Residents have their say on historic brick kiln

Monday 15 April 2019

One of Guernsey’s last remaining brick kilns should be incorporated into a heritage trail including the Little Chapel and the Underground Hospital.

That was one of the most popular ideas aired at a public consultation aimed at gathering views into what should happen to the building, a protected monument standing at Brickfields in St Andrews.

The seven metre high kiln was built in the first half 19^th century, producing thousands of Best-branded bricks for the building boom in military strongholds during the Napoleonic wars. 

Pictured: The Brickfield kiln. 

The relatively soft quality of Guernsey bricks was useful because they absorbed bullets, instead of causing potentially fatal ricochets. Locals used surplus bricks for their homes. But by the beginning of the 20^th century harder bricks began to be imported from the mainland in exchange for granite. During the height of the fort construction era there were 33 brick kilns across the Channel Islands; now there are just three. The other two are at Oatlands. 

The Brickfield kiln now belongs to the States and sits on land managed by Guernsey Water. Since falling into disuse it’s now in a dilapidated state, with the three metre chimney stack of particular concern. 

Guernsey Water has instructed WYG heritage consultants to produce a conservation plan for the Brickfield kiln. On Thursday they set up camp at Guernsey Yacht Club to collect views on how it should be conserved and interpreted in the future. "Making it structurally safe is one thing but how it’s left for people to experience is something else entirely," explained Emma Baxter, Assistant Heritage Consultant at WYG. "How accessible do people realistically want it to be and with what level of interpretation? How will it be displayed and what is the area around it going to be? Should it remain in isolation?"

Speaking at a public consultation on the future of the kiln last week, Godfrey Gilbert, Dean of St Andrew’s Douzaine, thought it should be incorporated into a parish heritage trail. 

"Unless you are going up to the relevant States department you don’t see it. I’ve read masses of interesting information about it today. I didn’t know how much of it was underground for example. I would certainly like to see a feature made of it, and since it was also a working quarry I would like to see something about that too. It would be nice if it could be part of a parish trail including the Little Chapel and the Underground Hospital."

Whatever the way forward there will be challenges involved – including where the money for repairs and maintenance will come from.

Heritage Engineer John Daniel said: "It will cost between £60-80,000 to make good quality repairs and more for interpretation so people understand what they are looking at. 

"Otherwise you repair it and are then essentially mothballing it until you go through the whole process again. A footpath through it would be great but establishing it could be complicated because of the different land owners involved."

Pictured: the Brickfield kiln consultation at Guernsey Yacht Club last week.