Porth Wen Brickworks

Porth Wen Brickworks
Kilns and chimneys at the brickworks
Porth Wen Brickworks is located in Anglesey
Porth Wen Brickworks
Location in Anglesey
53°25′26″N 4°24′22″W / 53.424°N 4.406°W / 53.424; -4.406
TypeBrickworks
LocationAnglesey, Wales
SH 4019 9465
Official name
Porth Wen Brickworks
Designated27 October 1986
Reference no.AN109

Porth Wen Brickworks first built by Charles E Tidy, is a now disused Victorian brickworks which produced fire bricks, made from quartzite (silica) used to line steel-making furnaces. The substantial remains include a number of buildings and the remains of some of the machinery, but has some damage from sea erosion. The site is a scheduled monument.

Location

The brickworks is in a spectacular location on the western side of Porth Wen (English: White Bay) in the community of Llanbadrig in the north of Anglesey, and is about 2 km (1.2 miles) west of Porth Llechog and 3 km (1.9 miles) north-east of Cemaes.[1][2] The brickworks was established because of the readily available quartzite from the nearby quarries, a major component of fire bricks.[3]

As with much of coastline of Anglesey, the brickworks lies within the area of the Anglesey Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (now known as a National Landscape).[4][5]

Description

Porthwen Brickworks includes quarries, an incline tramroad to the works, and includes a crushing house, moulding shed, drying sheds, and kilns. The brickmaking operation was supported by storage hoppers, engine house, boiler house, chimneys, warehouse and a quay.[6]

Brickmaking started on the site in the mid 19th century, with the tramroad being added later, and the existing buildings being built in the early 20th century.[7] Although the brickworks ceased production in the first half of the 20th century (sources vary on the date; either 1924 or 1949),[1][7] the buildings and much of the equipment remain in situ, and the site shows:

...the visual scars of time and nature on its rural-industrial face as well as just the immense history built into the very bricks and stones

— Ian Banks[8]

Quarries and incline

text
Remains of winding house

The brickworks were supplied from two quarries to the north-west of the works.[9][10] A tramroad from one of the quarries leading to a winding house and incline was shown on the 1st edition OS map, 1889.[11]

The winding house includes two lateral walls of mortared walls of rubble masonry supporting a square drive shaft and bearings. The remains of the walls are splayed at the bases and roughly 4.5 m (10 feet) in length, 0.95 m (3 feet) wide up to a height of 3 m (10 feet).[11][12] The drive shaft supported three wheels each with eight spokes. One wheel is roughly 2 m (7 feet) in diameter and the other two are 1.5 m (5 feet) in diameter. The larger wheel was a banding-break and the other two were driving wheels for lowering and raising trucks on the incline. A wooden beam with a control mechanism remains in front the drive shaft. A second similar wooden beam lies nearby but is no longer in position.[11][12][13]

Near the winding house are the remains of a storage shed roughly 4 m (10 feet) by 5 m (20 feet) with walls that supported a gabled roof of profiled sheeting and is probably more recent than the winding house, built in a period of improvement in the early 20th century.[14]

The incline consisted of two tracks which have been removed but the track bed remains with retaining walls of random rubble masonry roughly 1 m (3 feet) deep. The incline was gravity powered.[13][15]

Brickmaking

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Crushing house

The incline terminated at a crushing house where pieces of quartzite were broken up with a knapping machine. The pieces were passed down chutes to lower levels for further processing, resulting in a fine powder at the lowest stage. It is likely that the pieces of quartzite were reduced by hammer with the workers wearing iron covered gloves.[1][16][17]

The resulting powder was mixed with lime and water in a pan mill. The resulting paste was then moulded and pressed into bricks in the moulding shed, and then dried out in drying sheds.[1][18][19][20] Originally bricks were made using moulding and wire cutting, but were later made using a press.[17]

After drying, the bricks were then fired in one of the three circular down-draught kilns (also known as beehive or Newcastle kilns), made of brick with iron bands and domed roofs.[21][22][23][1][8]

The brickworks also includes the remains of a boiler house, which contained a Five-drum Stirling boiler, and a small engine house for a steam engine.[24][25]

Storage and distribution

After firing, the bricks were stored in the main building, a two-storey brick building, with gabled ends.[26]

Bricks were then loaded onto ships, using a crane, moored at the loading quay.[27][28]

History

Porth Wen brickworks was designated as a scheduled monument by Cadw in 1986 and classified as a post-medieval industrial brickworks.[29]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Silica Brick Works, Porth Wen". Historic Environment Record (HER). Gwynedd Archaeological Trust (GAT). GAT PRN 3562. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  2. ↑ "Section 3: Cemaes to Amlwch Port" (PDF) (Map). www.anglesey.gov.uk. Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path Project. 2005. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  3. ↑ Jones, S. (1997). Coastal Erosion Survey Anglesey (PDF) (Report). Gwynedd Archaeological Trust (GAT). p. 14. GAT Report No. 251. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  4. ↑ https://national-landscapes.org.uk/faq
  5. ↑ Grant, Maria; Parker, Sally (April 2014). State of the AONB Report for Anglesey (PDF). Isle of Anglesey County Council (Report). Land Use Consultants. p. 11. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Gwyn, David (2006). Gwynedd: Inheriting a Revolution; the Archaeology of Industrialisation in North-West Wales. Phillimore & Company Limited. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-1-86077-432-4.
  7. 1 2 Hill, J. (1 March 2004). "Porthwen Brickworks; Porth Wen Silica Brickworks (40736)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  8. 1 2 Banks, Ian (20 December 2004). "Porth Wen Brickworks, Anglesey". Urban Realm. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Silica Quarry (40737)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  10. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Silica Quarry; Dinorben Quarry (528)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  11. 1 2 3 "Winding House at Porth Wen, Bryn Llewelyn". heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk. National Trust. MNA133966. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Porthwen Brickworks: Winding Engine House (40740)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  13. 1 2 "Porthwen Brickworks: Railway Incline (40738)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  14. ↑ "Storage shed at Porth Wen, Bryn Llewelyn". heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk. National Trust. MNA133968. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  15. ↑ "Incline at Porth Wen, Bryn Llewelyn". heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk. National Trust. MNA133967. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  16. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Crusher House (40739)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  17. 1 2 Jones, Wil. "Porth Wen Brickworks". www.anglesey-hidden-gem.com. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  18. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Moulding Shed and Chimney (40747)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  19. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Drying Sheds (40745)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  20. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Chimney (40748)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  21. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Kiln (1) (40742)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  22. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Kiln (2) (40743)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  23. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Kiln (3) (40744)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  24. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Stirling Boiler House (40749)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  25. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Engine House (40741)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  26. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Building (40746)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  27. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Crane (40751)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  28. ↑ "Porthwen Brickworks: Loading Quay (40750)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  29. ↑ Cadw (27 October 1986). "Porth Wen Brickworks (AN109)". National Historic Assets of Wales.

Further reading

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