Agricultural History Review, Volume 70 Part 2 (2022), p. 326

In the introduction to his book, David Johnson considers questions such as: What is a brick? Where in Britain were bricks made? At what rate did brickworks decline? Indeed, the whole book is written against the background of the demise of brickworks in Britain from a peak of 1,739 works in 1873 to only 50 by the year 2010. Johnson then examines the geology of the areas where brickworks have been constructed, along with the different sources of clay used for brickmaking. In chapter 3, an overview of the history of the brick in Britain is presented: starting with the use of brick by the Romans, there was limited brick usage after 410 A.D. except in high-status buildings, but then a rapid increase in their use was observed from the late eighteenth century onwards, the latter arising from improving kiln technology and the increased demand for housing as the population of the country expanded. Likewise, there was a demand for brick for the construction of farm and other industrial buildings at this time, especially in areas where stone was not available. Brickmaking also provided by-employment for those involved in agriculture as illustrated in this book with the example of the Scots farmer, John Ainslie, who patented various designs for brick technology (p. 55). Johnson also explains the construction and use of early clamp kilns which were temporary and/or movable structures.

Chapter 4 looks at the various stages in the preparation of the raw materials needed to make ‘green bricks’ ready for drying to be followed by firing. Subsequent chapters then present the chronological development of fixed permanent brick kilns. From the updraught and downdraught technologies, chapter 6 moves on to examine the progressive development of continuous kilns, culminating in the Hoffman kiln and its derivatives which are considered in chapter 7. In the following chapter, tunnel and shuttle kilns are examined where either cartloads of brick are slowly drawn through the kiln, or where the bricks are placed in the kiln (set), fired and then removed from the kiln (drawn). Finally, chapter 9 identifies where preserved (and not so well preserved) brickworks can be found, in their role as heritage assets, demonstrating the differing types of kilns.

It would have been helpful to have had further diagrams, similar to that on p. 73, explaining the operation of the various kiln designs in order to assist the reader’s understanding of their functionality and their differences. A short glossary for the lay reader would also have been useful. In the early pages of the book, there are cases of numerical slips: for example, on p. 7, Johnson states, ‘By 1858, across Britain over 1,400 brickworks were in existence, a number that had shrunk to 1,739 by 1873’; two further examples occur on p. 10. Apart from two minor typographical errors and the misspelling of Ashby de la Zouch (‘Ashby de la Zouche’ on p. 9), this book is produced to a high standard and is well illustrated with both historic images and modern-day scenes of operational and non-operational brickworks. Whilst there is not a single reference in the whole book – indeed, the book has no pretentions to be an academic volume – a three-page bibliography is provided, along with an index of sites.

The author clearly knows his subject and, on the whole, he puts over the history of the development of brick kilns in a clear and concise manner, although more operational detail would have helped the understanding of the overall process of brickmaking, as suggested by the book’s main title.