Processes of Brickmaking at Little Cornard
The basic clay for both Red and White bricks was dug in the winter. It contained a high proportion of flint, necessitating a thorough washing before the resultant slurry was run into ponds known as wash pits. In the spring the clay was dug out again to be made ready for brickmaking.
This clay was then processed through the pugmill to thoroughly mix and compact the clay ready for moulding into bricks.
More labour was needed in the spring than in the winter, as there were no facilities for brickmaking in the bad weather and frost was a serious problem. The men, therefore, used to work in
the local maltings during the winter and return to the brickyard in the brickmaking season, usually from March to September or early October depending on the severity of the weather.
It is recorded that a good hand-moulder working long hours would make up to 6000 bricks per week, and in the 1930s, would be paid 12s 6d per thousand for Reds and 13s 6d per thousand for Whites. This included payment for stacking in the hacks to dry, before placing in the kilns.
Before the 1939-45 War there were two simple up-draught kilns each with a capacity of 30,000 bricks, and again, as for many other works, this necessitated closure during the war years because of
the glow from the burning kilns.
In 1945, two independent down-draught kilns, one of 15,000 and the other of 30,000 capacity, were erected.
These gave better control of firing, as pyrometers were now used, and these were inserted through the cooling holes in the dome. Compared with the old up-draught kilns, a saving of some 30 per cent in fuel costs was achieved.