Bursledon Brickworks Museum

Bursledon Brickworks were built in 1897 by Robert and Edward Ashby. The Ashby family were partners in Hooper & Ashby, a Southampton-based builders' merchants. Both the Ashbys and the Hoopers were Quakers, from Staines in Middlesex. Edward Hooper, began the original business. He moved to Southampton at the age of 26 in the early 1850s. In the early days, he appears in the various business directories as a civil engineer/architect. At some point his brother, Charles, joined him and they began making bricks. These were sold under the name Hooper & Co. Edward soon saw an opportunity to set up a larger business and took out a lease on Baltic Wharf in Chapel Road. Here he began trading as a builders' merchant selling all kinds of materials including their own bricks. This proved to be successful. In the mid 19th century Southampton was expanding rapidly. He outgrew the first warehouse and took out a second lease for American Wharf.[6] In 1860 Edward married Harriet Ashby - linking the two families together - and her brother, Edmund joined the business a year later and it was renamed: Hooper & Ashby. It went on to be very successful with stores all along the south coast.

By 1885, Edward Hooper had died leaving the Ashby family to run both the brick making and builders merchants businesses. Seeing the market for large numbers of bricks opening up in the area they opened a new brickyard in Chandlers Ford. Here they concentrated on making large numbers of machine made bricks. This was a successful strategy and they only moved when the clay started to run out. The bricks were still being made under the name Hooper & Co.

They started to explore options open to them and eventually settled on a site at Lower Swanwick. This was on the banks of the River Hamble and had plenty of 'brick earth'. The silty clay from the river had mixed over millions of years with sand from the sea creating a very deep seem of sandy clay - perfect for brick making. In 1897 the new brickworks were built and started producing their first bricks.

The men who worked in the brickworks mostly lived nearby. Most of them worked as labourers either digging the clay, making the bricks or tending the kiln. All of these jobs were physically demanding. They worked in gangs and were paid according to how many bricks they contributed towards each day. The pace they set was fast as they were keen to earn as much as possible. The pay was good in comparison with other labouring jobs in the area. There was competition from the local market gardens (growing the strawberries for London) and the various boatyards on the River Hamble. Neither of these paid as well as the Brickworks did - as long as you could keep up the pace.

The clay gang dug the clay from the clay pits. This work was dependent on the weather. If it was too wet or dry they wouldn't be able to dig as much clay as usual. Their pay could vary from 10s to 30s a week. The clay was taken to the machine using narrow gauge railway wagons. These were hauled up an inclined plane to the top of the brick making machine.

The machine gang were responsible for getting the bricks from the machine and into the drying sheds. They used wooden barrows to do this, pushing 40 bricks at a time. They ran approximately 15 miles a day with their barrows up and down the long corridors that divided the drying sheds. It as hot work as the drying sheds operated at around 25*C.

When the bricks were dry the kiln gang took over and their job was to take the bricks on barrows (50 at a time now) down to the kiln and stack the kiln chambers. This was the hardest job as the kiln chambers were still very hot and filled with the fumes from the coal burning. They earned more than anyone else on site but it was hard work.

The brickworks finally closed in 1974, and the site was later saved from demolition by the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust. The south section of Bursledon Brickworks which houses the brick kiln, chimney, drying sheds, boiler and engine house are Grade II* listed.[8] The north section was demolished and the land was acquired by the National Air Traffic Services. NATS operate the London Area Control Centre and London Terminal Control Centre. As site owners, they have provided funding for the Swanwick Lakes Wildlife Reserve project managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.[9]

The Bursledon Brickworks Trust which ran from July 1997 – February 2007 was replaced by the Bursledon Brickworks Museum Trust in November 2016.[10] The museum has charitable status.

In 2012, the Heritage Lottery Fund granted Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust funding of £666,300[11] to create the museum. The museum opened in 2014. It is now fully accredited and open to the public three days a week from April through to October.

The largest part of the collection is the museum itself. It still has all its original buildings and working machinery. Over the last twenty years or so the collection has broadened and it now has one of the largest collections of bricks and brick making artifacts in the UK.

The working machine is kept in working condition and is steamed up once a month for special events. The original boilers no longer work and steam is generated via a modern boiler.[12][13]

The Southampton and District Transport Heritage Trust keep a collection of heritage buses on the site. They help the museum by providing a bus service for some of the events during the year. Likewise, Southampton Historic Steam and Engineering Society are based on the museum site. They create two large steam based events each year with visiting traction engines.

The museum has both a narrow-gauge railway and a miniature railway on site. The narrow-gauge runs as part of larger museum events. A diesel shunter and rolling stock is used to demonstrate how the railway once operated. The miniature railway also runs at events and offers rides for children.