Spanish Practices: Dustbin Rubbish and the London Stock Brick

摘要

In British Brick Society Information, 137, November 2017, there was a multi-authored article, to which I contributed, responding to an enquiry from a BBS member about the dust heap at King's Cross whose contents were exported to Russia to assist in the rebuilding of Moscow. There is no doubt that this dust heap, and others like it, existed in London in the first half of the nineteenth century, but the link to Moscow is more tenuous. As the article explained, there was a close relationship between the rubbish that was collected from London houses, and the style of brickmaking prevalent in the London area throughout the nineteenth century. This article explores that relationship further. My researches have led me to investigate both the rubbish business in London, and stock brick manufacturing in the London area, and particularly in the western part of Middlesex known as the Cowley district, so this is an attempt to look at the way the two occupations interacted.