Stop 10: The Gate Posts and Brickworks-Information
The Gate Posts
These fine gate posts with terracotta decoration, mark the original entrance to the Brickworks and Glen House, where the manager lived. Glen House and the gate posts are made with Rowlands Castle Brick which have the characteristic RC markings on the frog of the bricks.
The brickworks have been demolished but Glen House, down the drive, still exists and is now a private dwelling. A number of small ponds represent the sites of clay pits as can be seen in the Deerleap Lane development on the site of the old Brickworks
Later, the entrance to the brickworks was through Brickyard Lane, now Deerleap Lane, which leads to a gated housing estate built on the site of the Brickworks.
Brick Making in Rowlands Castle
The clay soil around Rowlands Castle is very suitable for brick making and this was certainly undertaken in the Roman times. Roman bricks were less deep than modern bricks and have been found locally where once two large Roman villas stood. Originally bricks were made by the sun-drying of the clay but later they were dried in kilns which made the bricks stronger and much less likely to crack.
In Rowlands Castle there were sites of seasonal brickworks, established where demand arose. Making bricks on site, avoided the need for transport of the very heavy bricks over poor unmade roads. The clay was dug from April through the summer and then left over the following winter to be broken down by frost, to allow it to be worked by hand. The winter made the clay soft and removed unwanted oxides. The bricks were formed in wooden moulds by hand and stacked into a clamp, dried and fired on site.
Local brick making facilities have been found in Red Hill, Durrants, and Manor Lodge. These were built for local building projects, such as Leigh Park House near Durrants. These local brickworks had ceased to exist by the end of the 19th Century, by which time they had been overtaken by the much larger brickworks in Rowlands Castle, near the railway, down the path where you are standing.
The repeal of the Brick Tax in 1850 and the railway between London and Portsmouth, which was opened in 1859 would likely have been the catalysts for the establishment of permanent brickworks. Transport was a prime cost and good communications were essential to the placing of a brickworks if it was to conduct trade outside its immediate vicinity.
The Rowlands Castle Brickworks were started sometime after 1846 and the company letter heading of the Rowlands Castle Brickworks states that the company was established in 1884.
The mill at that time would have been horse operated and used to knead the clay prior to moulding. At that time the bricks were probably hand-moulded and stacked in covered sheds to dry.
The brickworks were modernised by several private owners over the years. In 1959 the brick works were purchased by Robert J. Winnicott, a businessman originally from Portsmouth, who already owned the large house, Deerleap, which was next to the works.
The Brickworks continued to operate until 1968 at which time it was producing 7,000,000 bricks per year. Sadly, it was unable to compete with the larger brick makers and was demolished in 1968.