SNN103917 - Brickmaking in Holy Sepulchre Parish, Northampton

There is only one area of brickworkings recorded in the Holy Sepulchre parish of Northampton and this dated from at least 1755, with production continuing to c 1925. During the middle of the 18th century, there were two separate adjacent kiln sites totalling c 10 acres, positioned in a field next to a turnpike road half way between Northampton and Kingsthorpe. The evidence points to both sites being run as a single large scale business by a brickmaker while being owned by wealthy residents in Northampton. Later 19th century owners were more often brickmakers, for instance, the Johnson family who worked in all aspects of the building trade including the buying of land. The area was the only brick kiln shown on the pre-1825 map of Northampton and the 1827 Bryant map shows it was by far the biggest workings in the Northampton area. The brick kilns are on six maps from the pre-1825 map to the 1901 map. Buildings on the site are shown as sparsely distributed and short-lived structures. They are initially relatively small and rectangular but by the later 19th century they were often larger and a few were circular. In the later 19th century the brickworking expanded from the original site to include areas adjacent to the north in Kingsthorpe parish so that in all, four separate brick kiln owners were producing on the site. By the end of the centurymost of Northampton's brickmakers worked in this area but outside mass-produced bricks and the lack of new house building in Northampton from c1890 resulted in successive kiln closures.