many of the names and for details of the brick
and charcoal making and to John Cecil who's brother Richard worked out
of Princess Royal
hauling
the
bricks.
The
brickworks was at Saunders Green. The bricks were marked "PRC" (Princess
Royal Colliery). We think it closed in the 1950s. It
was later replaced by a sawmill. Brickworks are often associated with coal
deposits as clay is usually found with the coal. The quality of the PRC
bricks was variable and workers would often inform their friends
when
it
was "a
good
week for
bricks"
(photo by Kelly Imm)
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