Hidden in Plain Sight: The Discovery of a Brick Kiln at Bridgwater, Somerset

摘要

Beyond the county boundary, Bridgwater is probably best known today for its annual spectacular, the illuminated street carnivals held in early November. It has currently entered a period of prosperity from the development nearby of a nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C. However, historically it was the local industry of manufacturing clay bricks and tiles which brought it fame across the globe, particularly those countries of the former British Empire as well as nearer home with a significant input into the coastal trade. Coal from South Wales' mines could be ferried across the Bristol Channel by ships such as ketches, often built in Bridgwater, to the kilns along the river, each yard with its own landing slip. This trade continued into the twentieth century, one of the last general traders built and launched in 1907 being the Irene, 85ft long and registered to carry 165 tons. She was owned by Colthurst, Symons, arguably the largest brick and tile company in Somerset.1 From the works upstream, the clay products were steered by manual labour using barges to the docks where they entered by their own dedicated lock. There were many factors in Bridgwater's favour: the most self-evident being the geology of the landscape being predominantly that of gravel with alluvial clay and Keuper Marl (what is now termed Mercian Mudstone).~2 The town was located on Somerset's longest river, the Parrett, flowing into the Bristol Channel and fed from the canals and river navigations of the hinterland. It was a busy port enhanced in the 1840s by the construction of a floating harbour comprising a tidal basin and an inner dock with a sluicing system and dragboat to control and flush away the tidal river's slime.~3 By 1871 the docks had a rail link to the main Bristol & Exeter (later GWR) line; but within many of yards rail took the form of narrow gauge tramways.~4.