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Summary

Former location of hand-made brick and tile works, opened in 1908 and closed in 1967, with associated railway; much of site developed for housing in early 21st century

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• National Monuments Record No.: SU 57 SW 22
  SU 512 737

Monument Type(s):

• BRICK AND TILEMAKING SITE (Demolished, Late 19th century to Cold War - 1880 AD? to 1968 AD)
• BRICK DRYING SHED (Early 20th century to Cold War - 1912 AD? to 1968 AD?)
• DOWNDRAUGHT KILN (Early 20th century to Cold War - 1912 AD to 1967 AD?)
• HOFFMANN KILN (Early 20th century to Cold War - 1912 AD to 1967 AD?)
• PUG MILL (Early 20th century to Cold War - 1912 AD to 1967 AD?)
• STONE CRUSHING PLANT (Second World War to Cold War - 1945 AD to 1967 AD?)

Full Description

The Pinewood works was especially noted for the manufacture of hand made bricks and tiles. A sale catalogue of 1914 describes it as a large and successful pottery and brickworks, extending to nearly 60 acres <2>. This site was first shown on the 1912 Ordnance Survey edition, showing two buildings and a round kiln, but was extensively developed by the time of the 1933 edition <1>. It closed in 1967, but was surveyed and photographed the following year by F Roberts <3><11>. Samples of both products and manufacturing equipment were also given to Newbury Museum (FWB11632 and FWB11633). According to Prof Roberts in his 1974 article, "no trace now exists of this one-time extensive works, the site having been levelled and a new factory erected" <4>. However, disused pits and earthworks, probably associated with this industrial use, are visible on 21st century OS map layers.

The site had a private railway siding from c1907, known as Brain's Siding after the owner of the Pinewood Estate, who wanted to work the sand and chalk there. The official title of the company that was recorded in 1909 was the Pinewood estate and Kilns Company Ltd. Trains served both the sandpits and brick kilns. Coal was received for the kilns: inside the works coal was conveyed to the kilns in horse-drawn skips along a narrow gauge railway. In 1933 Pinewood Halt was opened as a stop for passenger traffic. A stone-crushing plant also existed for some time after the Second World War <5>.

The rise of Pinewood Brickworks seems to be linked with the Didcot-Newbury-Southampton railway <6>; it is suggested that bricks were made on this site for the building of the railway bridges, although this may have been on a cottage industry basis as nothing is marked on late 19th century maps. At its peak 50,000 bricks a week were transported by rail from a siding there. In the early 1920s a large continuous burning kiln was erected, used for machine made bricks. St Joseph's Church in Newbury was built of Pinewood bricks in the early 20th century. During the Second World War production ceased and the land was used for military storage, but brick making was resumed for a few years after the war, although the large kiln was not used. The site was then taken over by the Cementation Company and used for storage of road-making equipment <6>.

At the beginning of the 21st century the cementation site was developed for housing. Although a desk-based assessment considered that there was potential for archaeological remains to exist on the site <7>, later work in connection with this development failed to find any features or deposits due to late 20th century activities <8>. An archaeological watching brief in 2007 during the digging of foundations trenches for the housing only gained access to limited areas, and only observed made ground or heavily disturbed natural geology <9>.

West Berkshire Museum has a pair of photographs showing the main building in 1968-9, plus some earlier photographs from the 1950s and 1960s <13>. The Museum of English Rural Life has a small collection of items from the Pinewood Brick and Tile works <14>.

The GIS polygon for this site describes the area of industrial activity and has been derived from the 1912 OS map and the 1968 survey plan.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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